Darksiders II

While trying to revitalize the Zelda formula with modern developments is an admirable goal, Darksiders II's developers just can't seem to get a handle on how to make such a thing work. For two games now they've tried adding hi-octane combat, a Western-style story, and ability trees, but it's never managed to gel. The things that made games like Zelda, God of War, Prince of Persia, and even Shadow of the Colossus great are all on display here, but the Darksiders series still hasn't figured out how to use them effectively enough to stand on its own.

Darksiders II is full of enormous environments and dungeons to traverse to and explore, even more fantastical enemies and large-scale bosses to battle, and plenty of challenging hacking, slashing and loot collecting.

A stunning achievement in creative larceny that improves on its predecessor in pretty much every way that matters. A pity about the lacklustre endgame though.

Darksiders 2 doesn't quite manage to reach the heights of its predecessor, but it does deliver a solid action-adventure with more than enough style, depth and complexity to maintain engagement throughout. Its greatest weakness lies in its inability to advance the series story, leaving you once again longing for the true sequel as hinted by the first's conclusion with the coming of the four horsemen.

It's a generous buffet of the finest experiences the genre has to offer, the problem with this being that each offering is a discernibly weaker imitation in comparison to the original source it is drawn from.