Review: Darksiders (Xbox 360)

Darksiders is a game I'd been meaning to play basically since it came out.  Unfortunately for some daft reason it was released in January and as any avid gamer knows you usually have a backlog up to your arms following the release schedule leading up to Christmas.  I'd eventually bought it last year as part of the Xbox Live Halloween sale but it got lost again amongst a load of digital downloads on my 360 that are very easy to lose track of.  But, here we are - I've now played and completed Darksiders a mere three and a half years after I originally wanted to.  Was it worth the wait?

The game opens quietly enough - with the apocalypse raining down meteors in a New York-esque city.  Humans are running (pointlessly) for their lives as everything they know and love is being destroyed before their eyes.  The game does a great job of conveying the enormity of what is happening but very quickly and effectively shifts the focus so that it's made clear that these humans are just bit-part players in this grand tale.

The story is quite convoluted but the gist is that before earth was created there was only heaven and hell, while "The Charred Council" presided between them. Eventually humans emerged and The Kingdom of Man was born.  The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were created by The Council to enforce their laws on both Heaven and Hell.  As I understand, The Kingdom of Man is there to be used as the battlefield for the EndWar and when it is time for this war the Seven Seals shall be broken and the Horsemen are summoned to ride across the Kingdom of Man to judge the guilty and destroy them or something.  Somehow this is supposed to restore the balance of Heaven and Hell.

So this is how we are introduced to the game - the EndWar is seemingly upon us as the Seven Seals have been broken and you, as one of the Four Horsemen - War, arrive on Earth to dish out some punishment and pain.

After a brilliant opening sequence you end up in the Council's chambers facing some punishment of your own.  Turns out the 7th seal wasn't actually broken and so you have jumped the gun by coming to Earth.  Quite why War is the only Horseman to make this mistake isn't known, but he is.  So there.
Jumping the gun is considered a mortal sin for your kind and you are sentenced to death!  Thankfully for the sake of the game War comes up with an alternative and vows to figure out this entire mess and deliver his punishment to whoever was responsible.  So, off you go with a slimy member of the Council as your forced sidekick - granted the power to kill you if you step out of line - and with your own Super Horseman powers stricken from you.  Luckily War is a pretty powerful beast in his own right - which makes sense given he has fists the size of his head!

By the time you return to Earth a century has passed and the "last of the mouth breathers" have died off.  This makes for a pretty grim setting but has left enough time for the buildings to become ruins and there's barely any evidence that humans were ever here, other than abandoned cars strewn about the place.  When you first start out on your adventure you come across demons from hell and not so angelic "angels" from heaven waging the ultimate war on each other - this is pretty cool to watch unfold in front of you.  Of course both of these enemies has a problem with you so you're forced to dish out some apocalyptic pain to them via your disproportionate sword known as "Chaoseater" which I prefer to call "The Big Fuck Off Sword".

The combat in Darksiders plays a huge part in the gameplay.  While not as advanced as the likes of Ninja Gaiden or as smooth and satisfying as the Arkham games the combat is a strong point of the game for me.  You start off with just your sword but soon pick up additional weapons such as a massive scythe and even a gun (which is pretty crap).  Throughout the game you will also come across items that unlock new abilities and access to new areas but also double up as handy weapons.  The "Tremor Gauntlet" basically lets you thunder punch the crap out of anything in your way while the Crossblade acts as a boomerang type weapon that can shred your enemies to bits from distance.  War can also gather Souls from fallen enemies or hidden chests which are then used as currency to unlock new attacks to use with the Sword or Scythe and by the end of the game you could easily have 30-40 moves available to you.   The real fun of the combat comes from linking all these different moves and weapons into fast paced combos to dispatch a massive group of enemies.  At times it can be frantic but it rarely feels cheap.

There are a lot of basic enemies that can be defeated by any means you wish but as the game continues you are introduced to foes that require a certain approach to defeat.  Most of these are pretty imaginative though its never too tricky to figure out their weak spot.  If you manage to isolate enemies into a one on one fight you should be able to get the better of them most of the time - it's when you have to watch your back while making strategic attacks that things get really tricky.  Later on in the game you'll find yourself going into battles against waves of enemies that can last a good 15-20 minutes - at times I found these infuriating, often dying with only a couple of demons left to slay!  The game does provide you a bit of a helping hand via a super power up that War can activate once he has filled his Chaos Meter - done by stringing together combos.  You can fill your Chaos meter on any enemy and activate it whenever you like, which means you can store your Chaos Form until you really need it.  Once you do, you'll transform into War's Demon Form leaving you invulnerable to attacks and able to defeat the toughest enemies in a number of strikes.  This form takes away all the fluidity of the combat and although it comes in really handy at times it just isn't that fun.  He does look pretty bad ass though!

