Darksiders 2 - First Impressions

So in my last blog post, I mentioned that I recently purchased Darksiders 2, the parallel sequel to the first Darksiders game, which I reviewed in tandem with Kid Icarus: Uprising in April. And despite not having finished the first game (shut the fuck up Azrael and help me beat this puzzle D:<), I had heard from hearsay and quick peeks at the grownup reviews that Darksiders 2 is a large improvement on the first Darksiders. So on that note, here is a summary of the first few hours of the game.

"I dunno, I still think Jessica might not like all the hair gel..."

Darksiders 2 begins with Death, Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, riding out into an icy wasteland on his horse Misery with his pet crow Dust. The in-game narration reveals that Death seeks a man known as the Keeper of Secrets in order to clear his brother War of his giagantic whoopsie in Darksiders. After showing off the fancy palace where the Keeper of Secrets lives, the game lets us take control, and the first thing we notice is that Misery is far better than Ruin, War's horse, because he can actually jump. Also, you have him right from the start instead of having to slog through three whole dungeons to find him, which is always a bonus.

So you ride up to the castle, dismount from Misery and climb up some rubble to reach the front porch. Death immediately gets set upon by a duo of axe-wielding ice skeletons, and this is where the combat kicks in. Two major improvements make themselves apparent - firstly, you can see the health meters of the monsters, so you know how much damage you're doing with each swipe of Death's scythes. Secondly, Death is far more agile than War - he can actually dodge things instead of merely sliding out of the way, and pressing jump during combos causes him to launch foes with a backward flip kick, which can link neatly into arial attacks. Overall, much better than mashing buttons until you see the kill prompt come up.

Killing the skeletons reveals another facet of the jewel that is Darksiders 2 - enemies sometimes drop loot, in a manner remeniscient of Diablo and other dungeon crawlers. These range from various sorts of boots and gloves, to secondary weapons like hammers and claws and even new sorts of scythes. Equipping them increases Death's various stats, such as attack and defense, and also factor into the new skill system the game has going on. See, Death can acquire skill points from levelling up, which can be assigned to abilities that he can learn. Each ability factors into one of two playstyles - do you be a vicious Harbringer, wading through enemies in a blur of scythes, or a deadly Necromancer, summoning minions and casting spells to do your bidding? And the equipment you pick can either help or hinder your chosen playstyle in different ways.

But since the first level doesn't say much about it, neither shall I.

Anyway, after killing the skeletons, we move into the interior of the castle, guided by Dust, who acts as the Darksiders version of Navi from Legend of Zelda (but better, as he is a crow and cannot talk).  This is where we are introduced to the parkour system that lets Death navigate chasms and things, and like the combat this is a major improvement on the first game. War could only slide around on ledges and designated hangs - Death runs along walls, swings on beams and climbs up pillars like a grizzled wolverine with greasy hair. It's oddly satisfying to rattle off those button presses and watch the Reaper leap from protrusion to surface in one smooth motion - not Prototype level, but almost wierdly so.

As we guide Spider-Death through the ruined, icy dungeon, Darksiders 2 shows that Joe Madureira, the creative director, still has a knack for comic-book style visuals. An absurd amount of Warhammer 40K-ish detail has gone into the character design and scenery - from the crumbling remains of an angel statue on this one lift that gets stuck halfway through, to the skull-like details on Death's belt and gloves. I've heard people cry foul on this sort of "overdesign", especially since War in the first game looked like a coral reef that had learned to walk, but in an over-the-top fantasy action game like this it works, in a roundabout way. I mean, it's not like you're expected to take it seriously, is it?

Eventually, we reach the first sub-boss - a giagantic ice beast. The creature functions pretty much like your average God of War boss fight - dodge his overly-telegraphed attack and ram your scythes up his butt before he can turn around. And hopefully you brought a hammer or axe with you from killing the random mooks, because you need them to make your long combos and do damage quickly. Eventually, the Ice Giant is bested when Death sprouts skeletal wings, rips his head off and uses it to smash the beast's body to pieces, and frankly I can't think of any better way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

After this, we reach the Keeper of Secrets - the Crowfather, as he is called. Old Man Crowface knows of a way to clear War's name, but because Death screwed him over by giving him an amulet full of complaining souls, he refuses to help. With no other choice, Death has to fight, and the Crowfather takes the form of War in order to fight back. While this boss battle is similar to the Ice Giant fight, keep in mind that Warfather can strike multiple times and has ranged attacks as well, so you may want to keep a finger on that dodge button and occasionally scarf a health potion. Also, when the quick-time-event pops up, mash X like Woddy Woodpecker or lose half of your health.

Once that's over, Death kills the Crowfather, in a rather dickish move. But then the amulet the Crowfather was carrying explodes, and the shrapnel lodges itself into Death's chest. Screaming in pain, Death collapses as the Crowfather's form disapates, turning into a black portal that consumes our heroric Horseman...

So that was the first level of Darksiders 2. And even from the first hour or so, it shapes up to have many major improvements over it's predecessor. Whilst Darksiders got a lot of flak for basically being Zelda with a somewhat whinier protagonist, Darksiders 2 does just enough to evolve past that, adding enough new things to feel like a proper sequel and to give me a lot of hope for this installment. The fact that it will be coming out on the Wii U sometime soon is proof enough that the series stands out on it's own, although having already brought the XBox 360 version, I will be unable to take advantage of whatever console-exclusive features THQ add.

The same mistake I made with Tekken Tag Tournament 2, apparently.


*Sigh...*