Review a Bad Game Day 2012- Darksiders
Well, today is a fun day! The first annual Review a Bad Game Day, where we the gaming community at large gather and each of us picks a game we think is bad and review it. It’s a very fun idea and I’m proud to be a part of it. As soon as it was announced, almost everyone picked a retro game. I love that and I love my retro gaming friends. I figured I would be expected to do a retro game as well. I wanted to surprise you and do something more current. My bad game review is Darksiders.
I know a lot of you liked Darksiders, and I know a lot of you are probably very excited for Darksiders II. Well, sorry. I just didn’t like it. At all. Now, it is by no means the worst game I ever played *cough* Superman 64 *cough* but I just didn’t like it at all. I also didn’t like Skyrim, but I recognized that it was a good game and I did understand why people loved it so much. I can not say the same for Darksiders. You play as War, one of the 4 Horseman. War gets falsely accused of starting the apocalypse and must clear his name or else suffer the sentence of death.
I must admit, I was pretty excited about the concept, it sounded great. Then I saw the character design which looked like War’s shirt was a magnet that attracted every known object in the universe to it and then draped a cloak over it. I thought, eh it could still be good. It wasn’t. I was told that it was a Legend of Zelda clone. LIES. It was very little more than a hack and slash disappointment of a game. I know he eventually gains projectile weapons and magic attacks but if the story is so boring and the game play is so bland that I am tired of playing the game before I get to that point, who cares? Speaking of the story, am I to believe that the full armies of Heaven and hell are not able to defeat the 4 horsemen? Mmmmm, not doing it for me. Now, I will give this game its saving grace. They cast Mark Hamill as the voice of the Watcher, who was assigned to watch War as he tries to figure out who set him up and kill him if he gets off task. The council wasn’t messing around. Also, they really got creative with his character name. I’m reminded of Mitch Hedberg’s skit about the Kitchen Appliance Naming Institute. “Just say what it does and add -er.”
At the end of the day, I couldn’t get very far in Darksiders. Not because of the difficulty, but because I just couldn’t take it anymore. It seemed to me as if they had a ton of great game ideas and then acted on none of them. So, for my entry in the very first Review a Bad Game Day, it was beyond time for me to let my feelings on this game be known to the universe. Don’t forget to check out reviewabadgameday.com to see links to everyone else’s bad game reviews! Also keep an eye on videogaminghardcorps.com as we’ll be celebrating over there as well all day. Lastly from me to you, may all of your game experiences be turd free.
Summary: This was a game full of unrealized great ideas. Sad.
2.1
Yuck!
About the Author
Tom Hall I like to play video games and chew bubble gum; and I'm all out of gum. Check out my work on Video Gaming Hard Corps, InRetroSpection, 1 More Castle, Dojo Retro, and Jetpack Ninjas.
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I'd been thinking about checking the series out, nice to have some potential flaws pointed out before hand, may reconsider the purchase. Nice to see a more modern game getting a thrashing in Review a bad Game Day as well!
You know, if you're on the fence, I'd say rent it and see if you like it or not. A lot of people loved this game, I just wasn't personally among them.
You complain about the seemingly boring gameplay, but Zelda has the same issue. Cut grass and enemies, use special items, win. Darksiders felt the same, for the most part. I enjoy both franchises.
I have to disagree. Until recent installments, Zelda always brought something uniquely fun to the table. Even when the beginning of the games didn't have a lot of game play, they either had puzzles or a compelling enough story to keep you playing until you got to the cool weapons, items, and magic. Darksiders seemed to want to do all of that, but just couldn't get it done.
I like that this is short and sweet. I don't know much about this game, but now it seems like I don't want to know any more. Thanks for this! Good job!
Personally, I never read long reviews so I didn't want to write one. Yeah I'd say stay clear of this game. Thanks for the compliment!
[...] celebrating in high gear here at VGHC. Victor has posted his review already, and I have posted a review of Darksiders on my personal site. In addition, Joshua Caleb and I recorded an episode of InRetroSpection for [...]