Darksiders | 
| From: THQ
Category: Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy Used: $16.97
as of 9/8/2010 07:06 CDT details
You Save: $23.02 (58%)
New (49) Used (33) Collectible (1) from $16.97
Seller: goHastings
Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 817
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: role_playing_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Xbox 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 7.4 x 0.6
Legal Disclaimer: We do not in any way represent that any part we sell is legal to possess in your jurisdiction. Check with you local authorities to ensure it is legal for you to possess before buying!
MPN: 55055
Model: 55055
UPC: 752919550557
EAN: 0752919550557
ASIN: B001D7T2VM
Publication Date: December 31, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Use War's extreme arsenal of angelic and demonic weapons to Unleash War's fury on enemies, and use virtually anything within your environment as a weapon (lamp posts, cars, buses...) | | • | Experience the God-like Power of War, Horseman of the Apocalypse: a combination of brutal attacks, supernatural abilities and seamless traversal that delivers intense action combat and adventure. | | • | Open World Exploration allows player to discover hidden secrets as you explore the vast terrain of a ruined Overworld, and ward off relentless enemies. | | • | As a Horseman of the Apocalypse use the services of your phantom steed Ruin as you blaze a trail through enemies and across devastated environments. | | • | Graphic novel art style by Joe Madureira (X-Men, Battle Chasers, The Ultimates) highlights a unique visual art style and original storyline. |
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Product Description
Darksiders X360
Amazon.com Product Description
Darksiders is a third-person, single player action/adventure game inspired by the characters, themes and mythology of the apocalypse and the battle of Armageddon described by the Book of Revelation. But this modern interpretation is not your run of the mill Sunday school stroll through the New Testament. In the game players take on the role of "War," one of the dread Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But things are not as they were. 
Devastating weapons arsenal.
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Upgradable abilities.
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Enemies from heaven & hell.
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Fight & explore atop your mount.
View larger. | Once the unstoppable and just wielder of divine retribution, War is now reduced in stature and cast out amongst the ruined lands of the Earth that he himself devastated. All that remains is the search for the truth behind his betrayal and the survival of its consequences. The Story
Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of the world, War - the first Horseman of the Apocalypse - stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between heaven and hell. Dishonored and stripped of his powers, War must return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible. But there is no clear definition of good and evil in this tale. Hunted by a vengeful group of angels, War must take on the forces of Hell, forge uneasy alliances with the very demons he hunts, and journey across the ravaged remains of the Earth on his quest for vindication. But the answers he seeks will reveal a deep conspiracy in which War will find, and have to resign himself to the reality that although once the hand of God, he is just a pawn in the eternal battle between heaven and hell. Gameplay
A mix of exploration and fast-paced action gameplay, Darksiders is based on nonlinear play situations. That means that as War slowly regains his previous powers of destruction and carnage in order to continue his search for the origins and reasons for his betrayal, players will be able to backtrack to areas and scenarios that they may have left unexplored upon first discovery. Almost all areas of the game can be explored and some of the things players will find as they do so are treasure chests, health chests, and bonus life points, etc. The ability to go back and explore areas is important, especially as the game progresses and War finds himself up against enemies whose defeat require special skills and/or weaponry. As for combat gameplay, Darksiders features a variety of weapons--including blades and firearms--that can be used in combo moves or in single strikes. Some of these can be charged up for quick, but devastating attacks on enemies and all can be arranged on your controller's D-pad for easy and preferred access. Additional gameplay elements include the ability/necessity to fight from the back of your mount, Ruin, and the collection of the souls in the form of glowing orbs that fall to the ground as enemies are dispatched. The latter can be used to level up War with new items and abilities. Varied Characters and Environments
Although players take on the imposing role or War, Darksiders also contains a wide variety of equally intriguing and sometimes frightening characters. These include: an assortment of vengeful angels; demons, such as "the Jailer" whose body is made up of the remains of countless cadavers; a bestiary of wicked and vile creatures created to bolster the armies of hell on Earth; and Ruin, the trusty steed of War. Gameplay environments players will experience are equally varied, and include areas both underground and on the surface, that call to mind both familiar, if ruined modern urban environments, as well as ones seemingly pulled from the nightmarish scenes of the biblical apocalypse. Key Features
- Apocalyptic Power of War - Unleash the wrath of War, combining brutal attacks and supernatural abilities to decimate all who stand in your way.
