Vigil Studios, created by the immensely talented comic artist Joe Madureira takes it’s first baby steps into the world of gaming with Darksiders.

Darksiders puts you into the very awesome shoes of one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Which one? Well, War of course. You arrive prematurely at what you think is the end of the world party and things go belly up from there.

Hit the jump for our review

You wake up around about a century later and the world is pretty much a goner. All the people are dead, Angels and Demons are still battling it out and you are on a mission to redeem yourself for what looked like a very good idea at the time.

Darksiders, as many of you may have already heard, borrows a lot from other franchises. To get it out of the way, it basically plays a lot like the Legend of Zelda series mixed with God of War. This would usually be a negative for a lot of people, but it has been pulled off masterfully and no matter how much has been borrowed, the game is a lot of fun and a joy to play. There is a great mix of puzzles, action and boss fights and is all brought together by my next point.

The art direction. Joe Madeira is one heck of an artist and thanks to Darksiders being his baby, the characters, locations and art style will charm you to no end. The art style really is the glue that brings all the elements together. The designs for the Angels, Demons, enemies and environments are gorgeous and really show how much videogames can benefit from a great artistic mind.

The graphics engine runs at a good pace, complimenting that art style and something that stood out for me was the amazing use of sound, especially when Demon’s voices boom and echo as they speak to you.

Darksiders may not be a perfect game, but sure as hell is a lot of fun. It embraces the pure essence of what it should feel like to play a console game and takes your mind back to the good old days of playing “tv games”.

If you already own a PS3, then this title will keep you very well distracted until God of War III. If however, you only own an Xbox 360 then I think this title is much more appealing as it is one of the best in it’s genre on the system.

For Fans Of: God of War, Legend of Zelda, Heavenly Sword

Scoring

Gameplay: 9.0

Complex enough for creativity but simple enough for anyone to pick up and play

Presentation: 9.0

Amazing art direction that shines throughout the entire game.

Sound: 9.0

Solid effects, booming voices and a dynamic soundtrack to keep things interesting

Value: 9.0

Will run you in the decent region of 10 hours or so, and it’s a great couple of hours making it worthwhile.

Overall: 9.0

A great action/puzzle adventure that brings together some of the best things about console gaming. Fun.

[Reviewed on Playstation 3]