Gaming on the cheap: Darksiders

Though I got my copy of THQ and Vigil Games’ “Darksiders” through a lightning deal on Amazon.com for $20, you should probably be able to pick up the game, which was released in January, pretty cheap used at a Gamestop. I had my eye on Darksiders when it was originally released but never ended up picking it up. I’ve always loved the action/adventure genre and have felt that the Xbox 360 was lacking real competition in the face of Sony’s God of War or any of Nintendo’s franchises like Metroid or Legend of Zelda. I was holding out hope that Dante’s Inferno could fill that void but it was pretty tough to find anything positive said about that game so I decided to pass on playing it. Though it only arrived last week and I’ve put a few hours into it, I’m already both incredibly happy I finally decided to buy it and pretty dumbfounded I didn’t see more positive feedback about the game.

In Darksiders, players take on the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As the story goes, a fragile truce struck by the Charred Council between the forces of Heaven and Hell have kept humanity safe on Earth for centuries. According to the Council, humanity will play a major role in the end times which would be marked by the breaking of the Seventh Seal. During present day, angels and demons descend onto the Earth and begin wreaking havoc, at which point War appears on the planet, summoned to action by the end of times. It isn’t long before War finds out that the other Horsemen have not been summoned and that the Seventh Seal has not been broken. After losing a battle with a powerful demon, War is sent before the Charred Council and is accused of bringing the Apocalypse too early. Sentenced to die, War persuades the Council to let him return to Earth and find those responsible for bringing about the Apocalypse. He is allowed to return on the condition that he be accompanied by The Watcher, a powerful entity tasked with making sure War completes his mission. By the time War returns to Earth, a century has passed and humanity has been essentially destroyed by The Destroyer and the forces of Hell. Much of the forces of Heaven have been devastated as well, though a small resistance remains.

It is at this point that players find themselves in the game’s hub-world, if you will, The Scalding Gallow. From here War receives and embarks on new quests and will first encounter the demon, Vulgrim. Vulgrim first tasks you with collecting a number of souls for him. Souls, in Darksiders, act as currency, health and refills for your Wrath meter (magic/mana if you want to call it that). Once you’ve satisfied Vulgrim’s request he will sell you new abilities, weapons and upgrades – for a price, of course. Souls are easy enough to earn and you’d do well to upgrade War’s abilities as soon as you can – the enemies in Darksiders are no joke.

Well, that’s not entirely true – some of the enemies are laughably weak compared to one of the Four Horsemen. On the whole, though, the enemies War will face are fearsome monsters that take plenty of punishment before they go down. While his sword, the Chaoseater, is a powerful weapon, War will also have access to other side weapons like a Scythe and a Pistol which can be equipped to the Y button. War will also find special items along the way, the like the Earthshaker horn and Crossblade, which can be selected and used with the right trigger. War can also use magic spells to even the odds but using these requires Wrath which is only earned by defeating certain enemies (or by obtaining a certain upgrade).

War’s combat abilities are limited at first, only a few upgrades and unlocks will begin to reveal War’s full combat potential. War can easily chain together regular attacks (X), special attacks (Y) as well as being able to perform moves like uppercuts (for air combos) and air dashes. The combat in Darksiders is fast, fluid and very solid. Darksiders also makes use of the modern, action movie standard, popularized by “300,” where the action slows down and speeds up to highlight the action – though it’s hard to say whether it “benefits” or “suffers” from this technique. Even when surrounded, you never feel like you’re fighting against the camera to see where you need to and locking onto and selecting certain enemies is easy and doesn’t usually hinder combat too much. For the most part, I tend not to lock onto enemies unless it’s to chuck a car at a giant demon’s face or use the Crossblade – it’s easy enough to attack certain enemies without being locked on but it’s near impossible to hit anything with thrown objects without it. It is possible to use click the right stick and use a free-aim but isn’t too helpful in combat (save for a few specific boss fights). War can also quickly and stylishly finish off beaten-down enemies with a press of the B button. When prompted, War will initiate a brutal finishing move that yields a slick execution animation. But what really makes the combat and War’s brutal, visceral fighting style shine is Creative Director Joe Madureira’s artistic abilities.