War in his chaos form!

The boss battles are some of my favourite parts of the game - the monsters you face are huge and their designs are fantastic.  It feels fitting when you're playing as one of the Four Horsemen that you should face some really epic foes and they live up to that.  Half of the fun comes from figuring out how to take advantage of their weak points and the other half comes from dishing out a shit ton of pain!

Early on in the game you come across a number of "Demons Challenges" that you must complete to progress.  These basically involve you being thrown in a bland room and facing off against a stream of enemies with different markers you have to reach - usually involving defeating a certain amount of enemies within a time limit using a specific attack.  On one hand these could be seen as training exercises, but to be honest they pop up way too often and feel like filler to artificially lengthen the game.  They'd be much more fun as optional mini games accessible from the start menu (I'm thinking something like the Arkham games), but integrated into the game they're quite tiresome and really stop the flow of the game.  If you could skip them completely then the game would be much more fast paced and enjoyable.  The saving grace is that these only seem to happen early in the game and once you get past the first few hours they don't interrupt you again.

The combat covers a good portion of the gameplay but to describe it as a straight up hack and slash would be doing the game an injustice.  The flipside of the gameplay is the dungeons.  The way these dungeons unfold will seem instantly familiar to anyone who has played a 3D Zelda game, from the way the maps are presented to the single use keys to unlock doors and finding a new item or power that will access previously inaccessible areas.  A lofty mix of platforming and puzzle games, these can really test your fingers and your brain at times.

The last dungeon in particular is pretty challenging/infuriating as it involves a lot of portal based puzzles and also a whole lot of fights against enemies that are easy beaten on their own but a lot more tricky and frustrating when there are a few of them.

The dungeons run the risk of being a bit samey since they are all set in a post apocalyptic wasteland, but they are far from it for the most part.  I was pleasantly surprised by how extremely unique each one was and the ambient sound effects do a fantastic job of creating an engrossing atmosphere.  Each dungeon can take 1-4 hours to get through so giving each of them such an identity is one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed the game so much.

The environments whether in the dungeons or in the overworld are absolutely beautiful and I really like the art style.  Graphically this is a strong point of the game, but I feel that the character models are unfortunately less impressive.  The artistic choice of making the characters wildly out of proportion (think Gears of War) could put some people off but isn't a problem for me.  The enemies are varied and some of their designs are really cool but War and his foes just aren't that technically impressive and look quite dated.  Given they are the main focus of your eyes it took me a while to appreciate what a great looking game it is once you get past that.  The screenshots below show off some of the great environments (click to enlarge).

  

I mentioned earlier that the game reminded me of Ninja Gaiden - it's not just the combat but also the quite convoluted storyline that makes struggles to make sense.  A lot of the characters have similar sounding "mythical" names (Uriel, Ulthane, Samael, Straga, Azrael etc.) - due to this I found it hard at times to remember who each character was and what their role was in the story.  Add to this that you have three warring factions and the story is a bit hard to follow, especially when so much of your time is spent focusing purely on what War is up to in the immediate present rather than what his greater goal is.  You play the part of a pawn in this story and you only really get down to War's personal vengeance towards the end.  Despite this, the storyline is highly intriguing and definitely serves as a strong backdrop to some very strong gameplay.

My last niggle with the game is that I found the ending seemed to drag out a bit including a quite tedious fetch quest that seems to be there only to artificially lengthen the game.  At 20+ hours I didn't think there was any need for this - at that point I just wanted to get to the final battle!  The story comes to a head nicely in the final act and when you reach the final battle there is a great payoff for any tedium that preceded it.

Overall Darksiders is a game that I couldn't describe as a "must play" for everyone, but if you're looking for something similar in structure to Zelda (with better combat) and the subject matter appeals to you then I would definitely check it out.  It can be challenging and even frustrating at times but fittingly I enjoyed the hell out it.  Despite having too many characters that are hard to get familiar with, the main characters that you deal with and even War himself are fantastic.  It's brilliantly over the top and humorous at times and despite the serious situations it never take itself too seriously.  You won't be left with a sour taste in your mouth either as the last ten minutes were one of the best parts of the game, which is unfortunately all too rare in a lot of releases today.  I left the game on a high and it set up the sequel very nicely. A sequel that I will most definitely be playing!

Review: SSX (Xbox 360)

Huzzah!  My first game completed of 2013!  Hopefully this year I'll be able to clear my backlog a bit more than I did last year and I've started off by finishing off a game I started not long after it came out last Spring.  With any luck I'll also be firing out reviews more frequently and to help me do that I'll try to keep them pretty short and to the point.  So, time to hit the slopes...

