By Robbie Vanderveken Special to the Weekender
Playing on the 'Darkside'
WEEKENDER, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012
get your game on
While there are some flaws, Death does become ’Darksiders II.’
F
FRANKY Foxy Doxi
Owner:
story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, this time you play War’s brother Death. Death believes War was wrongfully accused of starting the apocalypse too early and wiping out mankind and thinks he can restore his brother’s good name. This game should please anyone who likes epic action-adventure games. The environments are huge, and it has some of the most humungous boss fights I have seen in a while. During the course of Death’s travels, he has to traverse heaven, hell and everywhere in between battling angels, demons and gods; how can you get more epic then that? The fighting is pretty straight forward for a hack-and-slash action game, Death uses a fastmoving scythe as his primary weapon and a slow-moving hammer for landing massive blows. Besides these basic weapons, you can also chain together throws and special abilities to destroy even the toughest foes. Some of the special abilities you gain are the ability to summon demon lords and split your soul which is interesting for solving puzzles. The amount of freedom to explore in this game is astounding, but there isn’t always a ton of things to see in these areas. It does get repetitive from time to time. The thing “Darksiders II” does get right is the truly epic boss
fights that change up the gameplay. You’ll fight all kinds of epic monsters — some that regenerate, huge behemoths 100 times your size. The bosses are one of the highlights of the experience. My favorite thing about this game is the RPG elements; usually when you see RPG elements in an action game, they feel tacked on, but the way they are used in “Darksiders II” feels really good. You can gain XP from enemies that you can use toward gaining new skills and upgrading existing skills. Between the new abilities and the loot you find from killing monsters, you can turn Death into a real killing machine. The coolest weapons in the game are actually created by feeding them lesser weapons; these powerhungry weapons can become the most devastating weapons in the game. Although this game does have some flaws, if you do like actionadventure games or if you where a fan of the first “Darksiders” game, you should pick up part two. It’s a good game to hold you over until the blockbuster games are out during the holiday season.
W
Robbie Vanderveken is the digital operations specialist at The Times Leader. E-mail him at rvanderveken @timesleader.com.
PAGE 63
Enter your pet for Weekender’s PET OF THE WEEK by sending photo, pet’s name, breed if applicable, owner’s name and hometown to: weekender@theweekender.com subject line: Pet of the Week
734410
Rocco Mandart, Hazleton
eeling like a badass is one of the best feelings you can have playing a game, and there isn’t anyone you can play that is more badass than Death himself. In “Darksiders II” (for Xbox 360, PS3, PC), you actually get to play the Grim Reaper on his quest through the underworld to clear his brother’s name. When I first read that you get to play as one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in “Darksiders,” I thought it sounded like fun. The biggest complaint people had with the first “Darksiders” game was that it copied several elements from games like “The Legend of Zelda” and “God of War.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing — I think if you are going to copy a game, you should copy the best games out there, and it did a satisfactory job. Much like its predecessor “Darksiders II” does borrow heavily from other series with addition of platforming elements reminiscent of the “Prince of Persia” series. You would think a mash-up of such well-known franchises would be the best game ever. Even though “Darksiders II” does provide a lengthy and entertaining experience, it never comes close to reaching the quality of the various franchises it borrows from. “Darksiders II” continues the