Before working in the video game industry, Madueriera was famous in the comic world for working on Marvel’s “Uncanny X-Men” in the 90s as well as his own comic series, Battle Chasers. Madueriera’s considerable artistic talent makes the world of Darksiders seem that much more alive with hulking, horrifying demons as well as War’s own bulky, intimidating looks. In this world, the remnants of human civilization have been twisted by the forces of Hell and would not have looked as stunningly cool or downtrodden without the work of a seasoned comic book artist.

And the world of Darksiders is truly a sight to behold. The forces of The Destroyer roam free, human architecture has been twisted to fit demonic purposes, and it all takes place in a giant, persistent world. That is to say that Darksiders could be viewed as more of an open-world affair where players can revisit and explore past areas (with new gear) rather than a linear game where players advance from level to level. An on-screen minimap will help player navigate this destroyed world and larger area/world maps can be accessed as well. Because Darksiders offers some simple puzzling and fetch quests (most of which are “find a key to open this door”). Travel is made even simpler once War unlocks a method of fast travel (using Vulgrim locations as travel points) and even his hellish mount, Ruin.

While most of Darksiders is focused on combat with some puzzles thrown in to break up the action, Darksiders also benefits from some great voice acting. Some particular favorites of mine were The Watcher, voiced by Mark Hamill (yes, the same) and Vulgrim, voiced by Phil LaMarr.

For some reason, Darksiders was pretty much overlooked by most gamers when it was released back in January (nearly a year ago now – jeez). Though most critics readily heaped praise on the game for succeeding in a genre that’s as nearly bloated and overpopulated as first-person shooters, I’m pretty sure Darksiders wasn’t too big of a financial success for THQ. That being said, THQ creative director Luis Gigliotti has stated that he’d like to see Darksiders be a franchise for THQ, though it was recently announced that the next game would be pushed back to 2013.

While I (obviously, I mean, I’m writing a column about buying it for cheap) was one of those gamers who passed on Darksiders when it was released, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the sequel. With its stylish, engaging world, excellent pacing, great voice acting, surprisingly deep and entertaining combat, I’ve been constantly regretting not playing this game earlier. Though I picked mine up in an Amazon lightning deal, you should be able to easily find a copy of Darksiders fairly cheap at Gamestop, Amazon or maybe even Best Buy. And, I can’t stress this enough, you definitely should pick up this gem if you have the chance.

Rock Band 3 will melt your brain with the power of its rock

There was a point before Rock Band 3 was announced that I was unsure how the music genre would or could continue. Since Activision acquired Guitar Hero, I’ve been a bigger fan of the Rock Band series – mainly because the Harmonix series feels like it plays better and that the tracks are laid out better than Activision’s rhythm games. Though I love picking up the sticks or dusting off my axe every now and then when I get bored, I really didn’t know how Harmonix could improve on their series. I had a feeling that they didn’t want to just release a rehashed version of Rock Band 2 – but what else could they do to improve on an already great game?

Well, it’s a good thing that the folks at Harmonix are a lot more imaginative than I am when it comes to their games. Rock Band 3 manages to improve on nearly every aspect of the previous game. Not only is the game’s interface much more user friendly and stream-lined, but the new Pro mode and keyboard peripheral will be enough to keep any rhythm game fan occupied for a considerable amount of time.

Though the Rock Band games have always been great party games, Rock Band 3’s interface and improved game modes elevate it beyond its predecessor in every way. Each player can drop into or out of each of the four player slots at anytime. You can even force sign-out plugged-in instruments! (Honestly, this is a problem I experienced way too often – damn you guitar! I want my gamertag to be on the drums!) Not only is it easy for everyone to sign in and pick characters, picking game options (like No Fail) is easily done from the options menu before or even during a song. Don’t have No Fail on? If you fail out of a song, you’re given an option to continue playing (without any sort of scoring or stars, though).

Speaking of character creation, the creator is incredibly smooth and easy to use and navigate, though I do wish that Harmonix would just label each category of clothing more clearly. These creative names are a nice touch but it’d be a nicer touch if I could tell, without having to open up a menu, what was classic rock, punk or heavy metal gear. I really enjoyed the way Harmonix implemented your created rocker. In previous games, you’d really only get to see your creation while playing – hardly an opportune time to admire your character. Now, you’ll often get to see your character and the other members of your band in all manner of video snippets, during the career, you’ll even get to see your band members interacting during menu screens.

