Darksiders 2 Review

Version Tested: PC

Darksiders 2, this time playing as Death, is much better than the first so if you enjoyed Darksiders, you will enjoy this one. What about those that didn’t play the first one? I’m sure you will enjoy it too.

Darksiders 2 is a great mash up of many titles, it’s basically a third-person open-world action RPG with platforming sandwiched in between. While the first was arguably a post-apocalyptic Zelda, the second takes that and adds in a little Devil May Cry action, a dollop of Prince of Persia, some Diablo-styled looting and a sense of scale that was found in Shadow of the Colossus all coming together as one.

This is a hugh and lengthy. I’ve played about 20 hours and I still have yet to finish it but I’ve seen enough to tell you if it’s worth your time and money. The world is much bigger this time around and love that you can fast travel (teleporting) to previously visited locations, even from dungeons. Saves a heck of a lot of time travelling. A big world means lots of gigantic creatures, and this game have lots of them and more often than not, you’ll be killing one. The game gives a certain sense of scale with lots of creatures looking like Goliath to Death’s David. For what is essentially an action game, it will take you about 18-25 hours to complete depending on your skill level and if you decide to do the side quests. Very good length for an action game.

The combat is sweet, combos are easy to pull off and Death moves fast. Evading is essential and helps to keep the combat flowing smoothly. New moves can be purchased from trainers. You’ll also have a few skills that can be accessed for combat, some are powerful attacks while and some are used as buffs. While it is useful, I felt it took away from the fluidity of the combos you’re trying to pull off making me rarely use them unless I’m getting my ass handed to me.

Probably the biggest feature added to the sequel is looting. You can equip Death with equipment for pretty much every major part of his body and loot comes in different flavours. Different colours denotes the rarity and power of the loot. The most powerful being orange, which you can upgrade by sacrificing other loot. My 20 hour playthrough should be a little higher if the amount of time I spent going through my inventory was accounted for.

I would have appreciated a better inventory system though, you can’t organise loot and there is no comparison windows, you can’t even go from one end to the other which was very annoying and troublesome.

The camera was a little loose too, it would swing a lot and can be an enemy in battle. It certainly didn’t help during the platforming sections. There is quite a fair bit of platforming and puzzle-solving but nothing too brain busting and it helps to add a bit of variety to the game. The puzzles gets more interesting in the second half where you have to summon spirits to help you solve them.

So is this game worth your money? It certainly is, with the amount of content and length, as well as the combinations of different games not to mention some pretty solid voice acting and a likable character in Death, just go get it.

It’s available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC with a Wii U version corresponding with the console’s launch.

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