I imagine that Darksiders was designed in one of two ways: Either this game swam around in its chief architect's head for the last decade (and they've been taking detailed notes over the years), or it was created by a committee with a mission statement of "Make a game that apes other successful games." Darksiders isn't a God of War clone (as most coverage might have you believe), but is instead more a fusion of God of War and the Legend of Zelda. Combine these two unlikely partners with a handful of great game design derivatives -- like the ability to slow time and wield portal guns -- and you get a game that, by all rights, should have suffered greatly for trying to do too much. Against those odds, Darksiders is mostly successful: Despite its unoriginal nature (and occasionally threadbare use of its cooler ideas), Darksiders comes together surprisingly well.

If you've paid much attention to any Darksiders preview coverage, I wouldn't blame you for thinking it's all about the combat. And if that's what you're looking forward to, the game doesn't disappoint -- the fighting in Darksiders is great. While it starts off a little slowly (with single-button mashing usually winning the day), it evolves into a challenge on par with the games it emulates, giving you an arsenal of combos to employ and a host of upgrades to purchase. It also borrows the strangely satisfying finishing moves from Kratos' playbook, but these are accomplished in single-button presses rather than a series of troublesome quick-time events, allowing you to focus on over-the-top demon dissections.


Mangling mobs of enemies with your sword is fun and all, but that alone would just make Darksiders a competent clone. Thankfully, the adventure -- the Frankenstein of ideas that it is -- mixes things up by throwing in massive environmental puzzles, with the dungeons themselves becoming some of your most formidable enemies. Oftentimes I found myself grinding through enemies as quickly as I could in order to reach the next Zelda-esque dungeon puzzle, where whole rooms would be dedicated to making me think of cool and inventive ways to use my acquired abilities. For instance, one room necessitated the use my grappling hook to grab a bomb, which I then threw at an exploding surface, uncovering a spot for me to use my portal gun (yes, just like the portal gun from Portal, only more constrained as to where it works)... all of which worked toward getting me to a previously unreachable doorway. And don't worry about them all being as easy as that; the puzzles get difficult, and break up the battle sequences nicely.

I enjoyed the heck out of Darksiders, but something I'd love to have seen -- and would really like to see in a sequel (please, please, let there be a sequel) -- is a deeper implementation of the various items and abilities. While some items, like the aforementioned portal gun, are used for the remainder of the game after they're obtained, others only retain their usefulness for the duration of a specific dungeon, or for going back and finding a previously inaccessible item in a prior area. All I'm saying is, if the developers take the time to include so many great tools, they might as well find ways to make them perpetually useful. The alternative is what happens in Darksiders: Certain items always stay in your hot slots, while others sit in your inventory, on the off-chance that they might be needed at some point.


While no feature in Darksiders stands out as truly unique -- even the story, with its Heaven vs. Hell bits, somehow feels a little tired in these days of apocalypse-happy books and movies -- its borrowed parts combine to form a game that's not just competent, but good. Sure, it's more than a little familiar at times -- and on more than one occasion I said, "I remember that from game X," -- but Darksiders is proof that what's old can truly be made new again.

Editor's Note: While I ultimately don't feel it changes the game significantly enough to alter the score, the Xbox 360 version of Darksiders has screen-tearing issues that could detract from the experience for some players.