Dark Souls: A Dark Way To Die

Dark Souls is by far my favorite RPG of this gen, possibly ever. This game has so much to see starting with the massive landscapes and ranging the detail of the armor and weapon sets. Keep in mind that this title is notorious for the scaled difficulty.

Graphics

Dark Souls’ graphics are not the best that I have seen this generation, but definitely nothing like Nintendo Wii Sports. The architectures are beautiful; from the castle in Anor Lonodo, to the sewer of the depths. The enemies are disgustingly awesome, from the giant Gaping Dragon, the standard Zombie to the Armor and weapons–they all look amazing as well. There have been a few reports of issues with frame rate; however I have not seen any of these.

GRAPHICS 9/10      

Gameplay

Dark Souls is above many standard RPGs. While wandering around the seamless world you will get lost on more than one occasion. The combat is relentless and brutal. You must be ready to fight at all times and make each attack count. If you fault in combat, you will pay for it with your life.

GAMEPLAY 10/10      

Online

Online mechanics for Dark Souls are definitely not easy to grasp. So, you rest at a bon fire and see that option “REVERSE HOLLOWING.” You choose that, and watch your “1” in the upper left corner go to “0” and notice your are now human…. WTF did that do?

Certain points in the game, mostly around boss chambers that you have not defeated, you will now notice white signs on the ground–chances are these are other players that you can call, but not talk to, to help beat bosses or invading players.  

Speaking of invading players, now that you are human you are not safe anywhere; other players may invade your world with only one goal, which is to kill you.

There are many other aspects to the online gameplay for Dark Souls, but for now the basics will do.

ONLINE 7/10      

Controls

Controls in Dark Souls are very easy to learn and very easy to adapt to. There was only one issue with the controller setup that I had. I have no valid option to solve this, and I may have been the only one to experience the issue. While trying to sprint and control the camera I found my hand in an awkward position. My right thumb on the right thumb stick, my right index finger on the “B” button, and my right middle finger on the “RB” button ready to attack at any given time. Sure, this doesn’t seem to be very strange at first, but play 175+ hours and it gets a little uncomfortable.

Overall

• GRAPHICS:  9/10
• GAMPEPLAY:  10/10
• ONLINE:  7/10
• CONTROLS:  9/10
• OVERALL:  9.5/10              

Dark Souls is a game that was worth the retail $59.99 and is now only $19.99 which is a steal. This game was and is outstanding. Anyone interested in torturing themselves for hours on end this is definitely and option of them.