Thoughts About DarkSiders

You would think that a game borrowing characters and content from the Scriptures might also lend itself to some of it’s context, but it doesn’t. DarkSiders casts you as War, the second of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who, instead of being created and appointed by God for a specific purpose, instead is tasked by an a fore unknown “council of balance” as an agent of balance. In this world, heaven and hell are constantly at war with each other, and when one side becomes overly powerful the horsemen are called in restore the status quo. Yes, really. DarkSiders’ plot is a stretch, and full of holes.

Even though the characters are taken completely out of their context, the religious imagery in the game is fascinating. As with Dante’s Inferno, I enjoyed seeing artist’s interpretations of Heaven and Hell “brought to life” (for lack of a better phrase) in a video game. Once scene where War approaches the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the long hidden Garden of Eden was particularly enjoyable.

Overall, the game play is very failure and the storyline very liner. As War, you’ll run from point A to point B in order to fetch mysterious artifacts to give to mysterious characters in exchange for them opening portals to others areas in which you’ll run from point A to point B in order to fetch mysterious artifacts to give to mysterious characters. All the while, you’re swinging your big sword, hacking and slashing any creature that stands in your way. Every creature you kill releases orbs, and these orbs can be used to purchase upgrades that let you hack and slash even more creatures. And although DarkSiders does force some backtracking later in the game (usually a gaming no-no), it’s presented as a plot device which makes it interesting and not tedious.

What I enjoyed most about the game was the interactions between the characters. In particular War’s conversations with Samael the demon and Micheal the Archangel were very well animated and the voice overs where top notch. If only the lines made a bit more sense – it was sort of like seeing actor’s on par with Tom Hanks, or Mel Gibson, being forced to act out the script from “Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead.

I enjoyed the game. I wish the subject matter had a little more depth, and I’m almost think it would have made a better short story, or movie than video game.

For those who enjoy, or at least don’t mind, grinding their way through a typical goth-adventure game, I would recommend it. Otherwise, outside of the appeal of it’s (loose) religious context, there isn’t too much here for anyone else. My final score: 6.5/10.

Speak softly and carry a large, large... very large, sword.