I started looking forward to the game once I found out it was actually about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Ive been anxiously awaiting its arrival from Gamefly, and it came in today. I was able to get in a little over an hour, but it was enough to get me hooked.
The basic story of the game is that you play as War, one of the Four Horsemen. There are three kingdoms: Heaven, Hell, and Earth. There is a special council that ensures there is a balance between them, and they use the Horsemen to keep that balance. One seven special seals are broken, it is the Apocalypse, and the Four Horsemen will be summoned to punish enemies. The game starts out as the Apocalypse begins on Earth, so you run around battling demons and angels as you progress through a devastated city (it appears to be NYC, but it could be any generic city.) However, War is suddenly stripped of his powers as he was tricked into being summoned. The council sees him as a traitor, yet they allow him to investigate how the demons orchestrated this trick. And thus the game begins.
The gameplay is very similar to that of God of War. You have your light and heavy attacks, and you can grapple enemies and items from the environment, such as cars and furniture. As you defeat enemies, you earn experience points (in the form of souls) which can be traded in to upgrade your character. War can learn a variety of special attacks and upgrade his weapons and armor. Visually the game is stunning, and there is a heck of a lot of blood and guts flying around as you dismember demons.
Aside from combat, you will find yourself navigating large maps with the aide of a useful and clear mini-map displayed in the corner. You will also be required to perform many jumps to get to locations, and I will admit that I am still getting used to it. For some reason I find myself walking off platforms instead of jumping, so I have to get used to the timing. Gameplay wise there is nothing all that new thrown into the game, but it doesnt mess with a time-tested great combat system, so Im not complaining. Add in a killer storyline about the ultimate battle of good vs evil, trophies, great graphics, and superb voice-overs and you got yourself one heck of a great game. There is no multiplayer or DLC for the game, so it does have a low replay value. However, its definitely worth the rent. I know I wont be putting it down until I play through it.
