It was sort of a long time coming and maybe even something that should have been accomplished last year... but that doesn't matter we have reached 50 editions of Now Loading In-Depth in which I have completed 16 games now. I do have 3 games currently on hiatus one of which I promised to get back to, but more on that later. I'm not go to reflect too much I'll save that for #100 but I am really happy with how this series has gone and I love keeping running impressions on a game as I feel it's much more interesting than a review... though I do state my more final thoughts in the FINAL posts such as this one right here. Enough ado let's get to finalizing my thoughts on Darksiders.

As I said in NLID #49 Darksiders is a tough game to judge on its own merits. Don't get me wrong it comes together pretty damn well for the most part and is an enjoyable game. It's just that all the elements separately feel a bit familiar. Aspects of The Legend of Zelda, God of War (and other action games) and even Portal are littered throughout and are maybe done better in their various games. The Portal section of game comes late and only appears in a single dungeon and while portals (called voids) are a little different as they don't require momentum the puzzles in Darksiders are done well and it's a interesting use of Portal's mechanics. As I said the Zelda and God of War stuff is hit and miss. The puzzles can be tricky but the tend to force you to backtrack around large rooms pushing blocks. Comparing the combat to God of War is as close as I can get, but unlike GoW there isn't much skill required to fight in Darksiders. I completed the game just using the main sword weapon and mashing on the X button and occasionally dodging if I saw an attack coming. The bosses are only a threat because they have tons of HP and not because they could actually take you. They are also kind of puzzle based and you usually just exploit the same weakness over and over and at times you have to wait for ever for just one chance to hit that spot. The big worm boss at the end of the 3rd main area is a prime example you just ride around on your horse until he opens his mouth once every five minutes. Combat isn't Darksiders best attribute, but there is a ton of it and the game love to use that STUPID action game gimmick of locking you in a room until you kill all enemies... I hate that.

The story and setting are actually really compelling and that is what really hooked me after a certain point, plus Mark Hamil plays The Watcher a little demon that keeps tabs on War (main character) to make sure he doesn't do anything the Charred Council does want him to. It's similar to his Joker voice but less maniacal and more sinister. I really liked the ending and it has me curious for Darksiders II's story. In the end after over 15 hours of playtime I came away liking the game. I don't really enjoy the kind of combat that's featured good or bad, Bayonetta or Sonic Unleashed, but all that is really needed to improve the game is to tweak the combat to make it a bit more skill based instead of button mashing based and to have a few less block pushing puzzles.. In the end it got me interested in its sequel and I think Vigil Games did a pretty good job tying together so many mechanics in to an occasionally tedious, but fun and enjoyable game.

One last nit-pick, Darksiders doesn't seem to save settings properly and I had to invert the Y axis every single time I booted the game. Anyway, next is the long awaited return to Final Fantasy XIII. I didn't mean to wait this long but I thought I could get Darksiders done a little bit faster than I did. Regardless, I will continuing FF13 where I left off back in October 2011, 8 hours in or so and just starting on Disc 2. I do have some more motivation this time around as I picked up FF XIII-2 last week and I want to get to it as soon as possible. Wish me luck as it still might be a bumpy ride over the next couple of weeks. I'll talk to you in a couple of days with the 4th update for Final Fantasy XIII. Later. Loading Complete!