Darksiders II PS3 Review

Harness the power of Death himself, a legendary Horseman of the Apocalypse, in the stunning "Darksiders II," one of the most purely enjoyable and accomplished games of 2012 to date. It's not a game for everyone. You have to get excited about trudging through dungeons for hours on end (the game runs nearly twenty hours and that's not even with all side missions completed and little time spent sight-seeing) merely to gain access to another dungeon while facing wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. For the right audience, traveling through locations like The Crystal Spire and The Tree of the Dead while you wield weapons like the Brutal Scythes of Lightning and Eldritch Buckler of Frost or special powers like Soul Splitter and Deathgrip has an inherent draw in that there aren't enough fantasy action games for what is typically a loyal audience. That audience looking for intense action in a fantasy universe is likely to be overwhelmingly happy with their time in the underworld of "Darksiders II." I know that I was.

• Publisher: THQ
  
• Developer: Vigil Games
  
• ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
  
• Genre: Fantasy Action
  
• Release Date: August 14, 2012
  
• Pros: Non-Stop Action, Hours of Gameplay, Inventive Puzzle Creation, Variety of Enemies
  
• Cons: Occasional Frame Rate Issues, Some Repetitive Storytelling Elements

Believe it or not, "Darksiders II" is a game about family. It is about Death coming to the aid and protection of his brother War and going on a quest that illuminates his own lineage and potential future. Of course, it's also about slicing and dicing with an increasingly-powerful scythe. Across numerous levels of gameplay (don't worry, as I did, when you see the first map...it's not the only one) that take you up to Earth, down to Hell, and several strata in between, Death spills millions of gallons of blood and sends the undead back to the Hell portal from whence they came. The gameplay of destruction gets slightly repetitive but the unlocking of new powers, new weapons, and new ways of solving increasingly difficult-to-traverse dungeons keeps the game fresh for multiple days of gameplay. It's an absolute blast, one of the most entertaining video games that I've played all year.

"Darksiders II" takes place concurrently with the first game but truly expands on the universe of that underrated title in the ways we always want a sequel to do. It's no mere rehash of "Darksiders." From the very beginning, this game has its own identity and yet echoes what worked best about its predecessor. It has similar but not identical combat, enemies, and worlds. In almost every way, it is an improvement on the last game in both quantity and quality.

Like the saga of Death's brother War, "Darksiders II" follows what could be called a "God of War" model of combat and storytelling. Action is built on a "light attack, heavy attack, combo" system of combat not unlike the hit "God of War" games. And, like those games, much of "Darksiders II" is comprised of puzzle solving your way through dungeons. The developers keep those elements stunningly fresh by constantly granting Death new powers. For example, at the beginning, Death is merely trying to roll the right ball into the right hole to activate the right lever. By the end, he's ripping apart time and space to solve puzzles like something out of "Portal 2."

One of the most important elements of a game like "Darksiders II" is the difficulty/power curve of the arc of the experience. An action game that runs twenty hours has to be constantly refreshing itself with greater powers, stronger enemies, and new lands to explore. "Darksiders II" is masterful at this art of the action game. Every time I thought the game was threatening to get repetitive, it would throw me a curve by granting me a new power to defeat a new enemy. As soon as you tire of a certain kind of puzzle-solving, the game introduces another one. When one weapon gets boring, you'll find another a chest holding something wickedly cool to wield. I was simply never bored playing "Darksiders II" and there few games that can keep up this level of entertainment for twenty-plus hours. The game sucks you in and keeps you engaged in a more complete way than nearly any game so far this year.

If I'm being honest with myself, there are a few issues. The storytelling gets a bit lackluster and silly. I have to admit that I wasn't as drawn to Death as a leading man as I was to War. The story of "Darksiders II" forces Death to play fetch a bit more often than I'd like. "Go find this key to open this door to find another key to open another door." Those easily frustrated by this kind of game writing are going to be the most turned-off by "Darksiders II" and the title's biggest flaw is easily in its screenwriting since the combat is simply perfect.

"Darksiders II" looks great. The worlds of this game are beautifully rendered and only near the end do they suffer from a bit of frame rate complications as the action gets intense. Overall, I adored the design of this game. The look of Death's journey is one of the title's greatest strengths. On a sound level, it's a bit more generic but Jesper Kyd's score deserves positive mention. The man who scored all of the "Assassin's Creed" games (which are amazing compositions), "Borderlands," and much more has delivered a beauty here. A video game score might not be an element you'd first consider when judging it but it's one of those ingredients that adds to the overall experience in a crucial way.

If I step back and consider that a couple of repetitive hours of action and silly storytelling could probably have been cut from "Darksiders II," I could get critical. However, this is one of those games that is difficult for a video game critic in that I can only be honest with my gut response as I was playing it and I had an absolute blast. THQ is releasing downloadable content 30 days after launch. It's marked on my calendar.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.