You might notice that you have a nice selection of gear to begin with, but if you really want to unlock some unique duds for your character, you’ll need to earn fans by completing Road Challenges. I’ll be honest, the redesigned career mode had me slightly confused at first. In previous games, there was a clear progression path for your band to follow – you start small playing bars and basements, but you rock your way to bigger shows and better equipment, eventually playing the most hardcore songs/setlists in the biggest stadiums. Well, I suppose it’s still like that, but the many Road Challenges really help with the career mode’s variety. No matter what mode you play, your rocker will continue to earn fans but Road Challenges are the real meat of the career. Each challenge tasks you with playing a number of gigs, with three different setlists to choose from at each gig. Generally the setlists could be a few Rock Band 3 songs, a set of random songs from a genre or a set of custom songs from a genre or band. Rock Band 3 seamlessly integrates all of your DLC into each mode in the game – I honestly can’t tell you how happy I felt the first time I saw the game offer me a “Custom Rush Setlist” during a Road Challenge (cause what kind of nerd would I be if I didn’t like [read: love] me some Rush). But with both Megadeth albums downloaded (“Rust in Peace” and “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?”) and a considerable amount of other metal downloaded, it’s a dangerous game to ever pick the “Random Downloaded Songs Setlist.”

The biggest change/addition to the career and Road Challenges are the addition of Spade points. You still earn stars while rocking but now each gig will come with an added task which will earn you Spade points that, along with the stars you earn, will go toward your rank for a particular Challenge and towards unlocking new gigs. Some of these tasks are simple enough, like setting off your Overdrive as many times as possible, while others are more difficult, like getting a 4X multiplier and setting off Overdrive or completing sections perfectly in unison with your bandmates.

But if you’re like me, you don’t really care too much about the career – it’s all about rocking. And if you’re like me, that is to say you can plug in your axe or drums and while away countless hours just playing any random song, you’ll be pleased to know that the Rock Band experience remains the same with this latest title. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are as easy as ever to execute and drums rolls are made more forgiving in non-pro mode (though these new roll sequences are only found in new DLC [post RB3 release] and songs on the disc). The new songs on the disc are excellent additions to your Rock Band library, with hits from every era, such as The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4,” The B-52’s “Rock Lobster,” and Spacehog’s “In The Meantime.” Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” even makes an appearance. Some personal favorites from the new on-disc songs are Jimi Hendrix’s “Crosstown Traffic,” Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis,” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

As far as the pro mode goes, I haven’t really tried it. Since the game only comes by itself or bundled with the new keyboard peripheral (more on that in a minute) I haven’t had a chance to try the pro-guitar/bass modes or even try the drums on pro (which I’m pretty sure is basically the same with cymbals added into the note track). I’ve messed around with the keyboard on pro but I never learned how to play piano so I’m pretty bad at the keys – I’m having a hard enough time completing songs on regular ol’ Medium or Hard, let alone the pro mode. Luckily, I’m pretty great at both the drums and guitar so the keys will come in time. And I hope they do, because playing the keyboard is pretty fun. You only need to use five of the 22 keys on the keyboard outside of pro mode, leaving you plenty of chances to have some fun with the touch strip, located at on the far left side next to the Overdrive button. The touch strip is essentially the keyboard’s whammy bar and after a little experimenting, I was having a ton of fun making each keyboard part my own.

Really, if there’s one thing I could wish of Rock Band 3 it’d be for Harmonix to release keyboard parts for older DLC that feature the keys, like most Rush songs and the Steely Dan songs I have downloaded. Other than that, I really haven’t found anything that I can fault Rock Band 3 on.

I know I spend plenty of time touting the greatness of the Rock Band series over Guitar Hero these days but this feeling goes beyond my petty fanboyisms – Rock Band 3 is easily the best put together, most fun rhythm game that has been made. The new setlist, instruments and innovations, the integration of previous downloaded songs and the ease of creating your own rock star make Rock Band 3 a must own title for any fan of fake plastic instrument gaming.

