Dark Souls

In my honest opinion I don't care much for the Call of Duties and other average (yes I said average) shooters. I realize that this may have caused many readers to become ex-readers, but those are the risks one must take when speaking the pure biased truth.

Dark Souls offers something very unique to their players. FRUSTRATION. The casual gamers of this time period do not understand what a hard game is. They may play on the highest difficulty setting yet they still play the game the same way as when they played it on easy mode. Games are meant to be plowed through and at times yes it is fun to be dominating a game with nothing slowing you down. Dark Souls makes you learn from trial and error sometimes. You walk down a new hallway only to find out that a boulder smashes into you killing you without giving you time to react at all. Great, now that you know that spend 20 minutes getting to that part again and now you can try to avoid the boulder. Often times to find out that past that obstacle is another one ready to kill and infuriate you.

Look at games like the Grand Theft Autos and the Call of Duties. They have a single way to advance, by you going Rambo and single-handily wiping out a bunch of soldiers with RPGs. Then you slap your friend a big high-five and say "dude we are so great at this game". NO!!! You're not great at Saints Row, the game is just supposed to be mindless shooting with little to no actual threat. You never have to think, because knowing how to shoot is all that is needed.

Dark Souls doesn't baby you, it almost wants you to lose. Most importantly thought is required when playing, and often times there is little room for making mistakes. You can't just run through Dark Souls, the environment of the game forces you to slow down and take your time if you want to progress. There are cliffs, narrow pathways, invisible floors, traps, and more. You will have to learn from your mistakes and it will be frustrating at times, but it makes every little advancement in the game feel so much better. Every little thing feels that much more rewarding.

The feel of the game is always important, and Dark Souls feels pretty nice most of the time. Every swing of a sword, every clang of an enemy's weapon against your shield feels satisfying. When a giant monster is barreling toward you and you're still drinking a health potion and can't defend yourself you actually feel afraid or at least very anxious.

As with all things Dark Souls is absolutely not perfect. There are a moments in the game in which you die in the stupidest ways because you are getting reckless and frustrated. That is when you are best advised to walk away from the game and come back when you calm down. So its not a game you can play non stop, breaks may be required.
Certain classes my be slightly better than others, however no class (even the Deprived class) is unusable. There is a lack of online play to it, online play isn't much more than a PvP fest, so to be honest if you love online play Dark Souls is most likely not for you. So get back to your Gears of War.

Overall, Dark Souls is a challenging, strategic, and an incredible sequel to Demon Souls on the PS3. Play it, and for more than an hour or two. You will begin to appreciate that the game treats you like an adult, and doesn't hold your hand the whole time.

I DECREE THAT DARK SOULS GETS AN 8