And the Lord said, "let their be Darkness..." 3/5

Bookies gave him a 10/1 chance at the Gold Cup

Death-inately worth a go?

Well once you're back in the room after I sent you reeling with that haymaker of a Pun-ch...lets talk game-lore for a moment...

Darksiders 2 manages to encapsulate more than one kind of Lore that the player will be familiar...there are norsk, Roman, Greek and Anglo-saxon references in there, not to mention a healthy dollop of Original content from the good people at THQ (may they rest in piece), before their creative excellence was torn apart and shared amongst those left sitting at the table - like some kind of gaming-Brioche. It's this lore that opens a big door to the player, using the increasingly modern (and deliciously simple) cartoon/Voice over cut-scenes, and you are ushered in quickly and smoothly. The transition from Living room to Living dead in this game is subtle, but excellently employed and within seconds i liked the look, liked the character, liked the game...

"...The Transition from Living room to Living dead in this game is subtle, but excellently employed..."

How does it play out?

His left shoulder-guard added protection, but the right one was
useful only for slow removal of road-kill...

Many, many years ago, at a party for popular Game Franchises Prince of Persia was drowning their sorrows at yet another film raping the content of a popular platform. Seeing an opportunity, and never one to miss such a thing, Ninja Gaiden stepped up... 4 cocktails later they found themselves locked in bathroom, getting on the good foot and doing the bad thing.
The love-child that drunken fondle spewed forth, was Darksiders - a mixture of both, unique in it's own way, but having lost some of the original features that endeared us to the others.
In short, it guns for both Physical, Free-running, puzzle-solving fun with big-weapon,hack-and-slash, combo action...and though elements of both are available - it also misses the more enjoyable, more detailed aspects of those gaming styles.

"...and though elements of both are available - it also misses the more enjoyable, more detailed aspects of those gaming styles..."
 

Then of course one should remember that, as it's THQ, you're going to spend hours chasing round and collecting small items...This is no different for Darksiders II - but you are rewarded in a Character Progression sense so though the old tricks are the same, the pay-off is more enjoyable.

Chu-Chu-Chu-Chunk it up!

So in short - this is a well crafted game. The look is good, the character enjoyable and it's relatively easy to master...but that may also be it's downfall. By the second Dungeon, I knew what to expect from the puzzle solving and though newer elements are introduced, there is more repetition here than perhaps holds my attention... Alongside that, by the 3rd boss i'd got the general way in which they'd decided to design the bosses - Isolate a weakness then repeat. Something i'm familiar with doing, though i admit not in such beautiful surroundings, many many years ago for far more simple games.

Though i'm told that no-one bought up this franchise in the THQ Yard sale, word on the street from Platinum Games is that they're interested in buying it...on the cheap. The prospect of giving this franchise their slant on platform games, excites me greatly... Lets hope there's another party in the future and that Darksiders and Bayonetta share a bottle of Vodka and creep into the back of a Ford Escort - it's a beautiful thing.