Death, Pestilence, Famine, War. The four horsemen of the apocalypse ride out at the end of the world causing mayhem against humans and demons alike. But not this time because somebody has set War up and now he's severely peeved. And taking his trusty blade Chaoseater in hand, he now seeks to right some wrongs, deal out righteous fury and kick the arse of whoever set him up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gameplay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darksiders is an entry into the slash and hack genre with an apocalyptical twist. Utilising a simple and regurgitated system of attack, strong attack, jump and magic, Darksiders provides a slightly more unique gameplay only through its soul collecting system. These souls can be used to purchase or upgrade game mechanics, giving War new weapons, items or magic. Though there is a world map that can be freely explored outside of missions, Darksiders is still very linear and the missions themselves are nothing spectacular, with only a few puzzles and surprises thrown in. The slash and hack system offers few incitements for repeated gameplay, or even first time gameplay to be honest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Graphics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like most hack and slash games, the developers focused more on engaging gameplay than stunning graphics. However, it is obvious to see that they did put some effort into making sure the graphics were good enough for a next-gen console, with the world environment rendered to a decent standard and with plenty of objects added to the game that can be bashed, grabbed or used to batter the demons with. Despite the effort to keep Darksiders' graphics up to date unfortunately it falls short, leaving the game relying on nothing but the gameplay to engage the player.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Audio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Immediately noticeable is the brilliant voice acting of the demons and War, instilling a creepy and powerful aspect to the game. As well as this, the ambient music enhances the mood of the game and especially the mood of the moment. Unfortunately the sound effects of hacking, slashing and explosions etc are just barely standard and add nothing to the gameplay, leaving all the other good audio effects being quite pointless and insignificant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overview
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even though it could be said that it's one of the better slash and hack games available on next gen consoles, Darksiders still falls short of a standard you would expect. Gameplay, audio and graphics are all at best mediocre and there isn't any point where the game stands out head and shoulders above any other. For a fan of hack and slash games there is some appeal but for someone who isn't obsessed with the genre then you may find that you get bored halfway through the first play through.