Preview : Darksiders

Who doesn’t love a game that gives you a huge sword, demonic powers, and a slew of enemies to unleash said huge sword and demonic powers on? To satisfy this simple yet demanding order, THQ and Vigil Studios have teamed up to bring you Darksiders. The gameplay is not unlike the usual hack n’slash formula. If you like games such as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, you’ll be compelled to give Darksiders a look. The challenge that comes to developers when making games like this is getting the subtleties perfect. This includes good camera angles/manipulation, responsive controls, and nice character animations and graphics to complete the visual experience. After trying this game out in it’s demo-stage, I am happy to report that it delivers well on at least these levels.

While the graphics are quite crisp, they do seem like they’d be doable on a PS2. This isn’t to say that the game looked ugly, but it did not stand out much. Game performance was very fluid on both the PS3 and the XBox 360 versions that were on display. Frame-rate here was definitely staying steadily strong. The controls were very responsive; I felt as though pulling off the longer combos in the game would be less of a hassle than it can be in other hack n’slash titles. However, as any good game goes, you should take into account that there’s a tiny learning curve. The game doesn’t play itself, after all. Finally, I had absolutely no problem with the in-game camera. It followed me well (and I’m a spastic player sometimes…), but when I got ahead of the camera, I had no issue re-adjusting it and continuing my assault against those poor, victimized demons. I’m definitely going to be checking out the final version.

Do take into account that I was dealing with the demo version of Darksiders, so things are bound to get better or worse at release. Speaking of its release, Darksiders will be available January 5th, 2010 in the U.S., January 8th, 2010 in the UK/Continental Europe on the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3.