14 DAY TRIAL // Action adventure hack and slash title Darksiders has just been revealed for the PC, after delighting PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console users at the beginning of the year, so we've decided to have a quick look at this new game.
First off, one of the toughest hurdles that Darksiders for the PC had to overcome was the hack and slash console control scheme, and how it can be ported from a standard console controller to a mouse and keyboard setup.
For the most part, the developers at Vigil Games did a great job, with the camera moving smoothly by using the mouse, and mapping the main attack to the left mouse button.
Sadly, when you want to do more difficult maneuvers, things get a bit sticky.
When you want to open up the special powers, you must use the Caps Lock key, and then choose by pressing either 1, 2, 3 or 4 what power you want to use.
While that doesn't sound too difficult, you must do these things in the heat of combat, meaning you must be on the move by pressing the WASD movement keys, and this, at least in my case, leaves just my left pinky finger open to pressing other buttons, so there's no way you can press Caps Lock and a number key without affecting your movement and leaving the protagonist, War, vulnerable to attacks.
Thankfully, I have a mouse with a third button, which can be mapped to that special powers, so the task is much easier.
Besides the controls, Darksiders for the PC is quite good, and almost nothing has been lost in the porting process from the consoles.
The story is coherent, up until now, and the enemies, together with War's fighting moves, are varied enough to keep combat interesting.
While some may say that the combat has been taken from hack and slash masterpiece God of War, while the puzzles were inspired from adventure franchise Zelda, I'm not exactly complaining, as Darksiders manages to deliver them in a very polished way, with a decent presentation.