D
arksiders Genesis is essentially a buddy-
cop movie set in Hell. It sees two of the four
horsemen of the apocalypse – War and Strife –
dispatched by the arbiters of reality, known as the Charred
Council, to check up on Lucifer. Shockingly, the Council
believes that the lord of Hell might have been misbehaving,
and wants to the horsemen to set Satan straight.
As with every Darksiders game, the story is hot
nonsense and all the better for it. The script gleefully
revels in the absurd machinations of Hell’s various
demonic overlords, while the rapport between the two
protagonists is never less than delightful. Strife is the axe
to War’s grindstone, constantly chatting, jibing and joking
while War grunts and harrumphs his vaguely irritated
replies. It’s a classic straight man/jester act – it’s just that
the performers happen to be the harbingers of doom.
The two characters also form Genesis’ key mechanical
gimmick, as each of them has a unique fighting style.
War is all brawn and blades, getting in close and hacking
at enemies with his sword. Strife, on the other hand, is a
gunslinger, preferring to blast opponents with his twin
pistols. Genesis is designed as a cooperative game, with two
players each controlling a character, but it’s entirely possible
to play through the game as a single player, with Genesis
letting you switch between the two heroes at any point.
The combat is slick and satisfying, and it evolves
pleasingly across the course of the game. As you
progress, you’ll unlock new moves, new special powers
such as War’s ability to create a ring of stabbing blades
around himself, and new weapon modes such as Strife’s
charge-shot. Unlike, say, Diablo, Genesis isn’t exclusively
a combat game, with puzzle-platforming sections thatwork surprisingly well given the isometric viewpoint. To
complement this half of the game, certain items in your
inventory are designed as much for puzzling as fighting.
These include Void Grenades, which create portals you
can use to access new areas, and War’s boomerang-like
spinning blade, which can activate remote switches.
Mechanically, there’s little wrong with Genesis.
Instead, the game’s main problem is the emphasis on
replaying levels. Character progress is geared in such
a way that you’ll always be slightly
underpowered for the coming stage.
The idea is to encourage players
to go back to older levels and use
new equipment to explore new
paths, but it ends up just making you
feel like you’re being forced to grind,
which is particularly frustrating given
the game has such a propulsive
forward momentum. Despite this,
Genesis remains a well-crafted bit
of ridiculous action, and upholds the
series’ well-earned reputation for
punching above its weight.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
Despite a rather
grindy midgame,
Darksiders Genesis
is a finely crafted
ARPG spin-off.OVERALL SCORE
80 %%
GENESIS
+^ Delightfully^
daft story
+^ Cracking combat
+^ Fun puzzling
elementEXEGESIS-^ Annoying
emphasis
on grind
Darksiders Genesis
/ £24.29 inc VAT
DEVELOPER Airship Syndicate / PUBLISHER THQ NordicD
arksiders Genesis is essentially a buddy-
cop movie set in Hell. It sees two of the four
horsemen of the apocalypse – War and Strife –
dispatched by the arbiters of reality, known as the Charred
Council, to check up on Lucifer. Shockingly, the Council
believes that the lord of Hell might have been misbehaving,
and wants to the horsemen to set Satan straight.
As with every Darksiders game, the story is hot
nonsense and all the better for it. The script gleefully
revels in the absurd machinations of Hell’s various
demonic overlords, while the rapport between the two
protagonists is never less than delightful. Strife is the axe
to War’s grindstone, constantly chatting, jibing and joking
while War grunts and harrumphs his vaguely irritated
replies. It’s a classic straight man/jester act – it’s just that
the performers happen to be the harbingers of doom.
The two characters also form Genesis’ key mechanical
gimmick, as each of them has a unique fighting style.
War is all brawn and blades, getting in close and hacking
at enemies with his sword. Strife, on the other hand, is a
gunslinger, preferring to blast opponents with his twin
pistols. Genesis is designed as a cooperative game, with two
players each controlling a character, but it’s entirely possible
to play through the game as a single player, with Genesis
letting you switch between the two heroes at any point.
The combat is slick and satisfying, and it evolves
pleasingly across the course of the game. As you
progress, you’ll unlock new moves, new special powers
such as War’s ability to create a ring of stabbing blades
around himself, and new weapon modes such as Strife’s
charge-shot. Unlike, say, Diablo, Genesis isn’t exclusively
a combat game, with puzzle-platforming sections that
work surprisingly well given the isometric viewpoint. To
complement this half of the game, certain items in your
inventory are designed as much for puzzling as fighting.
These include Void Grenades, which create portals you
can use to access new areas, and War’s boomerang-like
spinning blade, which can activate remote switches.
Mechanically, there’s little wrong with Genesis.
Instead, the game’s main problem is the emphasis on
replaying levels. Character progress is geared in such
a way that you’ll always be slightly
underpowered for the coming stage.
The idea is to encourage players
to go back to older levels and use
new equipment to explore new
paths, but it ends up just making you
feel like you’re being forced to grind,
which is particularly frustrating given
the game has such a propulsive
forward momentum. Despite this,
Genesis remains a well-crafted bit
of ridiculous action, and upholds the
series’ well-earned reputation for
punching above its weight.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
Despite a rather
grindy midgame,
Darksiders Genesis
is a finely crafted
ARPGspin-off.OVERALL SCORE
80 %%
GENESIS
+ Delightfully^
daftstory
+ Crackingcombat
+ Fun puzzling
elementEXEGESIS- Annoying
emphasis
on grind
Darksiders Genesis
/£24.29 inc VAT
DEVELOPER Airship Syndicate / PUBLISHER THQ Nordic