Exploration of the game world may seem at first as though it's on pretty much a linear path, there's not really a lot of wandering in different directions to be done and most of the time your path is laid out before you in a relatively straightforward manner, however if you play the game like that you're going to be missing out on a lot of the good stuff. The game positively encourages you to go back and visit areas you've already been through once you've acquired new trinkets to help you along your way, at a certain point Vulgrim will offer to open up his serpent tunnels, again at a price but not as high as you first suspect, for your use which you can use to instantly transport you to another area on the map, later on in the game you'll be reintroduced to your horse, Ruin, once Horseman is reunited with his Horse you can travel the map quickly, attacking enemies from the saddle and truly getting into the role of Death. Sometimes you'll happen across a puzzle, you'll be required to do things in a certain order to gain access to an area blocked off by either a door or some kind of demon seal. The Watcher thrust upon you by The Council does more than just watch you to make sure you don't step out of line, you can summon him from your armor at any time and he can give you helpful hints if you're stuck and don't know what to try next, or, just plain out and out insult you which can lead to some humorous moments. There's also stuff to collect, chests that contain healthy quantities of souls in all their guises can be found hidden away in suspicious back alleys that might not always be obvious to the eye although to help you find these you can also acquire a map which will reveal there locations. There are also artifacts to collect; returning these to Vulgrim will earn you more currency which of course you can spend with him.
The fighting in the game can be quite frustrating at times, this isn't just down to one particular element though, it's a combination of things, you can be fighting various enemies at any one time, normally this isn't a problem but sometimes they'll be accompanied by one of the more powerful demons, good game practice would be to eliminate the smaller ones before taking on the main beastie, but the fighting mechanism that allows you to lock onto an enemy to direct your attacks solely in one direction will quite often lock onto the big beastie instead, flicking your camera in the opposite direction and leaving you flailing your big sword in the wrong direction or into the midst of an attack against you. The camera will also track quite close to you at some points leaving your behind quite exposed and leaving you venerable to attacks. It sometimes makes things especially bad when you have two or more of the bigger demons attacking you as they can launch devastating attacks on you and you've no chance to see them coming and you're dead before you know it. This isn't the only time the controls let you down, there's sequences where you mount a flying horse and take to the skies, you're given a targeting ring to aim your weapon at the various enemies that attack, but, if you invert the controls then while you're aiming reticule is inverted the flight controls aren't leaving you to cope with pushing down on the left stick to fly down and pushing down on the right one to aim upwards, it can become quite confusing and frustrating and certainly doesn't add to the game experience any and slightly ruins any enjoyment that can be gained from these alternative sequences. None of that is to say that the game it is a total let down when it comes to the controls, it's not, most of the time the controls handle smoothly and there isn't a problem, it's just the odd section that feels wrong and it's because the controls are so fluid in the normal game environment that when there are problems they seem to be highlighted somewhat.
The graphics in the game are all nice and sharp and really quite colourful in places, Vigil games if you didn't know was co-founded by prolific comic book artist Joe Madureira probably best known for his work on Marvels Uncanny X-Men books and his own original creation, the short lived but madly popular Battle Chasers. Fans of Madureira will no doubt recognise his art style taking a strong influence on the graphics in Darksiders and as such they come across with a distinct comic bookesque appearance. Death in particular is well animated as are many of the enemies you come across; the backdrop to the world is well done for the most part although you do seem to come across some rather bland and dull textures that seem somewhat out of place in the otherwise lush environment. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of variety in some of the graphics either, statues appear more than once in various places and at times the world can appear very block based and not very organic. Whether that was to add to the comic book feel of the game or just some other kind of flaw that got overlooked, they don't detract too much from the game so these can be easily forgiven. Sound in the game is handled with the same high quality as the graphics, the spot effects and the music are both of a high standard, the voice acting in the game is well above average, and lend themselves well to the game; Liam O' Brian lends War his voice and fan favourite Mark Hamill lends his voice to the role of The Watcher with Moon Bloodgood providing the dulcet tones of Uriel.
Overall Darksiders is a good game, it's only real problem is that it's all been done before and therefore doesn't bring anything new to the demon sacrifice; it borrows heavily and unashamedly from other games, rolls them all up into a tight bundle and presents itself to you for your gaming pleasure. The hack and slash action of the game can without doubt be likened to the God of War franchise and the RPG element of the game is inevitably going to be likened to the Zelda series of games but don't let that put you off, at least the borrowed elements are done to a high standard and don't ever feel like a cheap knock off.
Vigil Games have done a good job with this game and you can't help but have high hopes from them in the future. Darksiders is without doubt a game that should be played and enjoyed for what it is, there's well over ten hours worth of action to be found in the game and the story is one that will keep you hooked during that time, if all games of 2010 are going to be of this high quality then we're certainly going to be in for a good year indeed.
