Fell deeds awake! Now for wrath. Now for ruin. And the red dawn! Its time once more, for another Skirmish of EpicBattleCry! This week, we get a release date for DeathSpank, ponder the laundry list of new features announced for Gran Turismo 5, make some Ice-T in Gears of War 3 jokes, and discuss if Sony’s rumored move to prioritize the PlayStation Move over Heavy Rain’s next DLC is a portent of things to come.
With E3 2010 over, we look back and discuss our take-away moments and games from this year’s show. What inspired us; what infuriated us; what made us question the nature of the universe? We’ve got everything from Zelda: Skyward Sword, to Marvel vs. Capcom 3, XCOM, and even Onlive; five things each, in no particular order, that we had to share from this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Read the rest of this entry…
The epic style of Darksiders is demon spawning its way into a 288-page art book and a series of art statues, debuting at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con from July 22-25.
The Art of Darksiders, published by Udon Entertainment,will feature “hundreds of full-color illustrations, character & environment designs, development sketches, unused concepts, promotional artwork, and more,” and will be available in a limited edition hardcover at the Con. Artist Joe Madureira (X-Men, Deadpool, Spider-Man) will also be on-site at the Udon booth to sign the exclusive edition. The Art of Darksiders will hit stores a few months later, in October 2010.
SOTA Toys will premiere a 14″ statue of WAR (What is it good for? Decorating your nerdy living room) atop his faithful and fiery steed, Ruin, at the Con as well. SOTA will accept pre-orders for the statues on its website starting July 22, with the actual products available to own later in the year.
With the reputation of both SOTA Toys and Joe Madureira for detailed, intense work, the book and the statues should be true pieces of art. Whether you’re adding to your figurine collection or spicing up your seance circle, will you be on the lookout for the Darksiders art at this year’s Comic-Con? I know I will–just look for the hot chick waiting for a sale at the Vertigo booth.
THQ has announced that they are bringing their Zelda-esque hack n’ slash from the console to the PC in just a few months! Darksiders came out last January among some real heavy hitters in the gaming world, including Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, and Bioshock 2 (early February) and held its own. The game was well received by critics and gamers alike and really became somewhat of a darling with many players.
For those that don’t know, Darksiders is a third-person action adventure featuring War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the main character who “battles [his way] across a decimated earth in his quest for vengeance and redemption.” The title sports some rather good graphics, fun gameplay, and very solid voice work, including the legendary Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker and The Joker from Batman: Arkham Asylum). If you missed this title on the console, you will be able to check it out on the PC sometime this June.
Saddle up and ride for world’s ending, its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week, we check out the ‘better late than never’ Darksiders demo, run down the latest details on Super Street Fighter IV as well as the news that SFIV is headed to the iPhone, discuss the new Assassin’s Creed 2 DLC and the circulating info on Assassin’s Creed 3, and ponder the North American delay for the first episode of the Heavy Rain Chronicles DLC.
First up, we talk the Heavy Rain demo. With the game being release this week we discuss our impressions of the demo and what the future may hold for this unique title. Next, after many a request from you the loyal Axehead vanguard, we take a stab at some of the business models being discussed by Jason Rubin on his recent Bonus Round appearance.
The Battle Cry of the Week goes to Metal Gear Solid: Arcade, free copies of Red Faction: Guerrilla, Transformers G1 Awakening on iPhone, and VOD vs Blu-ray.
THQ has announced that those of you still on the fence about Vigil’s Darksiders will soon get the chance to try that bad boy out via a lengthy demo coming to both PSN and XBL on February 25.
The demo, which packs in 90-minutes of gameplay (WHOA!), contains the entire first dungeon encounter from the game known as the Twilight Cathedral. Described as both “engaging and challenging”, the level contains dozens of puzzles for players to solve, new pieces of equipment to discover and epic boss battles against the monstrous demon Jailer and the savage bat-winged Tiamat.
