Darksiders PS3 - Review

Darksiders was released on January 5, 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox360, the PC version was released a little later, but it is out already. This game, made by Vigil Games, seems to be an attempt to take the God of War franchise and twist it around enough in order to create an original game that would satisfy Xbox360 owners since God of War is a PS3 exclusive. It is inspired on the christian/catholic apocalypse, with the player taking the role of of one the feared horseman - War. A sequel is currently under development and expected to be released in Q4 of 2012. In my opinion this game definitely took the safe route to success (although only mild success I'd say). It takes the God of War formula and scrambles the story and artwork. It only redefines design and gameplay slightly (some people may say that it does not change it at all thought).


Story: 
SCORE: 4/10

As I mentioned in the introduction, the story is based on the idea that four horsemen will appear one after the other once the end of time approaches and judgment will be brought upon everyone that has not follow the commandments put forth by God. I do not know the apocalypse from the bible verbatim, but that is my understanding of it. Darksiders twists the story a bit by making the horsemen righteous entities due to the fact that they are supposed to bring "balance" to the fight between heaven, earth, and hell. However, the search for balance is thrown off when you are summoned before your time by an unknown entity.

The story has enough name dropping and indirect references for people to be able to relate it with the bible and other apocalyptic writings; however, the story does not go into explaining anything other than its own premise and goals. In the end, this helps the story from getting overly religious, but it makes it feel like aliens from heaven and dinosaurs from hell would have worked just as well. In other words, they place the game in a mythological environment that they are weary of using... so why do it at all? After being tricked War is given a chance to redeem himself by fixing the situation down in earth and killing the perpetrator for his own revenge and for restoring the balance. War simply heads out to find out why, how and who tricked him into appearing before his time, killing that entity and returning to his former glory without further a due. Throughout the game there is plenty more names dropped into the story, but none of the characters really become part of the story in a relevant way so that you actually care about them.

The story ends quite abruptly with obvious and expected plot twists, dramatic cutscenes, and a paved road for a sequel. I felt that the mythological (or religious) story was used to make a supernatural setting without the need of much thinking (Yes, this is my opinion with God of War as well). I was quite disappointed with the story; It did not explain the mythology and it felt extremely disconnected from its basis without a good reason. Nothing seems to make sense because they do not explain to you the story completely at the fear of becoming a bible game, but in my opinion that was a mistake. If you have such a fear and cannot visualize how to make a 'bible' game that is worth playing, then you should not pick that mythology setting altogether...

DISCLAIMER: I was raised a catholic; I know the bible's apocalypse story very superficially. I am not religious and do not specifically desire a bible game at all.... Actually, I despise them just as much as any other educational game.


Gameplay and Design:
SCORE: 9/10

This section can be boiled down to a single sentence:
Why fix what God of War has perfected?

Honestly.... Darksiders plays exactly the same as God of War: It plays at the same speed, fast but with enough gaps to allow enemies to hit you; War has a lot of similar moves in comparison to Kratos, such as counters, magic, area of effect slashes, etc; leveling system is based on the blue souls (red orbs in God of War) collected from chests and enemies; the use of green and yellow souls (instead of orbs in God of War); temporary Chaos Form... granting invincibility, extra damage, reach, etc; even the "dramatic kill moves" triggered by the same fucking button... circle. Simply put; there are too many similarities; it would not surprise me if they actually purchased rights to the game engine from SCE Santa Monica Studio, but there are no official announcements about this that I could find.

The gameplay varies sharply on one of the items that you get to use later in the game. This item is the voidwalker; it allows you to create portals as in Portal from Valve. The cool thing about this item is that they implement the item for both puzzle solving and combat (although only for mini-bosses, but new feel nonetheless). 

Another, thing that is fairly new is fighting on horseback. Ruin was actually given a whole level for running around: The Ashlands. There you confront several enemy types and a unique one to this level on Ruin (Wurms). There is also boss battles which require that you master control over Ruin; the implementation of horseback riding and combat is perhaps the most original in this game, at least in comparison to God of War. I found myself riding on Ruin even if I didn't truly need to and the boss encounters that involved Ruin were the most entertaining in my opinion.

I realize that this comparison with God of War makes it seems like I am trying to bash the game, but this is not my intention. I just mean to point out that these two games are extremely similar. As I said at the beginning of this section, this game copies all the good stuff from a game that is already established and attempts to add to experience in a small way. In the end, I deduct a point for lack of originality, but I think there is little they could have done to improve the system while still trying to capture the same audience. Plus, the elements they appended were fitting and well received.

Presentation:
SCORE: 6/10

The art here is similar to that of the board game Warhammer 40K minus the guns. Characters look bulky, even if they are categorized as slick and agile; exaggeration of proportions is common practice in Darksiders as well. Art is also comparable to God of War in technical quality. Environments, enemies and such look good enough to not be judged. Bosses and major characters tend to have more detail and differentiating characteristics as it is always expected. There is only one woman in the game.... and coincidentally she is the only skinny humanoid (not counting the ghosts) character in the whole game. Voice over is good, but not great. Cutscences can be quite disappointing as they often picture a conversation previous to a fight and nothing truly worth a cutscene.

Overall, I think the presentation is intrinsically hurt because of the lack of story and clear purpose in the game. However, Vigil provides gamers the expected traditions of cutscene action that has been exploited in the last decade. It is hard to say that the formula is terrible, but it is most definitely not great.


Lasting Appeal:
SCORE: 2/10

This game is quite long. It took me about 40 hours to finish (including the search for all the collectibles in the game). I will admit that playing Darksiders doesn't get repetitive because it changes scenery and item exploit much like in Zelda games, at the right time. Darksiders, however, has no lasting appeal other than trophies/achievements. The only reason you would not resell this game is because you are a game collector or your friend borrowed it. Sadly, this game is a perfect rental or used turn-in product.


