Shane
The Apocalypse was started early, dooming mankind. Of the Four Horsemen, one was deemed responsible, accused without precedence. Now you must free one of your brothers and uncover the truth – as Death.
Darksiders II follows on, directly from the first game, where you took control of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War has been imprisoned for the last 100 years by the Charred Counsel for a crime he quite possibly did not commit; starting the Apocalypse prematurely.
Knowing that this is an unfounded 
accusation on his Brother, Death takes up the reigns, literally and upon horseback and foot embarks on a hack’n’slash adventure, very similar but also very different to the previous title.
War was the protagonist of the first Darksiders, released in 2010. Asides from a few insanely hard bosses, gameplay was free flow killing, destruction and collecting.
Darksiders II has taken what made the first one the killer title that it was and expanded upon it immensely by adding in vastly expansive areas to explore and RPG elements.
From chests littered around the environments and items the defeated foes drop, you can equip armour and better weaponry to aide you as you progress through. A skill tree sets the Leveling up, whereby you earn Skill Points by filling up your in-game Experience Meter and squander them based on your available class and the available enhancements under Wrath Skills.
You will have two types of weapons, Primary and Secondary. The Primary one is your scythe, which can be enhanced and the secondary varies to what you want to equip (providing you have either bought or collected them); axes claws and hammers.
You will spend a bit of the game redirecting backwards to resolve a quest or purchase items with gold collected (replaces the Soul Currency from the first Darksiders), but in all your quests or missions are picked up by talking with other beings and information gathering.
This is all narrative driven and you will find that the entire plot becomes ever so intriguing as get nearer to the truth of War’s convictions.
What is the ancient
evil that has an overwhelming and destructive grudge. Where is the Tree of Life and what’s happening with it?
Death is able to leap and bound like the best of them. You’ll be thrown into getting used to wall running, beam balancing and using Despair (Death’s Horse) as required.
All set within the Nether Realm, a place between Heaven and Hell, you will need to get the assistance of some of those you come in to contact with aswell; Guardians, the Makers and even some unlikely allies.
From lush tree laden environments, expansive old world cities, dungeons (oh, there’s a lot of those – infact one area can have more Dungeon environments that the entire first Darksiders game) through to fiery wastelands and grassy fields, this Earth-like place is filled with mysteries yet to be discovered.
As there are soooo many side
quests available that are not specific to the completion of the game (most are picked up from within the city’s hubs), they make the re-playability of Darksiders II paramount.
Whatsmore if you complete the game, you can replay, retaining your current Level sets. Naturally the enemies that you will come up against will match that Level, so don’t expect Darksiders II to be a walk in the park, even after you complete it.
A killer title for console and the best of all main characters to control, Darksiders II is a clear winner.
If it were not for a bit of screen tearing (graphical glitch) on the 360 version I would have classed it as a near perfect game. It is presented in a cell shaded graphic style to reflect that dark comic book feel we got from the first Darksiders. This really keeps this franchise unique and retains a signature appearance.
Can Death really be the saviour for all of mankind? With all that he touches shrivels and dies, can he really save all Creation?
That’s entirely upto you.
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Genre: Action
Platform: Playstation 3 / Xbox 360
Publisher: THQ
No. of Players: 1