David Adams, General Manager of Vigil Games commented, “We are really pumped to be bringing a playable demo for Darksiders to Xbox 360 and PlayStation3. We really wanted to give gamers a true idea of the variety of gameplay that the game offers and so rather than just making a standard 20-minute demo version of the first few levels, we decided to give away this massive level and reveal the true essence of the game.”
The full game itself is of course already out for both PS3 and 360.
Now THIS is a promo…THQ has updated the official Darksiders‘ website with a post detailing what folks still hanging on to the mysterious code card included with their copy of Darksiders will receive and it includes a digital Hellbook disc featuring Darksiders art, videos, and other “awesome stuff” along with a free copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla, the third person shooter featuring fully destructible environments… on Mars! Pretty impressive, huh???
So, visit the promo page, click on which version you want (360 or PS3), enter your Promo Code and click “Apply” to get the goods. You better do it fairly soon though as the offer and ends March 7, 2010. It’s not all peachy though…shipping and handling is not included and unfortunately the deal is only available to US residents. Sorry!
Say what you will about THQ/Vigil’s Darksiders…by most accounts it’s a SOLID game and a promising new franchise at the very least. While the title just released, there are plenty of folks already craving more and today some sketches of the remaining Four Horsemen (to accompany War) have hit the net to satisfy. Introducing “Strife”, “Fury”, and “Death” as conceptualized by Darksiders‘ lead, Vigil boss man, and overall comic bad-ass Joe Madureira. Does the existence of these sketches imply that a Darksiders sequel is guaranteed? Well, not really, but funny how starring Death in the face can make fans so hopeful.
Be among them and attack from behind, its time for another episode of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish, we cringe as Tony Hawk sinks to new depths to sell copies of Ride, warm up our trigger finger for Metal Slug XX, rally around the rumor a new NBA Jam is headed our way, and discuss the recent Sony survey that points to premium (as in paid) subscription services coming to PSN.
With the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 behind us, we take a look at the offerings for gamers. Microsoft announced Game Room, and also confirmed Natal will be out this year. Sony launched the first salvo for 3D gaming and announced an expansion of PSN video services beyond the PlayStation platform. Who brought the heat, who stabbed themselves in the face? We sharpen the Axe on CES 10.
The Battle Cry of the Week calls on Nintendo to bring OLED technology to the next DS console, thanks George Lucas for the greatest unintentional entertainment of the week, celebrates Darksiders and other new, kick-ass IPs, and has love for Crystal Dynamics and the hope that we may see a new Legacy of Kain game one day.
Empowering the EBA Community with a voice to collaboratively review the industry’s hottest titles, the EpicBattleAxe.com uREVIEW (about) delivers real insight from real gamers about The GOOD, The BAD, and The UGLY pertaining to the biggest games in the world. This is the EpicBattleAxe.com uREVIEW for Darksiders. Let’s get started:
FACTS:
Publisher: THQ |Developer: Vigil Games Genre(s): Action, Adventure Players: 1 ESRB Rating: M (Mature) Release Date: January 5, 2010 Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Official Website
GAME SUMMARY:
Penned by legendary comic book artist Joe Madureira (X-Men, Battle Chasers, The Ultimates), Darksiders is set in a Post-Apocalyptic demon-ravaged world where evil forces have prematurely brought about the end of the time. Originally sent to oversee the destruction of Earth, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been betrayed by their master, stripped of their powers and cast down to Earth. Players take on the role of WAR — the first of the Four Horsemen — as he embarks on a brutal quest of vengeance and revenge against the forces that betrayed him with the help of his phantom steed RUIN. The first title from new THQ studio Vigil Games, Darksiders: Wrath of War features open-world exploration, a deep combat system and a huge arsenal of modern and mythical weapons. [THQ]
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Dtoid just turned us on to a rather impressive new trailer for the upcoming Darksiders which, as the post points out, recently received a perfect score (10/10) from Play magazine as its first review. While you know I don’t think ANY game is perfect, I do think Darksiders is most certainly of the bad-ass variety. Check out the latest vid from the game below and see if you agree.
