Darksiders 2 review: Epic, brutal, ambitious - but still comes up short
"Now I am become Death," goes the quote, "the destroyer of worlds. Er, and also of lava temples and ice caverns. Oh, and I share dialogue with giant magical Glaswegians who sell me stuff." As it turns out, Darksiders 2 is Vigil Games taking a mythical immortal over well-trodden videogame ground.
This Fourth Horseman must answer the call of the skill tree, tackle ball-rolling puzzles, grab loot and even preserve a health bar - yes, Death himself can die. It's like the schoolbag scribblings of a 90's kid come to life. Does it make much sense? Not really - but look at those dual scythes.
The artists, including Joe Madureira from Marvel, embrace the garish and ghastly. Armour rinsed from chests clashes purples and greens and sits asymmetrically on stout shoulders. Enemies who wield thick axes built from bone swing for your ivory codpiece. Elephant-sized NPC's top up weapons, health potions and move lists and lumber with fists as big as Smart cars. Imagine Zelda if Shigeru Miyamoto listened to thrash metal.
While the visuals don't have much in common with Nintendo's series, Darksiders 2 pays a gameplay debt. After War, protagonist of the last game, is charged with starting Armageddon early and sent to Earth by the Charred Council, Death sets out on a personal mission to prove his brother's innocence. Defying the council's orders he travels to the Nether Realms, a limbo between Heaven and Hell, to seek aid from the almighty beings residing there.
Cue dungeon-raiding, puzzle-platforming, seeking out magical macguffins and exploring hubs on horseback. Cue Zelda. (This isn't a copy-and-paste job, however. Much like Dante's Inferno scooped up God of War's core combat and plonked it in the bowels of Hell, so Darksiders II does the same to Zelda and takes it to... Heaven. Well, slightly beneath it.) Nintendo might have popularised the structure, but it certainly hasn't the grounds to patent it, and Darksiders 2 treats it as a viable genre rather than trademarked entity. Simply, it's the best way to give players thirty hours of adventuring. It just happens to come with a lot of Zelda callbacks, the most prominent of which being the dungeon.
ZELDA IN FEEL BUT NOT LOOKS
Dungeons may vary in size, complexity and colour, ranging from fiery lava temples spitting up ash and sparks, to icy caverns where frozen winds rip through glazed halls, to open-air monuments under a charred sky, but they all have one thing in common - the treasure chest. Crack them open for familiar trinkets: maps, compasses, keys (here purple rather than silver) - but Darksiders 2 mixes it up. Random loot is something Zelda never had. There, every blade, shield and spell was bestowed in choreographed gestures, players' hands gripped for fear they'll throw the world off kilter. You couldn't get too powerful, or stray too far off message. Darksiders 2, meanwhile, doesn't give a damn.
Killed a low-level ice golem? Here's a pair of wolverine claws that do insane frost damage. Offed a deadly boss? Here's some, er, pretty mediocre boots that you'll inevitably sell to the next merchant you find. There's no rhyme or reason, and this makes every chest, every encounter with a group of enemies you've dispatched a hundred times before, completely unpredictable.
There are literally thousands of pieces of loot, in numerous different categories. Boots, greaves, chest pieces and (there's no cool way to say this) shawls can be worn for their defence or attack bonuses, or merely because you look badass. (Shawl apart.) The only thing missing in this crazily lengthy customisation list is a short, back and sides at the ethereal barbers.
Weapons too are a scattershot bunch. You can wield different primaries - mostly skin-swaps of Death's customary dual scythes - and secondaries, the latter ranging from slow and powerful warhammers that deform the ground to quick-slashing gauntlets good for dizzying combos. After a few hours you'll see all the basic models, and they all stick to the same divisive art style, but each one varies in utility. No two are alike in power, and you'll come to appreciate their different effects in combat. Sadly, this is where Darksiders II consolidates its status as a middle-tier game.
ARKHAM CITY - WITHOUT THE FINESSE
Fighting is merely fine, never dull but certainly not up to the standard set by Batman: Arkham City. It's less a case of chaining moves, each successful connection climbing in intensity, and more using the same move over and over, no real finesse or timing needed. Combat is a whirl of indecipherable flailing punctuated by flying globs of purple blood and streaky slash marks.
You'll devise a routine and stick to it. Ours? Spring into a group with the shoulders, launch and juggle an enemy with A or X, peppering them with weak pistol shots, and then finish with some Y/Triangle-based axe or claw action. Special powers disrupt the repetition, like summoning a trio of ghouls from coffins or transforming into an even more garish, 12ft Grim Reaper, but meters take an age to fill so these moments are, sadly, few and far between.
A skill tree puts more meat on RPG bones, letting you unlock moves and increase the power of ones you've got. Those ghouls, for instance, can be enchanted to draw enemy fire, or upgraded to earn you Wrath, Darksiders 2's currency. While more skilful than button-bashing, and more hectic than the majority of action games, it never feels like a pleasure. In Arkham City, you got a buzz from being locked in a room with a dozen foes. Here, you're begging for the door to open so you can duck out.
Traversal too allows few opportunities to express yourself. It cribs off Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time's much imitated wall-running and scaffold-swinging, only less imaginatively. Leaping from monkey bar to pillar to post is fluid enough, but there's not enough variation, too little spread across too much. You'll instantly de-mystify a room by knowing exactly what to do. How can you not? You'll do it a thousand times. Run up wall, sidle a ledge then cross three beams. Although later devices like grappling hooks vary the functional platforming, it's a lean mix.
Defeat the final boss of a dungeon - a corrupted stone guardian on a giant roller ball, a charging beetle with a soft underbelly - and you'll find a varied hub. Double the size of its predecessor, Darksiders 2 pays for its scale. The lack of a sprint button is a constant pain, and even on your horse, Despair, whom you can summon with the shoulders, exploration is slow and side quests take longer than they should. You can remedy this slightly depending on your skill tree, but it remains an issue.
The world itself is made to be gawped at from afar, not least because looming temples and mossy forests suffer jagged edges and screen tearing up close. But it feels churlish to blame Darksiders 2 for suffering the effects of six-year old hardware. Its ambition is laudable and, while it doesn't truly excel in any area - action, platforming or RPG - its lengthy campaign features a succession of engaging, well-realised moments. And, ultimately, in a barren summer free from big game releases, perhaps that's not to be sniffed at.
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