Darksiders: Wrath of War

[Error]

Man, I just beat The Stygian. That was some epic shit right there. Now it's time for the creepy crawlies

[James]

I wish I could tell you but I can't. Just all the sudden I can no longer use one of the items...I can assugn it and everything, but when I use the Dpad to select it, it makes the equipping sound but it just keeps the previous item equipped.

Ah, ok. Thanks for the warning, then, and good luck sorting it out.

So that's item #3 for patch- equip bug, screen tearing, and having to constantly reset the damn camera options every time I turn the game back on.

James

[Yoshi]

It's unlikely a patch is going to fix tearing. It's pretty clear the developers chose to forget V-sync in the 360 version to get a better framerate, while they did the opposite on the PS3 version. It's a pretty common performance trade off, unfortunately.

[Joust Williams]

there is a patch coming for that

my issue, though --

[BioMechanic]

All these Soul Reaver comparisons is piquing my interest.

[James]

Interest is well worth being piqued. I bought Bayonetta and Darksiders on the same day, and opened Darksiders first simply because I've played the Bayonetta demo. Bayonetta is still sitting in its plastic wrap.

James

[Glass Joe]

All these Soul Reaver comparisons is piquing my interest.

Do it, you won't be sorry.

[Despair]

I love how Ashlands level completely changes gameplay in the middle from puzzle and exploration to crazy shootouts, and then comes the epic boss battle and badass ride.

[Error]

I loved standing in that arena. And then throwing down and kicking ass, in that arena.

I'm in the Black Tower now. They've added Portal to the list of games they imitated. Once again it's not a negative either.

[Cowutopia]

Ok. Rented this. About 3 hours in so far.

First off, all you fucking children are way too impressed by deep throated demons and huge swords. The story is a boring, recycled shitfest and I had to put subtitles on because I can't understand what half the people are saying. At least you don't look all girly like Dante, but on the other hand your character is like some kind of loyal horse with blinders on, much less interesting than Dante, and Dante barely has a character.

Second: the world is ugly. Forget Zelda comparisons in the graphics department. Once again, think DMC with less style, or God of War with no Greek theme to rely on to make things interesting.

The controls are decent. Too many holding button combos for me at first but I'm getting the hang of it, though I'd like to have the choice to map quick actions to the control pad and have gear equipped using the hold LB jazz. You know, invert it. I'm pretty pissed that I can't up the speed of the camera rotation along the x-axis. I can up the speed in aim mode but not regular camera mode, and it's just too slow. It encourages you to use LT lock-on but the lock isn't smooth, the camera jumps coupled with the screen tearing can be a little disorienting with the frantic pace of combat.

Where are the Zelda comparisons coming from? The idea that you're on some kind of quest and have to go through a bunch of areas to do it? So far the game is absurdly linear. Just because they drop you in a big area doesn't mean there's any exploration or reason to explore. Nothing has been hidden so far. It's been the formula of walk around large area to corners, fight a few monsters, get chest of health/artifact/thing, then walk into another corner. The levels are just empty space with shatterable things hanging out here and there. Camera controls while you are on walls are annoying. It's nice that you can move quickly on walls and pipes God of War style, but that's just it. I hope I'm just not far enough in the game yet.

There's nothing about this game so far that does not resemble a God of War/DMC hybrid so far. I really hope shit opens up so I can come in and amend shit. I've just finished killing Tiamat. As for new gameplay things, so far there's been some variety but nothing I haven't seen from GoW and DMC.

Also: There is a combo system in place but I can't see any rewards for keeping a combo going. Unlike DMC, it doesn't seem like you get paid out extra souls for nailing a large combo. The "press B for finishing move" is straight from God of War but GoW's extra 3 QTE's were actually fun. It's easier than Ninja Gaiden and God of War, about on par with DMC. I almost prefer Zelda combat to this pace, it's mostly just swinging your sword in circles to tag everyone until everyone is ready for instant kills while dodging super attacks.

Recap: The animations are nice. The combat is solid. The graphics are average, the tearing is miserable, and the exploration is slim to none. Coupled with the shit story and awful dialogue and lacking any kind of charm the Zelda series brings, I hope to god the world opens up and gives me reason to explore a bit.

I can see the idea of new artifacts opening up old areas but god forbid I have to revisit any of these first areas again.

The guide character here is even more annoying than N'avi and never should pop up unless you call for it. Everyone speaks in adolescent threats all the time.