New for 2016 I'll be listing trophy/achievement completion data for each game. I'm no Jirard Khalil, but I do try to complete every game I play - so long as there are no multiplayer achievements, anything requiring an unreasonable time investment or nigh-impossible feats of skill, and obviously iif I simply don't care for the game much and want to be done with it.
-- Date Completed: 1/5/16 ;; Version: PS4 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
I don't have any knowledge of the show, but I decided to play this after learning that one of my favorite developers - Platinum - made it. I played this right after completing another game of theirs, Transformers Devastation, which was quite good. This game wasn't as good, nor was it nearly as long or polished. The combat was pretty good, which is what Platinum is known for, but everything else was pretty bland.
It's an easy game to Plat (pun intended) save for two sections: Chapter 5 on Extreme and Pro-Bending League on Ace. That is to say "Extreme Avatar" and "The Fire Ferrets Strike Again!"
Getting through Chapter 5 on extreme was a massive test of patience. It's really hard at first, and really the only way you'll ever get through it is by repetition. I tried for over an hour and got it on my last try before I was about to give up.
Getting through Pro-Bending on Ace is less about skill and more about luck - though there is a luck factor in the previous trophy as well. The first three matches aren't too bad, if you're lucky with the teams you face. The last two can range from pretty hard to impossible depending on who you faced in the previous three. If you're unlucky like me, and you get the Rabaroos for your last match, save yourself the time and just start over because you will never beat them. I spent over an hour on this one match getting absolutely destroyed by those fuckers. I don't know if it's for story reasons that I'm unfamiliar with, but that one team in much more powerful then all the others you face. When I restarted I faced them in match 2 and they were significantly harder then the team I faced on round two of my first play through.
So yeah, those two trophies will be hard-won but the rest are easy. I give this game a solid 7.5/10
-- Date Completed: 1/8/16 ;; Version: PS3 ;; Completion LVL: 100% --
Technically I "completed" this game in 2012, but I went back and got the two trophies I was missing and properly completed it 100%. As there is no Platinum trophy, I put "100%" there at the top. I'll rate this game at 6/10
-- Date Completed: 1/20/16 ;; Version: PS4 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
-- Version: PS4 ;; Platinum Date: 1/20/16 4:38 PM --
FINALLY!! After four years, I've finally finished Darksiders 2!! I bought it when it came out on 360, but only got about 1/4th through. I went back to it about a year and a half later and restarted, only to stop at about the same point. But finally, after getting the HD remake for PS4, I've completed it! Turns out it was a lot longer then I was expecting! It's probably a bit too long for its own good, actually.
Compared to the first game, it's a huge improvement. Compared to other games of the time, it's slightly above average. The series as a whole is fairly derivative; taking large handfuls of concepts and systems from franchises like God of War, Legend of Zelda, and with Darksiders 2 - Diablo and Prince of Persia. It's with these two inspirations my main issues come to light.
Firstly, the loot system (taken from Diablo) is completely unnecessary. The first Darksiders didn't have one and it didn't need one. In the sequel it feels tacked-on. In no way was I ever driven to collect more loot like I have been in Diablo games. I will freely admit, however, that all of the weapons and armor sets look completely badass (with the exception of the Abyssal Helm.) Everything has a very strong World of Warcraft style to it.
My second issue is from the Prince of Persia inspiration. Quite frankly, the platforming in this game is bad. It's buggy and frustrating as hell. There have been countless times where I have fallen to my doom while trying to jump into a wall run - simply because the game isn't very good at gauging if you've jumped at the proper angle or not.
Other times, I've (once again) fallen to my doom while trying to drop down from a hanging ledge to another because, as far as I can tell, you can't do that if you're at the very end of the section. You will fall every single time if you attempt it from that location. Instead, you have to stop just before reaching the edge - a task which can prove to be quite difficult depending on the section.
My last issue with the game can be described with one word: Earth. That entire level is complete shit. I mean, seriously - what the fuck? What's the point of having this loot system - which already feels useless - when you force us to play an entire level where you're pretty much required to use the stupid angel guns? I can't express in mere words how much I hate the Earth level. A shitty level for a shitty place, I guess.
I realize all I've said are negative things, and this next sentence is going to sound weird, but...The game as a whole is pretty good. It's dripping with style and looks even better with the upgraded visuals. The combat is easily the best part, and you can come up with some crazy God-like builds with the right possessed weapons and proper talent distubution. The game is a bit too long, and it starts to fall apart towards the end level-wise. But the first two worlds are superb, especially the land of the dead. My final score for this game is: 8.5/10
-- Date Completed: 1/26/16 ;; Version: PS3 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
After playing Darksiders 2, I felt like going back to play the original - the same thing I did with Batman last year. I originally played this when it came out for 360, and I remember liking it quite a bit at the time. Going back however, it really didn't stand up as well as I had hoped.
It's really rough around the edges, graphically and technically. It doesn't look terrible, but it also doesn't look as good as D2 does; the same can be said for the mechanics. The platforming sucks, but it's definitely less glitchy then D2. I completely forgot, but there's also a terrible third-person shooter segment in this game too! There's also a terrible on-rails shooter segment as well!
It also sucks that the entire game is set on Earth. There's not much variety of locations like there is in D2. You can also tell that they were setting this game up to be a tetrology - a game for each of the four horseman (even though one is female.) I'm not sure if we'll ever see those other two games, but I'd probably still play them.
The game gets more right then wrong, and even though it didn't live up to my memory of it, I'll still give the game a rating of: 7/10
-- Date Completed: 1/31/16 ;; Version: PS4 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
I'm not sure why, but I felt like playing Guacamelee again. I originally did so in March of 2014 on the PS3. Luckily, I managed to get the Super Turbo Championship Edition on sale and gladly went about playing it.
From the start I played on Hard, since I was already familiar with the combat mechanics and levels. I really do love this game, but man...they weren't fucking around with some of the combat arenas on Hard. It was a struggle for sure, but it gets easier as you find more health and stamina upgrades. The platforming on the other hand...there's really nothing that will make that easier other then failing over and over until you get it. That section on top of the Tule Tree is nightmarish!
I think the game looks excellent and it has some really great, funny writing in it. The music, while quite good, gets repetitive simply because there aren't many tracks. Towards the end of my playthrough I actually turned the music off.
Even though it was quite difficult and frustrating at times, I'm glad I went back to play this game again. I was really looking forward to what Drinkbox Studios will be making next, but I recently learned it will be a Vita only game, so yeah...hopes dashed. It's a real shame they're making a game for a system that's dead, especially considering how good Guacamelee is. Hopefully they'll find some way to bring it to PS4.
Final rating: 9/10
-- Date Completed: 2/12/16 ;; Version: PS4 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
-- Date Completed: 2/23/16 ;; Version: PS3 ;; Completion LVL: Plat --
