Darksiders 2 - Game Review

Darksiders 2 - Game Review

Released by THQ
Platform: PS3

Here comes Death.

Well, more specifically, one of the four horsemen in this new action/adventurer game from THQ, which is the sequel to Darksiders but takes place around the same time. A parallel-a-game if you will..

When fellow Brother horseman War is taken captive and blamed for starting Armageddon, Death sets out to prove his brother's innocence and rescue him.

Resembling a sort of dreadlocked Skeletor, this version of Death is mad, bad and angry and determined to save his brother. So it's into the realm he goes, into a frozen world where crystal creatures are ready to break through the ice and beat seven shades of, erm, death out of him.

Starting off in Darksiders 2 entails a bit of training on how to walk along walls and of course, wield the axe and attack the baddies, lurking around. You can't block attacks (aside from cutaway sequences in the middle of fights which require you to mash the Square button) but you can wield some pretty impressive damage here and there. Each attack throws up a barrel of numbers above the creatures, in something akin to RPG board games years and years ago, before they're beaten down.

Treasure, weapons, health potions all lie around defeated enemies for the taking - and gradually, you get to wield more weapons and unleash more chaos.

A heady mix of quests, puzzles and combat make up the majority of this game play and it does actually take a bit of time to take down the level bosses; in fact, an early fight was actually a lot tougher than expected and nearly reduced me to giving up on Darksiders 2.

Thankfully, a bit of perseverance and some frantic button pressing got me past that and into a world which is entrancing, captivating and a lot more fun than you would have expected. Darksiders 2 is eminently playable and enjoyable - Death's never been so much fun.

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