Just as comics struggled to break into the film industry before eventually exploding in popularity, so have comics done with games. The days when developers could just stick favorite costumed fighters into a forgettable brawler are long gone. They gave way to a new trend of developers placing beloved characters in open-world games that rarely ranged above mediocrity. Game developers are now realizing the need to approach comics-based games in unique and inventive ways that reflect the strengths of their properties, talent, and respective mediums. The mechanics in Batman: Arkham Asylum were tailored to the character; investigation, stealth, gadgets, using fear as a weapon to dispatch opponents one-by-one. Similarly, the upcoming Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions plays to the superhero comic trope of the multiverse, casting the player as multiple versions of everyone's favorite web-slinger. Last year's InFamous, in addition to having a title that's annoying to type, was an original comic-style game. At a reductive level, InFamous was just an open-world shooter. It was good, but its comic inspiration wouldn't have been so strongly felt without its comic-book styled custscenes. As an original IP, Darksiders is much in this same vein. However, Darksiders does a much more effective job of evoking its comic inspirations.
