Darksiders: Wrath of War review (PC)

Darksiders: Wrath of War has finally made its way to PC. The console versions made a significant mark on the gaming world when they arrived in January 2010 and Vigil has been hard at work polishing up the game for a PC release, a welcome strategy – there is nothing more heartbreaking than a sloppy console port to PC.

Darksiders is loosely based on the contents of the Biblical Book of Revelation, in which the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described. The Horsemen are on call for when the three kingdoms – heaven, hell, and the kingdom of man – engage in the final apocalyptic battle. The horsemen are waiting for the seven seals of the pact to be broken before they once again ride.

However, treachery and skulduggery are afoot, and somehow one of the Horsemen (War) is summoned without the seals being broken. War is quickly blamed for bringing about the apocalypse prematurely, and he sets off to clear his name. For the most part, the game takes place on an Apocalypse ravaged Earth.

Darksiders is a typical action-adventure set in a semi-open world environment. The open-world can be explored in retrospect, and players will be unlocking new areas as they go along. This all fits together nicely; as War gains new abilities, he’s able to return to previous areas and obtain hitherto unobtainable secrets, all which help prepare for the final battles.

Developer Vigil Games had the assistance of comic artist Joe Madureira (X-Men, Battle Chasers, The Ultimates) when developing the game, and his influence can be spotted everywhere. All of the characters, enemies and environments are well designed, detailed, colourful and interesting. The protagonist War is a well designed character and his model is cool to look at for the duration of the game. As he progresses and unlocks new goodies, his appearance changes accordingly.

The game world is quite expansive and altogether it should take close to 20 hours to complete on one’s first play through, especially when endeavouring to access secret areas and search out War enhancing artefacts. The numerous areas of the world are diverse and interesting, each with their own unique visual style. The scale of things is always striking, and this plays well into some of the platforming/puzzle sections, as one has to try and maintain bearings whilst leaping and climbing about. The map is an indispensable tool. Visually, there is nothing to complain about and things seem to have ported well to the PC. With the settings on maximum my gaming PC circa 2008 barely broke a sweat.

The enemies consist of plenty of hellish minions, corrupted humans and some angelic Hellguard.  Each area of the world will introduce its own unique bad guys. There are plenty of mini-bosses around, and some not-so-mini-bosses. As war soon discovers, he must defeat four Chosen demons – protectors of the Black tower, which supposedly houses The Destroyer, the source of all the drama. Thus War will be fighting with four seriously badass demons along the way, and beyond them there are of course plot twists and more bosses to defeat. The boss battles are always an epic affair, and will often require some quick-footed platforming and puzzle solving skills to win.

War has three main weapons in his arsenal: his first weapon, the sword Chaoseater, the Tremor Gauntlet, and a scythe which he can purchase. The  weapons have a variety of moves which can be unlocked through purchases made at a colourful character named Vulgrim, who acts as a one stop shop for all of War’s vengeful needs. Combat with these weapons is fluid and War pulls off moves with a grace that belies his raw strength – War in full combat motion is a pleasure to behold. The combat system seems to be well balanced, and War’s arsenal of moves each serve a specific purpose. Anything above typical canon-fodder will usually require some strategy to defeat, preventing the game from turning into a button smashing snooze-fest.

As War progresses he will unlock items and gear, most of which are required to solve puzzles and complete areas. The puzzles are varied and interesting, and range from being quite simple to the occasional head scratcher. There is even a worthy homage to another classic puzzle/platformer of recent years which you will undoubtedly recognise immediately. War can buff his main weapons with a range of enhancements that give him bonuses such as leeching life, dealing more damage, and setting things on fire.

The keyboard and mouse control system works fine – certainly a lot better than many console ports. That said, the game is still best played with a console-style gamepad. Aside from the fact that the game was initially designed with a controller in mind, the main reason I’d suggest using one is that the camera will automatically snap around to the correct view point, following War through various platforming sequences. When using the mouse, all camera movement has to be done manually, and this can actually become tiresome and frequently ends up with the camera facing the wrong direction during a platforming sequence or battle. Due to the game’s system of ‘locking on’ to a target, moving War around with a thumb driven analogue stick is far more intuitive than using the WASD keys.

The audio is well rounded, and the surround sound immersive, as we would expect of a modern game. The music does tend to get washed out by the clamour of battle, but it serves as a nice backdrop to the action. Thankfully, the voice acting and scripting is good, with the various characters well suited to their voices. One even grows fond of War’s steel-faced, gravel-voiced badass attitude by the end of the game.

Replay value should be good as there is a ton of content and an expansive game world to soak in. The first play through will likely be a frantic affair as one becomes familiar with the monsters and gameplay mechanics. A second or third play through on a harder difficulty setting will afford players the chance to discover secrets missed the first time round, as well as observe the finer details of the immersive apocalypse ravaged game world.

The PC version comes packaged as the Hellbook Edition and this goes for around R350 depending on where you shop. The box itself is an attractive package, and contained within are some art cards by Joe Madureira – the kind of thing you’d want to frame before your friends muck them up. There is also a coloured concept art book and a thank you note from the Vigil team – a nice touch. On the disc one will find the game’s soundtrack and a digital comic book.

All in all, this is a great game, well polished for its PC port, wrapped in a value-add package for an entirely reasonable price.

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