- Extreme Arsenal - Wield a devastating arsenal of angelic, demonic, and Earthly weapons, and blaze a trail of destruction atop Ruin, War's fiery phantom steed.
- Epic Quest - Battle across the wastelands and demon-infested dungeons of the decimated Earth in your quest for vengeance and redemption.
- Character Progression - Uncover powerful ancient relics, upgrade your weapons, unlock new abilities, and customize your gameplay style.
- Battle Heaven and Hell - Battle against all who stand in your way—from war-weary angelic forces to hell's hideous demon hordes.
- Weapons and Gear - Darksiders features an extensive arsenal and inventory of weapons and gear.
- Varied Play Environments - Players will fight through varied environments, including those above and underground, and modern and nightmarishly mythical in design.
- Xbox LIVE - Although a single player game, Darksiders features Xbox LIVE achievements, content downloads and other features to heighten the gameplay experience.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 70
 A gamer's game? Hell yes. January 6, 2010
Colin Thompson (San Fernando Valley)
53 out of 56 found this review helpful
I'll preface this by cribbing lightly from early professional reviews. Yes, the game borrows concepts from GoW. Yes, there are aspects reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Toss in Devil May Cry and Portal while you're at it too.
Does the game suffer from this? Absolutely not.
I believe Darksiders will prove out to stand on its own merits:
Art/color/effects. The Darksiders world is painted vividly. Bloody, scarlet reds. Vivid, electric blues. Hellfire crackles and belches with palpable heat. Death effects are varying and plentiful. The Chaoseater rips through opponents with satisfying degrees of violence and gore. Joe Mad's character designs are top-notch, fresh, and lend strongly to the 'playing a comic book' feel. You'll like it or you won't - but I love it. The angel and demon designs, the shattered, demonically-warped landscape, the weaponry, War's armor - it's just awesome.
Voice acting. Mark Hamill is worth the price of admission. The other voice talents do an able job, but his role really stands out, and he does an impeccable job.
Combat. Button-mashers will find a lot to like. Newcomers will quickly feel at home with the combat setup. Experts won't feel like they're jogging around a dumbed-down rail-fighter. Combos are expressive and fun to achieve, and their resulting effects are satisfyingly brutal.
Story. I won't detail the twists and turns the story takes, but the fact that you're War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, sent back to Earth to figure out who screwed you over, and why, and kill everything standing in the way of that - it doesn't need to be any more cerebral. Revenge and justice are always a solid theme to an action slasher, and the story here doesn't fail.
The soul-currency system is a nice touch. There are many, many items in the destructive environment that will kick out souls that can be traded in as currency for new combat moves, weapon enhancements, health/rage buffs, etc. Some of these items raise an eyebrow (souls confined in a parking meter? ok.), but the gathering process is still fun.
Early boss fights are decent, but these battles really shine with selected increased difficulty.
The puzzles aren't terribly difficult. You're not going to employ any Half-Life 2-type problem-solving to figure them out, but they factor into the overall gameplay logically and seamlessly.
Some players might get hung up in the comparisons to other games in the genre. Others might see similarities or common themes as strengths - building on what gamers like, discarding other elements. My advice - enjoy Darksiders based on what you see, what you hear, and what you beat the holy (and unholy) crap out of in-game. Anticipate at least 17-20 solid hours of gameplay, with plenty to discover on subsequent playthroughs.
Start to finish, this game was a 9/10, and earned a spot on the shelf next to Halo 1-3, Fallout 3, CoD4, and Bioshock.
Darksiders is 3rd-Person Action/Adventure Perfection January 15, 2010
Operator1
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
Thank you Vigil. Finally, a game developer who 'gets it.' It's obvious that Darksiders was a labor of love, created by gamers, for gamers. I've played a lot of games over the years, and Darksiders masterfully crafts together the best elements of the genre while stripping out the garbage we could all do without. Why is Darksiders possibly the best pick-up-&-play action/adventure game ever?
+ Easy-to-learn, forgiving controls.
