Darksiders - PS3

Post-apocalyptic settings seem to be the bread and butter of action/adventure-based games these days. It could be that it's a product of the ambiguous times we live in, but games makers seem to be a little bit obsessed with the End of the World as We Know it. Seldom has there been so literal an embodiment of that mentality as in Darksiders, however.

The Apocalypse has happened. We're not talking the nuclear kind, or the alien attack kind or the swine flu kind. We're talking the full-on, biblical four horsemen kind. That's your REAL Apocalypse. Thing is, it's come a bit off schedule. Read: early. War (the horseman) was found at the scene and he's taking the blame for it. Determined to get to the bottom of it all, off he trots to drill down through all the mystery and get to The Truth. When you're War, however, it's not about asking questions and putting the clues together, it's about messing people up with your Great Big Sword.

It's about hack-'n'-slash brawling, exploration and puzzling. The action plays out largely as a mixture of brawling and light platforming. Players overcome all manner of undead, demony monsters, and they have quite an arsenal to do it with. For example, you've got chains that might look familiar if you've played God of War. These can be used to not just take out enemies, but to manipulate the environment. There's also the X Blabe, a typically-massive tool that, once thrown, will return to you. It can also pick up environmental effects such as flames. You get the idea. Also up for grabs is an ever-growing array of abilities, such as some ethereal wings that can be used for gliding – helpful for exploration and platforming – and the blade geyser which sees (great big!) pointy things shooting from the ground around War. You're going to need the whole lot, too, because the boss battles are nothing short of epic...

On top of all that there's plenty to explore, with huge great sprawling levels littered with physics-based puzzles to bend your head around. So, what's War good for? Darksiders, that's what.