Zero Punctuation: Darksiders

[Orcus The Ultimate]

That's a bad game....

 

[bodyklok]

*Sigh* Okay, which one of you guys started the thread?

Spoiler: 4chan's semi-SFW traditional games board

http://boards.4chan.org/tg/res/7684353

Probably just one of the many trolls infesting /tg/ right now.

 

[Weaver]

I don't see why he's so mad at ripping off God of War which was essentially a Devil May Cry rip-off. At least give credit where credit is due.

 

[gamepopper101]

"the character design looked like someone sat down, started drawing and never fucking stopped!"

That is the best opinion on an art-based medium I've ever heard! I'm laughing to much at the opinion to hear the rest of the review.

 

[De Ronneman]

Never knew you could use the word "god" so much, and immediatly link it to "of war"...

He's getting pretty worked up over the next 4 weeks isn't he?

Can't weet till the actual GoW3 review, he's gonna be piss angry by then.

 

[Inriri]

I don't see why he's so mad at ripping off God of War which was essentially a Devil May Cry rip-off. At least give credit where credit is due.

Even then, wouldn't Devil May Cry be considered a rip off of older games like Fighting Force?

 

[BigT65]

I have a funny feeling Yahtzee doesn't like unoriginal games.

 

[Weaver]

I don't see why he's so mad at ripping off God of War which was essentially a Devil May Cry rip-off. At least give credit where credit is due.

Even then, wouldn't Devil May Cry be considered a rip off of older games like Fighting Force?

I suppose yes, though DMC really nailed the idea of really stylizing the fighting into flashy moves and stuff. I think most people see DMC as the "origin" of the modern 3D hack and slash, but it obviously owes ideas to the 3D and 2D beat 'em ups.

 

[duchaked]

To be honest, I thought Darksiders was a PS3 only game. Now I know it's on 360, I'm skeptical. Thanks Yahtzee.

thus explains your 4000+ posts

haha no but seriously, I just never got into this genre
the only game of its type I own is Wolverine Uncaged but that's only cuz I liked the character (and it was on sale)

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Couldn't be arsed reading through all the comments...

I don't know where I got this idea but I'm sure Devil May Cry came before God of War and Bayonetta is... well seriously, it's devil may cry with tits and ass. And by Yahtzee's description that would mean god of war is Devil May Cry in a loin cloth... and bald. Which would mean darksiders is, well, that is God of War... and zelda... and portal.

From what I gathered from reviews of darksiders the mish mash of "hommages" is an endearing quality, although i was weary of how good a game that throws "been there done that" situations at you as the actual experience and not hideing it as a gimmick.

 

[smudgey]

One of the best i've seen in a while! Keep that hate coming!

 

[Weaver]

Couldn't be arsed reading through all the comments...

I don't know where I got this idea but I'm sure Devil May Cry came before God of War and Bayonetta is... well seriously, it's devil may cry with tits and ass. And by Yahtzee's description that would mean god of war is Devil May Cry in a loin cloth... and bald. Which would mean darksiders is, well, that is God of War... and zelda... and portal.

From what I gathered from reviews of darksiders the mish mash of "hommages" is an endearing quality, although i was weary of how good a game that throws "been there done that" situations at you as the actual experience and not hideing it as a gimmick.

As I just said above, many people consider DMC to be the Origin of the modern 3D hack and slash. Bayonetta is made by the same director so there is no way it rips off God of War, as God of War rips off DMC.

 

[Darkf0rge]

Exactly, go do some research. DMC came out well before GOW

 

[JayDeth]

What's funny is that I think this game just came in the mail today for my room mate. I wonder if I should just tell him that ZP didn't go up this week.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

That was one of the most epicest ZP's I've seen recently.

Loved the "Walking coral reef"-part and "I AM A MONSTER TRUCK THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN!"

 

[abort_user]

...

Oh yes, one minor point I will make is that I think the comments about the "14 year old ideal of masculinity" sort of misses the target. Rather I'd simply say that the game is presenting typical masculinity, face it... guys are wired that way. The modern meterosexuals are more or less an attempt at self supression.

Or let me put it to you this way, we can either have a macho dude driven by a desire to protect, avenge, conquer, and destroy, who acts like a warrior (which mandates a degree of emotional repression while he's doing his thing), or some dude who wants to sit around and talk about his feelings and confusion over the state of human emotion constantly.

I suppose one of the big problems is that a compromise is VERY hard to do, which is why the tiny handfull of characters that pull it off are noteworthy. In general you've got a choice between a Soldier/Warrior, a sarcastic swashbuckler type, or some fruit who would be the the lead man for a chick flick (or one of those gay-seeming supernatural creatures from paranormal romance books and the movies based on them).

In general, I think the withdrawn attitude is pretty realistic to what people who survive via violence wind up like. Granted, they DO insert too much angst into it though which I do not see as a nessicary conclusion.

I suppose War could have been done as the witty "Swashbuckler" of the Nathan Drake mould, which is what you'd get the the "check it out, I'm a monster truck with legs" vibe. However I imagine Yahtzee would have hated that more...

thats mostly horse shit. its socialization. guys arent one way or another. society trains them to behave a certain way regardless of whether its instinctual and the same also applies to women. men are often taught at a young age not to show emotion. its a sign of weakness. whereas woman are taught the opposite. some people believe this is one reason mental illness is far more frequent in males.

just because you think men should be stereotypically masculine doesnt mean youre describing masculinity. even if you think men should be "metrosexual" (btw i hate that word since it has nothing to do with a males sexual preference or anything else inherently related to sex) i would say the same thing. men have a cock, naturally more hair, naturally lower percentage of body hair, etc. most behavioral differences between males and females are almost all provably a result of socialization just by examining a wide variety of cultures.

but i also took Yahtzees comment about 14 year old boys to mean something entirely different. the guy with the big sword is a sexually charged image. a 14 year is around the age of puberty so its appeal to this demographic should be obvious. personally i think its childish to a watch "macho" man battle with giant phallus. also i find the idea to be rather homoerotic which is not my idea of masculine but it very may be yours.

 

[Danzaivar]

The real question in my mind, is does it all work together to make a fun game? Or is it one of those games that tries too hard to be too much and just falls flat on it's arse making a damp puddle of mediocrity?

I usually take Yahtzee's omission of a mechanic to be praise, but he sounded offended by this game's very existence.

 

[Booze Zombie]

War doesn't look that bad, also, I thought he was supposed to be more "I got reprimanded and killed today" than "moody".

 

[qbanknight]

venting out alot of frustrations over this game eh? understandable since it rips off so many games. heh heh, wait till you play bayonetta which i still don't understand why reviewers praised it so much for "originality" while calling darksiders derivative

What does Bayonetta rip off?

well god of war...who in turn ripped off devil may cry, which the original hasn't aged well as it should. to be honest all games end up ripping off each other in a certain way. true "innovation" comes in the form of a unique gameplay mechanic: the z-targeting system, cover systems, regenerative health, etc. The reason these games (Ocarina of time, gears of war/killswitch and halo) are remembered for these mechanics is because they supplanted this feature with tried-and-true gameplay that has been used by everybody else and fashioning unique stories.

though to be honest, in retrospect, it's incredibly difficult for a game to be "original"

 

[ucciolord1]

This was perfect. Is it even possible for you to dissapoint?