COD: Black Ops is doing pretty well; Also, Amazon has some great video game deals right now

Like you couldn't guess - Call of Duty: Black Ops is a gigantic success and has already surpassed Modern Warfare 2 in terms of money earned. Since it launched earlier this month, Black Ops has generated more than $650 million - nearly $100 million more than MW2 - with 5.9 million hours logged by about 2.6 million unique players. If you were wondering, I didn't end up getting Black Ops and probably won't any time soon - I'm too busy shredding in Rock Band 3, which I'm currently working on my review of. (From Destructoid)

But if you're already in that holiday mood (I think they already started playing Christmas music on the radio), Amazon has you covered with great video game lightning deals that won't be around forever. Select games for every major console are marked down considerably, many to $20 and below. Looking at the list, I think it's about time I pick up Darksiders. I always heard great things about the game and you can't be $20 for a relatively recent game. You can check out all the deals here.

First Fallout: New Vegas DLC announced

As with Fallout 3, I expected Bethesda and Obsidian to release plenty of DLC content for New Vegas - I just didn't expect it to be announced, let alone released, so soon.

I just saw over at Joystiq that the first DLC pack, titled "Dead Money," will be released as an Xbox 360 exclusive on Dec. 21 for 800 MS Points. In this adventure, which I'm assuming will be a new map much in the same way Broken Steel and The Pitt were, players will be tasked with recovering the lost treasure of the Sierra Madre Casino. As stated in the press release, "As the victim of a raw deal you must work alongside three other captured wastelanders to recover the legendary treasure of the Sierra Madre Casino. In Dead Money, your life hangs in the balance as you face new terrain, foes, and choices. It is up to you how you play your cards in the quest to survive."

While nothing else is really known about what the DLC will include, anyone who wants to expand their adventure in the Mojave (myself included) will gladly plunk down $10. I'm still holding out hope that a future DLC pack will increase the level cap and add new perks or weapons but this will definitely help tide me over until then.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/17/fallout-new-vegas-dead-money-dlc-drops-dec-21-on-xbox-live/

THQ-Guillermo Del Toro game partnership set to be revealed in December

I posted on here a while ago about acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro will be working with THQ to develop games, even though THQ wasn’t ready to actually confirm it at the time. Well, they still haven’t actually confirmed it, but they’re working their way up to it.

According to a post on Destructoid, Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President of Core Games at THQ, stated about Del Toro, “He's a gamer who wants to make a great game and has very interesting points of view and is partnered very closely with myself and my writing partner.” This announcement will also allegedly take place appropriately at the Spike Video Game Awards on Dec. 11.

I’m very interested to see what Del Toro and THQ dream up. THQ has been quite the up-and-coming company in recent years, releasing the spectacular Red Faction: Guerilla and branching out into the FPS genre with the upcoming Homefront.

I’ve read quotes from Del Toro before where he talks about his personal taste in gaming and about how he thinks of Left 4 Dead as a great family game – Del Toro stated, “In the household, it's considered a family game," he said. "My two daughters are my wingmen.” L4D could be a great tool to strengthen families, actually, because you either work together as a family or get your face eaten by zombies.

Makes you think, though. If L4D is a family game to him, just think about how terrifying a Del Toro-made horror game would be.

I really don't want to buy Black Ops - but I kinda do

Call of Duty: Black Ops came out the other day. I've seen reports from analysts who predict it will sell more than both Halo: Reach and Modern Warfare 2 and have read lots of good reviews of the game by journalists as well as from gamer friends. I hadn't at all planned on getting Black Ops (as I mentioned here in my last post) but the more I think about and read about it, I find myself toying with the idea of picking it up. But here is the catch - I hated MW2, Black Ops' predecessor. Rarely am I faced with such a gaming quandary. To preface, I'll offer some background.

I was never a huge Call of Duty fan to begin with. WWII shooters got old really fast and back then I preferred the Medal of Honor series when it came to getting my Nazi killing kicks. I was really intrigued by COD4: Modern Warfare and ended up buying it and having a lot of fun with the game. The same cannot be said for MW2, however. Oh, how I loathe MW2 (not even past-tense, I still hate that game). I don't often sell games, especially big-name games with competitive multiplayer but I sold my copy of MW2 within weeks of buying it.

