I wanted to like Darksiders: Genesis a lot more than I did, but the game didn't come together as well as I think it needed to.
The upsides to Genesis are many! There's co-op play, including couch co-op. The characters of Strife and War both play very differently, offering a nice variety. The story, while pretty standard, is carried well by the skill of the voice actors, who are charming and having fun. And the combat felt pretty engaging! It got a little same-y near the end, when it just became obvious what the best thing for Strife to do was, and as a single-player using him and then War as my backup was the clear path. But it was still good!
Unfortunately, there are a few decisions regarding the game that end up hurting it quite a bit.
First, it's the implementation of puzzles with a isometric perspective. Jumping puzzles where the camera hides or obscures what you're doing are just bad. I honestly thought we'd left that shit behind two decades ago. Isometric angles on the field of play work great for a game like X-COM where you can easily turn the camera to see what you need to, or Diablo or Hades where the on-field action is important.
It's terrible when the camera is fixed and you cannot be sure of the distances you need to clear, or worse when they put the puzzle BEHIND the camera angle. You get a peek at it but no more. It caused me a lot of frustration and the best I can say about it is: it wasn't always mandatory to complete a puzzle to get past a section.
That was the largest issue with Genesis and while it wasn't a dealbreaker for me, I can see it being one for others.
The other problem with the game, however, was that it just ends. I spent 16 chapters being told about Lucifer's big plan, and how we had to stop it. I spent time in the arena practicing skills (which was a lot of fun!) and getting ready for the missions.
And then when I go to confront Lucifer, the games just goes "Welp, Lucifer is getting away with it! LATER BOYS!" and that's it.
And that is deeply unsatisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment