Darksiders 2 Review

Some bugs and porting issues don't stop Death's adventure from surpassing War's in both quality and scope

Posted by Tim Reid on August 28, 2012 - 8:13pm EST

Due to it being a straight console port, the PC version of Darksiders II lacks the visual fidelity you might expect from a modern PC game. Textures are low resolution and the entire game looks a bit fuzzy, with significant aliasing in some areas. If you have an Nvidia GPU, you can force anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering through the control panel which does help noticeably, but I have not found a way to do this using an ATI card. Fortunately these technical shortcomings are made up for by the stunning artistic vision present throughout much of the game. Many of the levels and backdrops are really very impressive, and I found myself stopping and staring upon entering some new areas. Some character models look a bit funny, but the environments are varied and often very impressive, making it difficult to dwell on the blurry textures.

The audio in Darksiders II is also good, with weapon attacks sounding powerful, and your horse letting out tortured cries as you summon it to your side. The real high point of the audio however is the sound track, which is excellent. A great variety of tracks set the mood for the various dungeons, and when the music and the beautifully crafted environments come together, the game can be absolutely enthralling.

While it's a shame that more attention and care wasn't given to the PC version of Darksiders II, what is here is completely playable and of very high quality. Death's adventure is longer, more interesting, and more varied than War's, and this makes Darksiders II a great sequel. There are more than a few rough edges and minor niggles, and some of the dungeons feel a bit drawn out, but none of these issues detract from the game in a major way. While no one element of the game is best in class, everything is done well, and the fact that they are blended together so expertly means that any fan of action adventure, hack and slash, platforming or puzzle games owe it to themselves to check this excellent title out.

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Our ratings for Darksiders 2 on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)

Presentation

While technically unimpressive, the visuals are artistically outstanding and the audio is excellent across the board, especially the sound track.

Gameplay

Puzzles, platforming and combat are all well executed, and the great variety and pacing make Darksiders II consistently enjoyable.

Single Player

Long and well paced with incentive to play through multiple times, improved storytelling and great level variety make the main campaign well worth the asking price.

Multiplayer

None

Performance

(Show PC Specs)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e7200 @ 3.1ghz
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 PCS+
RAM: 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

While it runs well on relatively modest hardware, there are no graphics options, and bugs with the camera and controls can detract from the experience.

Overall

Darksiders II does so much so well that it's easy to forgive the porting issues and occasional bugs that pop up, making it one of the best adventures of the year so far. While death may not be proud, the team at Vigil certainly should be.