First-person shooters seem to be the genre I most often fall back on when I don't have a new game to play. Ever since Fallout: New Vegas helped wean me off of Halo: Reach, I've been wanting to get back in an FPS and lately, I've been wanting to play an FPS that isn't Halo. And wouldn't you know it, right around this time Black Ops hits the market and all I hear about it is how great it is, especially since I hear its more COD4 than MW2.

I really don't want to buy Black Ops only to end up hating it and wondering why I bought it in the first place. But when I think I've finally decided not to buy it, I start to think, "Well what if it is fun? Like, really fun? So much fun that it makes you forget all about the n00b-tubing and teleporting ninjas in MW2?" And then I find myself back where I started - considering making a trip to Best Buy to get Black Ops.

I don't know what to do. I've always been fairly indecisive, but this needs to be resolved since I keep finding myself absent-mindedly weighing the pros and cons of buying Black Ops.

Maybe I should just sidestep this whole problem and buy Rock Band 3. You know what? That's what I'm going to do. I've been dying to play the keys, Bill Brufords' drumming and that wicked bass line in Yes' "Roundabout" anyway.

Call of Duty: Black Ops commercial is actually pretty cool

I'm not a huge fan of Call of Duty. I only played CoD 2 and 3 very sparingly on the 360 and though I spent a ton of time playing CoD4: Modern Warfare, my time with Modern Warfare 2 nearly turned me off to the series forever. Where CoD4 was somewhat tactical (if still a little fast-paced and wacky to truly be tactical), MW2 was an unapologetic twitch-fest (meaning being faster than your opponent is better than being the best shot) where you could sprint, dive-bomb off rooftops and stab three enemies before they even knew what happened or snipe people on the other side of the map with dual-wielded shotguns.

I'll be honest, I'm not even planning on playing Black Ops. Maybe in the future when the price drops a little I'll give it a shot - especially since I hear Treyarch is toning down a lot of the features that made MW2 so ridiculous. It's funny, I used to immediately write off a CoD game if it was being developed by Treyarch and now I'm anticipating the same studio to make a superior product - how times have changed.

What drove me to make this post was a really creative commerical for Black Ops I just saw over at Destructoid. The commercial, titled "There's a soldier in all of us," features all manner of people dressed in different work attires and uniforms running around an area, reminiscent of a CoD map, firing assault rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers. A few celebrities even make appearances.

Hit the link to check out the video: http://www.destructoid.com/everyone-is-a-soldier-in-call-of-duty-black-ops

Rumored: New Silent Hill movie to be 3D

Among my friends who aren't gamers but saw the first Silent Hill movie, most came away thinking it was pretty dumb, hard to follow and just kinda weird. Being a fan of the series, the weirdness and the ambiguity of the events surrounding the sleepy/demonic town are part of the charm of Silent Hill. Don't get me wrong, it helped a lot to have prior knowledge of the series going into the film, but it was still very eerie and creepy and fairly violent too.

I just read today on Joystiq that while the next Silent Hill movie had been put on hold in August, it is now back on, allegedly. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D will follow the story of Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3. I've never been one to be too impressed with 3D movies these days, even though I've seen a bunch, so that won't really be a draw for me. As mentioned on Joystiq, I don't know why they skipped Silent Hill 2 and decided to do a film version of the third game, considering the second is one of the most highly regarded games of the series. I'll wait until I hear more about this rumored project before I pass judgment, though.

All I can say right now is this - as long as they never try and adapt Silent Hill 4: The Room, I'll be happy. That game was really awful and hardly a Silent Hill game. Remember how Super Mario 2 wasn't actually a Super Mario game at first, Nintendo just slapped Mario and Luigi into a different game but it ended up working anyway? Well The Room was like that except nothing about this different game was endearing or fun or had anything at all to do with Silent Hill except for the game taking place near Silent Hill. Or something like that - I'm gonna be honest, I blocked out most of my time playing that game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/03/rumor-new-silent-hill-movie-based-on-silent-hill-3-will-be-in/