Previews// Darksiders: Wrath of War

I'm going to take a moment to talk about the character design – it's great. Joe Mad, having been a supremely popular comics artist, has handled much of the design. It shows. As you can see from the art and screens, everything's exaggerated and has a cartoony, manga-esgue feel. That's not to say this is a game aimed at kids, however – it's that Vigil has taken a stylised approach to the design, with tons of crisp detail thrown around. (You'll be doing things like pulling enemy's wings off and mashing them up with your blades – Darksiders is decidedly not for kids.) War's a great hulking chap, the Watcher (voiced by Mark Hamill) who follows you around dishing up advice is suitably slimy and one boss I saw in the demo – Tiamiat – is positively repulsive with her huge leather wings, saggy tits and pot belly.

Once outside, the ruined cityscape was suitably impressive - the ruins of modern-day society work surprisingly well with the over-the-top design of the demonic and angelic folk you meet.

It also became quickly evident that, as Joe Mad told me in our interview, there's a fair amount to explore. I wandered off the beaten track and found myself swimming around a dungeon. I'm pretty sure I wasn't meant to have done that, since there were large chunks of cavern wall with a funky green and purple pattern and words to the tune of 'insert texture here' plastered on it, but come the final build there should be plenty to go at.

There is, as I mentioned, puzzle-solving to be done. The stuff I saw, both in the Seraphim Hotel stage and in a later 'Twilight Cathedral' area, was the 'find things to move around, blow this up' type stuff that will be familiar to you if you've played the likes of Tomb Raider before. I didn't try anything too challenging, but I understand it gets trickier as you progress. I was told that this will be particularly evident in dungeons, where you can expect, typically, “many puzzles and a boss.”

Yes, Vigil seems to relish boss battles. The battle with the aforementioned Tiamat that I saw involved the putrid bitch spitting fire from her gullet (I imagine her breath to be horrifying) and sending out shockwaves. The catch is that, if you let her, she'll build her health back up, undoing the damage you've done. A swift ranged attack should put paid to that...

The other part of the game I played and should mention was a Panzer Dragoon style section on a flying mount dubbed Echo Gorge. The camera was on rails, and I had control both of my mount and of the projectiles I was flinging about with the left and right analogue sticks respectivelu. I was doing battle with angels (at least one had high heels – sexy!) and winged demons. I've never been much good at that particular brand of flight-based combat and, as I was told, it was 'brutally challenging' thanks to not being properly balanced yet. Still, you get the idea of what to expect.

I should also mention the weapons and abilities. Unfortunately, I didn't get to muck around with too many armaments beyond the great big sword you start with and the fireballs I was using on my flying mount, but I did see some in action in the demo. You've got chains that might look familiar if you've played God of War. I saw these being used to not just take out enemies, but to manipulate the environment. I saw a car dragged over so that War could pick it up and smack an enemy - very cool.

Also shown off was the X Blade, one of the ranged weapons you can pick up. This is a typically-massive tool that, once thrown, will return to you. It can also pick up environmental effects such as flames – something that came in handy when Tiamat was being engaged in battle.

Abilities include the likes of 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. There's also the opportunity to build up 'chaos' as you do battle, which will enable War to turn into a red and black demon-thingy of substantial power when amassed.

Darksiders is, so far, looking promising. It's visually extremely pleasing, with plenty to sink your teeth into and involving combat. There are tweaks I hope to see applied to the combat and platforming mechanics, but Darksiders stands a good chance of being on your To-Play list when it's released on PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

For more on Darksiders, see my interview with Joe Mad.