Saturday, July 30, 2011

Need for Speed: The Run Isn't Always Running on Foot

To be honest, my simultaneously complimentary yet sarcastic description for the original Darksiders would be, "one helluva cover band." There is nary an original element within it -- its skill lies not in innovation, but in execution. The developers at Vigil simply wanted to make, "a badass version of The Legend of Zelda," and for the most part, they succeeded -- as well as mine from the likes of Devil May Cry, Prince of Persia, and Portal. So when I get a chance to see a demonstration of Darksiders 2, I take it mainly to see if the developers again follow the, "do what's been done before, but well" path.

So I get a bit of context -- how the story takes place concurrently (rather than subsequently) with the first game by focusing on earning War's freedom during his 100-year imprisonment. About how you play as War's brother, Death -- who resembles an amalgamation of Soul Reaver's Raziel, He-Man's Skeletor, The Darkness' Jackie Estacado, and creative director Joe Madureira's design sensibilities. Yet I'm already noticing a callback to another game: Death, unlike his burly and armor-clad brother War from the previous title, moves much faster. He doesn't bother blocking -- he prefers to dodge or evade. Rather than wield a large sword, he brandishes a scythe in each arm. His speed, evasion maneuver, and dual-wielding of bladed weapons instantly echo Kratos from God of War. It's while watching this combat demonstration, and writing, "moves and fights like Kratos" in my notes, do I hear a Vigil representative talk about RPG mechanics like a loot system; which is certainly different than the last game.

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