Darksiders is a hard game to review, on the one hand it has almost no idea’s of its own, instead taking the best parts of other games and combining them into one uber-game.
On the other hand that method has created a very good game.
After a while of humming I decided that I had to lean in favour of the lack of originality as it has provided us with a great game and an exceptional first release for Vigil games.

Darksiders has a beautiful, almost comic book art style to it and the gameworld is brought to life by some great designs however the actual graphics themselves are a little rough around the edges and you will notice some screen tear etc however they are by no means terrible and Darksiders is a pretty game to look at with some great art designs, though some enemies look a little under textured and detailed.

The games lead character is somebody rather different from the usual, you play as War, one of the legendary 4 Horsemen of the apoclypse.
As the game kicks off War get’s framed for bringing the end of the world down on Earth early, thus kicking of a war between Heaven and Hell that humanity was not yet ready for.
You then get your powers stripped from you and you head out to seek revenge on whoever set you up.

Thus begins your epic quest that involves solving many puzzles and progressing through a Zelda style series of open worlds that often loop back on themselves and combat that feels amazingly similiar to God of War.
As you progress through the games ruined gameworld ( set on Earth after years of fighting) War will unlock his powers again and gain access to new equipment that, in turn, will allow him access to new area’s of gameworld that you could not reach earlier.
It’s Zelda through and through, for those of you who have never played Zelda the recent Batman Arkham Asylum is a good example of level progression.
Even if the style is taken from Zelda the level designers have done a great job with levels looping back on themselves and area’s just out of reach of your current abilities.
The puzzles that feature in the landscape are also very well designed, often making you stop as you work out what you must do to advance.
Darksiders even mimics Portal, later in the game you gain access to a device that creates portals in set locations, thus paving the way for some mind bending puzzles.
The puzzle and level design does let up in quality in the second half of the game though giving the impression that Vigil  used up all there good idea’s in the first half of the game.

Darksiders strongest attribute is its combat, while it may not quite live up to Devil May Cry or God of War it’s still a great system with a vast amount of upgrades and combat moves to choose from.
As you progress through the game you gain access to a giant scythe, guns, a gauntlet that causes earthquakes and much more.
The combo system allows you to swap between these at any point and dish out mass amounts of punishment on the games demon enemies.
Throw in quick kills by hitting B when prompted and you have a brutal combat system, though there is only 1 quick kill for most enemies and some of the animations are re-used on other enemies and as such you will find yourself getting a little bored with the quick kills after a while.

By far the best weapon you can get is Ruin, though not a weapon in the traditional sense.
Ruin is War’s horse which you will rescue around three quarters of the way through the game giving you access to Ruin at any time by tapping the 2 shoulder buttons on your pad.
Controlling Ruin is fantastic as you gallop around unleashing gun based fury and combatting huge sandworms.
Sadly Ruin is not put to as much use as he should but still, for those moments you use him it’s a great experiance.

War does make for an interesting lead character, though he does lack any real substance apart from his menacing voice and glowing eyes.
However he is well voiced and the rest of the games characters are also very well voiced, the demon Samael is a standout character in the game and has a voice that suits him perfectly.
The story is over the top but an enjoyable experiance with some good twists during the game, though my one complaint would be the middle of the game lacks any story to it, instead the story is packed into the begginging and ending of the game.

At the end of the day Darksiders may not bring anything new to the table but it does combine the best of many games into a fun and entertaining game to play.

Score’s:

Graphics: 80%
Nice art style but some rough edges and screen tear.

Gameplay: 85%
A mix of games into one but vastly entertaining to play

Lifespan: 86%
A fairly large game and will take you a while to get through.

Overall:  84%
Nothing new but still a great adventure game and well worth a purchase.