Darksiders concludes with a hell of a tease. War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, stands ready for action. “You will be hunted,” angel Uriel warns. “The White City for certain. The Council. And there will be others! You would wage this war alone?” The rider calmly turns to her, raises a fist, and says, “No. Not alone.” The camera pans up and centers on three flaming objects rocketing toward Earth. War’s fellow horsemen are coming to fight at his side. The screen fades to black, and the wait for the sequel begins.

Bury your excitement about War uniting with his fellow Apocalyptans. Developer Vigil Games instead takes us back in time to the beginning of Darksiders, when War is accused of inciting a conflict between Heaven and Hell. Rather than revisiting this scenario from his perspective again, we see how these events affect his brother Death, the most feared Horsemen of them all.

Death’s story runs in parallel with War’s arc, set in the 100-year span when War is imprisoned in the Charred Council. He is questing to free his brother and save mankind from the apocalypse. His goal is clearly defined, but Death’s journey quickly devolves into multi-part fetch quests with little in terms of narrative progression. Because of the throwaway fiction, Death is a faceless lead who spends most of his time excavating rare artifacts from dungeons. His only significant story contribution comes when the final boss is defeated after 20-plus hours of play.

That doesn’t make him a bad character. He may come across as an antique collector that specializes in rare, oversized, magical keys in the story, but when he enters a dungeon, his wide set of skills turn him into one of gaming’s most extraordinary protagonists.

Outfitted with a diverse move set geared for speed, necromancy and raw power, Death is an efficient killing machine that lets players select their means of evisceration. I gravitated toward his necromancy skill tree, allowing him to summon ghouls to distract and attack enemies. As they tear away flesh, Death can retreat to the battle’s perimeter and call forth a murder of crows to further confound the enemy. Powers like these are fun to use, and get even more potent as players improve them through the skill tree.

Death’s close quarters approach is equally as exhilarating. His speed — and the fact he carries two scythes — make him a more potent killer than his brother. He darts between enemies with ease to unleash combos that are so violent and lightning quick that the action is often obscured by vast amounts of blood, magical effects and blurred movement. In some combat scenarios, this becomes so severe (and awesome) that I lost track of Death. Switching between weapons is seamless, and the art of chaining together attacks relies on careful timing while leaving room for players to develop their own play styles. Finishing moves are still a part of the fray, but appear less frequently, and are now nice surprises opposed to being the easiest way to drop a foe.

Standard enemy encounters are balanced well, putting players’ skills to the test. Since Death is geared to handling multiple threats at once, fights consisting of a singular boss are cakewalks. Towering, Shadow of the Colossus-like titans fall after a few undemanding scripted attacks. Even the last boss, who is hardly mentioned in the story, falls like a mid-dungeon chump.

The addition of loot — a dizzying array of weapons and armor with different damage, arcane, elemental, and bonus attributes — adds even more variety to an already deep and satisfying combat system. The loot system is beautifully implemented into both combat and questing. I explored every nook and cranny in dungeons, and downed every foe I saw just to make sure I wasn’t missing out on a chest that could contain a rare possessed weapon. These weapons get stronger when you sacrifice other weapons to power them up. Feeding weapons to weapons — how cool is that?

Although the dungeons are built on the familiar framework of water, fire, time, and the series’ portal themes, most are architectural wonders filled with inventive puzzles and beautiful sights. Vigil does a tremendous job of using Death’s move set and tools in unique ways for dungeon navigation and puzzle solving.

After finishing “Darksiders,” I hoped the sequel would continue with the Four Horsemen riding together in aid of War. That thought faded once Death let his scythes do the talking. Like Kratos and Dante, playing as this reaper gives you that amazing feeling of being an all-powerful ass-kicker.

‘Darksiders II’

9 (out of 10)

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

THQ, Vigil Games

ESRB rating: M for Mature

Top 10

DOWNLOADS

The editors of Game Informer rank the top downloadable games for August:

1. “Sound Shapes” (PS3, Vita)

2. “Deadlight” (X360)

3. “Dyad” (PS3)

4. “The Walking Dead” (X360, PS3, PC)

5. “Left 4 Dead 2: Cold Stream” (X360, PC)

6. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Chaos Pack” (X360)

7. “Spelunky” (X360, PC)

8. “Penny Arcade’s on the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3” (X360, PC)

9. “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD” (X360, PS3)

10. “Wreckateer” (X360)

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Gaming News

‘Walter’ looks to make a splash next year

French game developers Blossom Minds are working on a platform game for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam called “Walter.” A classic horizontal scrolling game, “Walter” dazzles with an intriguing storyline and beautiful graphics.

Here’s the setup: In the near future, the world’s reserves of oil have dried up. Coming to the rescue is a company who discovers a way to turn clean water into the precious oil civilization craves. Nature is in peril. The world’s best hope to take down the evil company is a small protagonist composed of a few drops of water and a couple of eyeballs — Walter. Rumor is that the story is a big part of the game and that we can look forward to some nice twists and turns.

On top of the ability to manipulate the three common states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) to interact with the environment in “Walter,” Blossom Mind is promising lots of surprise features to keep players excited.

The game is expected to be available in the middle of next year. Before that, make sure you have a look at the trailer at www.blossom-minds.com/video.html.

— Joris Larigaldie, Gamerlive.tv