SSX is the first Snowboarding game I've spent any serious time with since 1080 Snowboarding on the trusty old N64 and it's fair to say the two games couldn't be more different.  While 1080 took the approach of a somewhat realistic simulation (apart from the giant pandas), this reboot of SSX sticks to its roots with an over the top arcade approach with crazy tricks galore - they even thrown in a rewind mechanic lifted straight from The Sands of Time.  One of the most challenging parts of 1080 was lining up your board after every jump to make sure you landed perfectly - trying out tricks was a calculated risk and you knew every one could ruin your whole race.  In SSX as long as you let go of your trick with enough time to spare your board will automatically adjust and you'll be pretty much guaranteed a clean landing.  That's not a criticism of the game, just an observation.

Doing tricks is piss easy for a reason.  You're being encouraged to do crazy wild tricks because it's part of what makes the game fun - you try to fit in a trick at every possible chance because it builds up your boost meter which can be vital in a race.  Apart from your boost you have no real way of increasing speed other than hitting a steep bit of the mountain and if you're stuck on a relatively flat bit having lost your momentum you can end up going pretty slow.  Fill up your boost meter and you'll trigger a "Tricky" which gives you unlimited boost for a short time and access to even crazier tricks.  Fill up your meter again before the Tricky expires and you'll trigger a super Tricky which allows you to go even faster and pull off the craziest tricks in the game.

The campaign of the game is based around a series of "Deadly Descents" that tale you on a tour around some of the world's most famous mountain ranges.  You'd be forgiven for thinking you were riding the same mountain range the whole game though because none of them make a huge effort to distinguish themselves.  There are tons of runs in this game but I can't remember any of them standing out to me and making me desperate to return to them.  I was happy enough to leave them behind and get on to the next one.

The campaign is presented with a cheesy narrative that's acceptable enough to drive the story - Team SSX has to conquer the Deadly Descents before their arch rival Griff.  Fair enough.  Each mountain range is traversed by a different rider, someone supposedly an expert of the region.  Something that bugs me about this is to play as them you have to beat them first - so you travel to this region, beat the master and then Team SSX decides that instead of the rider who has just won a race they'll stick with the loser and you then play as them for the rest of the region.

Each range is finished off with a "Boss Level" which kits you out with a gimmicky tool that is only useful on that one run - a wingsuit, a headlamp for traversing the dark, pulse goggles so you can see the ground even when you're blinded by snow or an oxygen tank that you need to manage your use of to avoid blacking out.  These add a nice change of pace to the game and although some of the equipment can be fun I'm glad they didn't shoe horn them into every race.

I enjoyed SSX in short bursts when I fancied something light hearted, fun and without too much thinking involved.  There isn't too much challenge from the game until the last few races and by that point they were quite infuriating with blind drops around almost every corner and opponents that almost never falter.  Once you crack the "final race" and the credits start to roll, you're hit with the real final race, a grudge match with Griff.  It took me many attempts to finish the track, never mind win the race and it stopped being fun after a while.  But the feeling of achieving that perfect run and actually winning the race was brilliant, making it totally worth it.  I sat back smugly and waited for the oh so familiar achievement pop to happen and then... nothing.  No achievement unlocked - what the hell is up with that?

Oh well, minor gripes aside this is a fun game without being spectacular.  If a snowboarding game appeals to you then try it out and I think you'll enjoy it, but it's by no means a "must have" game like 1080 was back in the day!

Review: Sonic Generations (Xbox 360)

As you might have guessed given the name and theme of this blog I'm a pretty big Sonic fan. Or at least I was. I haven't actually bought a retail Sonic release in about ten years since I got Sonic Adventure 2 on Gamecube release day.

So what made me pick up Sonic Generations? It was a mixture of things really - I tried the demo but wasn't overly impressed but I heard a lot of praise for the game and the nostalgia factor definitely had me interested. What sealed it though was the chance to buy it for just £8.99 in an out of the blue flash sale (thank you hotukdeals.com!)

The story of the game is... not important. But basically we've ended up with two Sonics - one short and stumpy who doesn't speak and one a bit gangly who does speak and has a 'tude. This premise opens up a key gameplay feature,  as you traverse through the zones each Sonic takes a turn at it and each one plays very differently. Act 1 plays like a classic 2D Sonic game while Act 2 is a 3D stage more like the Sonic games we've come to know post-2000.