Overall Score: 5/10



I would recommend people to play this game if they truly love the hack and slash action genre. It is silly fun without an engaged story line. Simply put, if you like hacking enemies because it looks cool and killing unrecognizable bosses because it gives you a raw sense of achievement by all means buy and play the heck out of this game. Otherwise... just get a PS3 and play God of War....

Valkyria Chronicles - PS3

This game was originally released on Nov 2008 for PS3 only. This is a high quality RPG made by SEGA. It combines several aspects of different genres into a cohesive whole. There have been 2 sequels to the game; however, both only on the PSP. (This reminds me of what happened with Monster Hunter on the PS2. We can expect that the next console Valkyria Chronicles will be for the Wii...). In my opinion this game was buried under the many releases that came out that capitalist season and it never reemerged from the overwhelming pile on top of it.


Story: 
SCORE: 9/10
Story Cut Scenes video sample (Chapter 1)

Valkyria Chronicles' story is combination of anime style drama, comedy and romance. Although it tries to stay away from being too overly dramatic, possibly in order to appeal to more western audience, the Japanese influence is still obviously present.

This is a story of war, love and revenge that seems like a colorful WWII alternate spin off. War has split Europa in two: the Atlantic Federation to the east and the Empire to the west. The story develops on a tiny neutral nation called Gallia located between both alliances currently at war. Gallia is involved in the war by the invasion of the Empire in search of ragnite resources and the Valkyria power to aid their goal of world domination. The story focuses on Welkin Gunther as he becomes the lieutenant of the militia's Squad 7 and has to command a group of individuals from distinct backgrounds and attitudes to defend their homeland.

The story is told through a series of chapters and episodic cut scenes that divide the story and allow exposure background and context that further your attachment to characters and personalities while keeping things fresh and advancing every subdivision of the chapter.

Overall, this story can be quite engaging as long as you can put up with having to hit X every time a speech is done during the manga style cut scenes, which comprises of about 60% of all the cut scenes. The character development is slow and repetitive at first, but abrupt and satisfying at the end, which makes it feel like these personalities changed in a realistic manner (people tend to stick to what they know despite influences all around them until one day something just clicks and everything changes).


Gameplay and Design:
SCORE: 9/10

The gameplay combines elements from three genres (RPGs, strategy games, and third-person shooters) in order to create a unique Turn-based RTS (That's exactly how it felt to me).

Missions begin with an overhead view of the battlefield with all units are represented by icons that separate them by class. Command Points (CPs) allow you to choose one unit in order to move and attack. Once the unit is chosen the camera shifts into third-person; movement is limited by an action gauge and only one type of attack is allowed per unit's action. When attacking one can consider cover, weak points and positioning in order to get the most out of that action. Once all CPs are spent the Phase shifts to the enemy's side after that another turn begins on the player's phase. Battles are won by either obliterating all enemy forces or completing certain tasks, such as capturing enemy camps or disabling certain units, within 20 turns.

After each battle you get money and experience according to the mission completion rank dependent on your performance. These can be used on headquarters to upgrade your troops and weapons. You can also customize your squad from a list of recruits that have unique personalities and tastes that will affect their performance in battle. Your troops are divided into 5 classes; each class behaves differently and has advantages confronting certain opponents.This creates a rock-paper-scissor system that requires the player to use a certain class in the right situation. Battles tend to emphasize squad teamwork because of different attacks and special moves of each class that are required to overcome obstacles. The factor that I like the most and did not expect was a squad member death. If one of your soldiers is shot down in combat you have 3 phases or before an enemy reaches them; otherwise they will perish for the rest of your game. This adds an additional layer to the game as you probably will bond with some of the personalities and skills.

Overall this game is well balance, complex and deep (Perhaps a little too deep). Although once you are able to keep track of all the different variables you will be severely rewarded it is so much to remember that you will make mistakes that can jeopardize the mission and waste your time. If you are not willing to give the same mission a try a couple times you will not be able to complete every mission. This game is difficult; even if you are a great chess player.


Presentation:
SCORE: 10/10

The visuals in Valkyria Chronicles are just great. All animation and interaction feels anime cartoon like, but of great quality. The game's shading style makes it feel as if you were watching a moving watercolor painting instead of your TV. There is not other game that looks like it. There is very little difference between the CG cutscenes and the actual engine work seen during battles and gameplay. The voice acting feels very genuine and nails what each cutscene wants to convey.
Overall the presentation is just beautiful without having to exploit all of the engine's power. However, if you do not like anime styled art you will definitely hate the look of this beast.


Lasting Appeal:
SCORE: 4/10

This game is a strong single player experience. However, there is very little incentive to make you play again once you have finished the game once other than to relive the story. There is no online or multiplayer to exploit. Although farming for experience and money to crack up your squad's level and equipment might keep you busy it will not bring out new content that is truly worth your time. The hard mode is a way to go through the game again with added challenge, but the story is the same and strategy is extremely similar as in normal mode. You could also strive to achieve a rank A in each mission, but you will receive little more than in game medals that do not transfer to PS3 trophies. Thus there truly is nothing to stop you from reselling this game once you played through once.


Overall Score: 8/10


PS: I know this took me a LONG time... but it was very difficult to figure out what type of layout to use and the type of scoring I found fitting. As of right now this is still  a draft of what I'd like to work on.... If there is anything anyone can contribute to help me make better reviews please go ahead and let me know.

Again thanks for reading!!