+ Variety of gameplay elements (swordplay, throwing objects, climbing, swinging, swimming, shooting, riding, treasure hunting, weapon upgrades, puzzle solving, etc.).
+ Beautiful artistic style, animation, and environments - if you've enjoyed Joe Madureira's art in other mediums, playing Darksiders is an awesome interactive experience that brings his artistic vision to life in high definition.
+ Frequently saved checkpoints, plus save-anytime feature, and multiple save blocks that can be copied between memory cards and hard drives.
+ Epic fantasy storyline.
+ Effective defensive moves (block and dash/dodge).
+ Easily-controllable camera/perspective.
+ Engaging puzzles that don't take forever to figure out and complete.
+ Fast-travel network to quickly move between distant previously-visited areas.
+ No 'artificial challenge' that handicaps and punishes players.
+ No flow-breaking, action-obscuring quick-time events.
+ No unskippable cut-scenes.
+ Amazing audio that artfully conveys the epic scale of the characters and battles.
+ On-screen mini-map (and full map on the paused game's options screen) keeps you from getting lost and wondering where to go next.
+ Saved slots are indicated with the location and play-time you saved at, along with your difficulty level and health, making it easy to remember which file to load among multiple saves.
Whoever crafted the controls and usability/accessibility features of this game deserves the gaming industry's most prestigious award and recognition. For all the different gameplay elements, the controls always feel fluid and familiar. Most of us play a variety of games, so familiarizing ourselves with a new game's control scheme (or re-familiarizing ourselves with an old favorite later) can be rough. Darksiders takes this pain away by keeping the controls simple and always displaying the appropriate controller button on-screen next to each actionable icon. Many gamers buy or rent used games that don't come with instruction manuals, and thankfully Darksiders can be quickly and easily grasped without ever laying eyes on a manual. Awesome, powerful attack combos can be pulled off with merely a couple button-presses. The on-screen tips (which are saved in a log accessible via the paused game's options screen) walk you through every step of the way. Any action that consumes resources (like a magical attack that use up your wrath meter) requires two buttons to be pressed simultaneously, so you never accidentally slip and hit the wrong button and waste your resources.
If you've played other popular contemporary action/adventure games, you'll likely find familiar gameplay elements here. Darksiders pays homage to the most fun aspects in popular gaming while leaving OUT the frustrations that are too common in most other games. Most thankfully, Darksiders AVOIDS the maddening handicaps that too many other games rely on to inject what I call 'artificial challenge:'
- Few and far-between save points (sometimes real life happens - the phone rings, a visitor knocks at the door, dinner's ready, etc. - and you don't have an hour to play until the next save point).
- Only allowing one save file (preventing you from having multiple games in-progress, or reverting to an earlier save point).
- Pathetic defense (no ability to block incoming attacks, limited ability to dodge incoming attacks, limited opportunity to take cover, etc.).
- Leaving you helplessly stunned/paralyzed and vulnerable for a brief period after sustaining damage, allowing enemies to endlessly juggle you to death.
- Convoluted control schemes and complex combo moves that are too long or tricky to reliably execute in the heat of battle.
- Scarce resources (never any health or ammo around when you need it).
- Obstructive camera perspectives that obscure your view of the action.
- Requiring you to swim through areas while only giving you very limited breath.
- Defeated enemies release floating orbs for you to collect, but you must be in very close proximity to receive them (I'm here to kick butt, not chase butterflies).
- Performing an attack move (or being attacked) too close to a ledge causes you to fall off that ledge.
- Falling off a ledge is an instant game-over, restarting you at a prior point.
+++ Darksiders does NOT punish the player with ANY of these buzz-kills. If you ever felt like throwing your game controller through your television out of frustration from cheap shots like this that other games shamelessly and repeatedly hit you with, then Darksiders will soothe those old wounds and renew your joy of gaming. Darksiders is by no means lacking in challenge, but it lets you focus on battling bad guys WITHOUT battling short-sighted, penalizing game mechanics. Darksiders doesn't keep finding cheap ways to end the fun and hinder your progress like many other games do. EVERY game developer should take serious notes on how smoothly and accessibly Darksiders flows for the player.