All of the stages are taken from previous games in the series, one from each "major" release, though sadly Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are counted as one game. This is both a gift and a curse to the game - obviously it appeals to players' nostalgia, but on the other hand there's always going to be an argument over the stages that were selected or more likely those that were left out.  Personally I would have loved to see Ice Cap Zone included ahead of Sky Sanctuary from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.  Another problem with this approach is that once what is undoubtedly the peak of the series has been covered - after the first 3 zones - the reveal of the levels is a bit less exciting.  That's not to say they are bad levels by any means, the last few were more challenging and engaging than any of the ones I was familiar with from previous games.

The gang's all here!  Thankfully you don't have to play as them.

Previous Sonic games have tried to switch up the flow of the game by introducing other characters (or Werewolves???) to have some slow paced levels to "compliment" the fast paced Sonic ones.  Common opinion is that these types of levels suck balls.  So you'll be glad to hear that although a whole host of characters return, their roles are firmly supporting ones.  As I said before, the change in pace comes from the switch between 2D and 3D levels.  This is where the game shocked me.

I enjoyed the 3D levels a lot more than the 2D ones.

There, I said it.  I'm not sure what it is, but the 2D levels just seem to drag a lot more than the 3D ones to me.  Part of the problem may be that after playing the 3D stages (which feature their own two dimensional gameplay sections) where Sonic has his homing attack, switching to "classic" Sonic without the homing attack just feels incredibly gimped.  To combat this the game designers have brought back some of the shields from the old games (Flame, Lightning and Water/Bubble), but in my opinion they aren't used nearly enough and feel more like an afterthought.

As has been the case with Sonic games since he moved to the third dimension, the camera can be pretty wonky at times and when the action slows down Sonic can be very tricky to control when jumping from one ledge to another.  Sonic's all about blistering through a level at high speed bouncing from enemy to enemy, but when he slows down it can seem like his legs have turned to jelly.  Most of the time I spent falling off platforms were at times when the action had slowed right down and Sonic moves like he's on ice skates and jumps like... an idiot. Obviously the game is meant to be played fast, but there are times where you've no choice other than to slow down.

Something that Sonic games have always done well is bosses. This game is no exception as the bosses and sub-bosses are mostly inventive and good fun to play.  I say mostly, because the very final boss is a real pain in the ass and one of the low points of the whole game.  It's a pity because the boss fight just before the end is fantastic and would have been a better ending point in my opinion.

From a technical standpoint, the graphics are decent enough without being mindblowing.  They do the job, but compared to games like Rayman Origins and even Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country on the Wii they're pretty forgettable.   The soundtrack fits the game well with simple infectious tunes and remixes of classics that you'll be humming even after you turn the console off.   As a nice added bonus if you aren't feeling the music you can unlock classic tracks from past games and use them as the soundtrack while you play.  Admittedly the classics don't tend to fit the new levels as much as the actual songs do, but I had some fun with it.

If you plan to just blast through the game at Super Sonic speed - ahem - playing each stage and jumping onto the next one, you could be done with that in probably around 4-6 hours.  To help extend the game, somewhat artifically, once you complete a few zones you unlock a set of challenges - five for each act.  Most of these are based around replaying a section of the act with a twist that can range from specific enemies to a companion with their own unique powers to help you on your way. You only need to complete one challenge from each zone to move on, but if you want to beat all 90 of them it will extend your playing time a fair bit, with my final playing time probably somewhere around the 12 hour mark.  To be honest though I'm not sure I'd recommend playing through them all - some of them are good fun, but a lot of them are just fecking tedious.  They made the whole experience a bit of a chore for me in the end, but as I said before they're 90% optional so if you're not enjoying them don't be a glutton for punishment like me just to unlock a poxy achievement!

If it sounds like I've been quite harsh on Sonic Generations, well I didn't particularly mean to be.  It's a fun game that is well worth picking up for cheap.  Could I recommend it to somebody at full price?  Honestly, no.  But the way you'll get the most out of this game is if you treat it as a budget title that can be played as your "side game" rather than your main one.  It's perfect to play in bite size chunks when a two hour quest through Skyrim isn't quite what you're looking for.  It's light-hearted fun that can be enjoyed by gamers of all ages, especially if you spent hours of your youth fighting Dr. Robotnik on the Mega Drive/Genesis.  Many have said it's the best Sonic game in years, but it does have it's fair share of flaws that hold it back from taking Sonic back to the top level of gaming.  The 3D stages were a pleasant surprise while for me the 2D ones were a bit of a let down and to be honest I enjoyed Sonic 4's levels a lot more.

In conclusion, if you like fun, you will enjoy this game, just don't expect a world beater.

Phil