The Conflicted Combat of Darksiders 2

A critique of Darksiders 2s occasionally fun, but often unpolished combat, analysing its flaws, the good parts, and the missed potential.\r
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Turns out no ones really analysed this games combat as has been done for DMC or Bayonetta, so all of this video was based off things I noted when replaying it. As such, I ended up with a lot of excess notes that had little place in the script.\r
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Extra (mostly positive) Notes:\r
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I like the standing launch move as theres some tics to using it over the somersault launch - while it doesnt send you up in the air as well it doesnt launch enemies straight up, instead sending them in an arc over your head.\r
On top of this the gun cancels an enemys horizontal movement in the air-so you can launch from the ground then cancel their arc right above you for better positioning.\r
The gun of course slows an enemys descent but doesnt stall indefinitely like DMC, instead just slowing them down.\r
The Stalker enemies are particularly badly telegraphed, with powerful moves having little windup (and unclear what their range is) and aof swiped with little telegraphing that would work fine in Bayonetta but are just tedious in a game with no dodge offset.\r
At some point you get a damage bonus for landing a super tight dodge which is good, any risk/reward incentives in these kind of ion games are nice.\r
Why is the final boss SO shit?\r
The wrath system is easily exploited but Im not sure how I feel about the health system. A potion takes a while to heal you which is good in a sense as it means you cant just spam them while youre taking hits and need to be avoiding damage. However it also contributes to the premise of backpedalling away from danger and chugging potions or using the odd health-giving move so you can tank hits later.\r
Reaper Form is dumb. Unlike giving an attack and speed boost but with the same moveset like Devil May Cry, or even making all your moves wicked weaves like Bayonetta, you just become this big lumbering Reaper with assloads of defense, encouraging you to just mash the attack button as you tank damage.\r
Execution moves improved somewhat from 1, whose humanoid enemies can be killed with it in 1 hit, whereas in 2 this only applies to tiny enemies. Also unless you get some bad execution chances on a certain weapon you wont get too many of them, unlike Darksiders 1 which gave them in spades.\r
Apparently you can turn the numbers off but that only partially fixes the problem. The game is very reliant on gear and stats, the numbers are there to give you immediate feedback on that. Turning them off clears the screen, but then you dont get that feedback, would have been way better to adjust the size.\r
Where are my rival fights guys come on\r
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Logo designed by and coloured/animated by \r
Darksiders 3 reveal trailer: \r
Darksiders 3 gameplay trailer: \r
Thanks to TheGamingBritShow for lending me those God of War clips: \r
Thanks to Game Makers Toolkit for helping me reframe some of the more directionless elements of my script. If only Darksiders 2 had the same kind of advice: \r
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Games shown:\r
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Darksiders 2\r
Darksiders\r
God of War\r
Bayonetta\r
Devil May Cry 3\r
Devil May Cry\r
Devil May Cry 4\r
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Music:\r
I Know What You Want (Instrumental) - Busta Rhymes ft Mariah Carey\r
Ghostwriter - Rjd2\r
Feel Good Inc. (Instrumental) - Gorillaz\r
Play Dis Only At Night - Pete Rock\r
The Corruption - Darksiders II