The first Darksiders was a hack and slash, so you would expect the second to be the same. My opinion is that Darksiders II fails as a hack and slash, and is now more of an RPG. With things like a quicktravel system to any place on the map, leveling, skill trees and loot progression, the game is like an RPG with deeper combat.

First off, the things I like about Darksiders 2 are the same that I liked about the first game; sound (music and voice acting) and the art design (for the most part). Sound is still comparable in that it is top notch, but the art design has fallen short but is still not bad. Darksiders II's level design is boring in my opinion, and too much of it is repeated with not enough variety. The same can be said for enemies.

Because I consider this an RPG, the combat is actually quite deep for the genre with aspects taken from hack and slash games such as multihit skills and combos. However, there are flaws in the combat which to be frank, piss me off. Most notable is the complete lack of a block feature which is rediculous. Instead, Death is always leaping and dodging leading to inevitably getting hit, especially when swarmed with enemies. And I hate getting hit. Using your pistol in combat is also useless except in specific, scripted fights. Unlike in DMC, you cannot use it to continue your juggle, which is unfortunate.

There is also a lack of a double jump, which I know is a hack and slash feature but still, if War can do it, why can't Death? Who, I might add, the devs said they wanted to have a more nimble and agile feel. While you can get over this fact fairly easily, it frustrates me to see Death not reach a ledge by a hair's breadth when I could have made it if I could double jump. This also ties into level design, where Death can ONLY grab onto ledges which have these wooden pieces attached to them. It is rediculous seeing Death unable to grab onto a ledge that he should be able to reach but can't grab onto it because there is no wood there. Also, he cannot jump sideways when running up a wall, which is also frustrating because platforms could be reached much more easily if he could jump sideways. Even Ezio can do it.

Considering this game has so many RPG feature, they also need to be touched upon and honestly, those are lack luster too. Item progression is generic and unexceptional, where the higher level items have incremental increases in damage with a few effects like fire damage or lifesteal to differentiate them. I find the process to be wholly unnecessay because there is not enough to distinguish weapons like in many other RPGs, so the process of gathering new weapons is just a tedious chore. This pregression system also translates to armor as well.

The skill tree feels like a tacked on, useless excuse for progressing skills (these are akin to your magic abilities in God of War for example). In total, you have about half a dozen active abilites with all the other skills augmenting them, each one being able to have 3 points put into them. It doesn't have depth like other, fully fledged RPGs and just feels unnecessary.

Finally, the game just became boring. It has puzzles like a hack and slash but these are easy, unsatisfying, and the most tedious aspects of the game. I am so sick of collecting 3 of something to put in something else before I can fight some guy. In combination with the level design, it takes too long just moving from one unremarkable dungeon to collect something to another. On top of this, the mobs you fight consist of the same enemies without any sort of variety, leading to you fighting maybe four different enemies per level. It's just lazy.

If this was hack and slash, I would give it a 3 (out of 10) for all the tedious crap you go through. As an RPG, I give it a 5 because all the crap is there, but comparing it to other RPGs the combat is a couple of steps above the other offerings while everything else manages to fall short. If you can pick up both Darksiders I and II for 10 bucks or less, you could do worse with your money. Any price over this however, and you would be better spending it on a real RPG like Skyrim or Dragon Age, or a real hack and slash like Devil May Cry 4.

I felt like Darksiders did some things right but the main components of the game felt wrong. There are 2 aspects of the game which I think Vigil did right, and that is the sound (voice acting and music) and the art design. Both are well polished and interesting. War looks like a real badass and sounds like one too.

But this game is a 'hack and slash' so the combat should be the main focus, and this is where I felt the game fell short. It felt clunky and slow to put it bluntly. Blocking is extremely awkwards because the put the same button to block as they did dash when you're moving in a direction. So when trying to block you more often than not dash, which can result in you getting hit. And I hate getting hit. Juggling also ties into blocking with how enemies behave. Small things like a certain grunt enemy (which are plentyful) do a ground bash that somehow also hits you in the air, which it honestly shouldn't (I mean, it is a ground attack), causing you to lose your juggle as well as being unblockable. The lock-on system and free aim systems are both awful. When locking on it changes your camera angle so you frequently can't see what is behind you and it is also awkward trying to change between targets. Free aiming is exponentially worse. It is difficult to describe in words, but the aiming is slow, clunky, awkward, and so frequently used it makes for a terrible gaming experience. What's more is that parts when you have to hit something with your projectile weapons is made that much harder because the game forces you to use the free aim controls, instead of just locking on to what you need to hit. I think this is unecessary to the overall experience of platforming.

Manouvering the game world is also a chore in my opinion. Darksiders is a hack and slash, and world design in such games needs so be concise and straight forward, or in other words somewhat linear. Backtracking or having an open level design is fine, exemplified in Devil May Cry 4 for example. But Darksiders has a world designed more like and RPG than the traditional hack and slash and it is painful trying to navigate it. War moves rediculously slow, especially when you're just trying to move from A to B in a big, open space. Moving from area to area is more bearable with a quicktravel system, but that involves War walking from one portal to another in some ethereal space. It takes 2 minutes but it is rediculously tedious. There is absolutely no need for it.

My verdict is that if you can pick up both Darksiders I and II for 10 bucks or less, you can do worse for your money. But small nuances in the gameplay degrade the overall experience too much, and I believe if you want a better hack and slash game you should play Devil May Cry 4 or earlier (not DMC).