I have a hard time coming up with even minor things I would change about Darksiders:
- I've become spoiled the last few years on the auto-regenerating health systems that many popular games have, so I wish Darksiders didn't require the player to find health-replenishing items (although it partially compensates for this by providing plenty of health pick-ups and a weapon modifier that gives you a little health boost every time you inflict damage on enemies).
- I wish the enemies and bosses displayed a health meter so I could see how much damage my attacks are inflicting (to find the most effective attacks) and know how close (or far) I am to defeating an enemy.
- The screen that lists your available attacks for each weapon does not indicate what level each attack has been upgraded to (the only way to know is to check what the next level available for purchase is at a shop).
- The shop/purchase screen does not give you a last-minute confirming ('Are you sure you wish to buy this item?') back-out option when you buy something, so don't hit that 'buy' button accidentally.
- The shop/purchase screen does not show you how many of a particular item you may already be carrying in your inventory.
- While the 360-degree moveable camera perspective is great, I wish the speed/sensitivity of the camera movement was adjustable (sometimes I want to whip the camera around faster to get a view of something, but again, Darksiders partially compensates for this with the 'lock-on/focus' trigger that instantly resets the camera to the direction you're character is facing).
- There's a combo meter that counts your consecutive hits during fights, but I haven't seen any reward system that ties to racking up long combos (so why count them?).
- The only technical glitch I've noticed so far is some graphical screen-tearing.
Do yourself a favor and play Darksiders, and wrap yourself in a cozy blanket of fun, frustration-free action/adventure gaming. Do the gaming world a favor and buy this game to promote this kind of development so that future games will follow the fine example Darksiders sets. Vigil, please make sequels (and/or other games) that keep the same gamer-friendly spirit of Darksiders. Darksiders is not just a game - it's a gift to gamers.
Why this game is Awesome January 15, 2010
B. R. Huskey (Columbus, GA United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Why this game is Awesome.
I love this game. The graphics are great, the story is straightforward yet compelling, the combat is amazing, and the puzzles are challenging. Darksiders is a terrific game and a blast to play. All of the negative comments seem to be based on the fact that it is like "Prince of Persia, with elements of Zelda and God of War mixed in" or something to that effect. Well, I have never played any of those games, so to me it is just a great game. Imagine if someone told you a new movie was out that had the story and character motivation of The Lord of the Rings, the space battles of Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn, and the hyperkinetic light saber fights of Revenge of the Sith. Now imagine you had never seen any of those. You would probably think it was an awesome film. That is Darksiders. Don't listen to the negatives. This is a great game, and more to the point, really fun and enjoyable to play, which is what a game should be.
Amazing! January 20, 2010
Troy
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was first interested in this game because it was well received by a few review sites, but was hesitant to pick it up because hasn't this all been done before?
Darksiders is an immersive and fun game that stands on its own merits as a game you want to play. I am having a blast with it and hope that more will support Vigil on their freshman venture so we can see some more from them. The controls are easy for novice's like myself while there are more advances combos that veterans will enjoy, but the end result is the same, destruction and lots of it!
The graphics, controls and voice acting are top notch. The load times on the 360 are short as well.
Go pick it up, if you like action games this is a must have!
Familiar and Fun January 24, 2010
Lori A. Novak (Clarksville, TN)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Xbox 360
Purchased on Sat Jan 16th
I almost didn't get this game due to some of the bad reviews, but I figured I would give it a shot. I personally LIKE when a game has familiar controls or a style because it is easier for me to slide into playing rather than learning the controls (Too Human took forever to get used to!). This game reminded me a lot of God of War, which being one of my favorite games, was not a bad thing at all. Over all, I really enjoyed the entire game play experience and even the storyline. Usually I just fast button through the cut scenes but this time I wanted to know what was going on. I liked that there was a load of things to find but that they weren't all totally necessary for the end game. Sure there are the achievements, but spending hours checking and rechecking every location for the one item out of 30 you missed is boring. Some of the puzzles got a bit confusing, but nothing was so hard that I gave up (The first boss fight was a personal nightmare for me though).
Overall, this has quickly become one of my favorite games that I can easily see having a lot of replay even if it is just to ride around and kill bad guys.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 70
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