Dark Souls

Dark Souls(PC, X360, PS3)

Story: (7/10) (polarity -2)
watch this. (game intro, no spoilers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVsdyFE1KI
the story doesn't pull any punches. it is a tragic tale powerlessness and despair.
but the presentation of the story is minimal. it is very well "hidden". you can count the number of story cutscene on one hand.
the actual major story progress after the above intro will happen in the mid-point of the game.
the other bits of story are hidden in item descriptions, in incomplete murmuring of a few NPCs and in your ability to piece it together with quite a bit of imagination.
after you'll finish it, you'll want to look for a more detailed analysis to see what you missed.


Gameplay separated into:
  Combat and Platforming: (8/10) (polarity +1,-1)
Those of you who put off because of this is supposedly unplayable with mouse and keyboard, should be aware of the fact that unofficial fixes where released to deal with this.
Can't say for sure how good they are because i'm using a controller, but i heard that they are fine. google "dsfix" and "dsmfix" if you need them.
the combat is standard action-RPG stuff. you can equip an item in each hand and you have an "light" and "heavy" action per item.
melee weapons will have light, fast swing and slow, powerful attack. shield will block and either parry or bash the enemy (depending on the shield). magic staves will cost your selected spell or (lightly) poke the enemies on their head. and so on..
you also get a lock-on button and roll button. the effectiveness of the last will depend on the weight of your equipment. unlike in Skyrim where the weight of one apple can make the difference between sprinting and barely crawling here you have different sets of movements depends on your weight %.
if you're bellow 25% of your total weight (that on it's own is set by your stats) you'ed be fast. less then 50%? medium. less then 100? slow. over 100? even slower. but you can still move.
the combat is unforgiving. you can level up and become  strong (i mean truly strong, not just-on-paper strong) and if you aren't careful even enemies that you OHKOed 20 levels ago can be dangerous.
not to long ago, one of those dropped me into a pit. :-P

combat demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yDaaEjY0Gk

feel free to quit mid way. this guy is underleveled (probably on purpose). normally you would do more damage. everything else including received damage is more or less the same.

talking about pits. the platforming. as you might have guessed it is unforgiving. around 30-40% of the game takes place in areas that will limit your mobility. catwalks. cliffs. rooftops and so on.
unlike assassin's creed. the game doesn't snaps you in place. you have full control of your characters. this is both good and bad. you can (and you will) be thrown off all those places... or simply misstep. depending on the location this will probably end in your death. (or with some hidden goody!).

platforming demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q4Vj-cZAV1w#t=1482s
watch from 24:40 to 27:00.


  Exploration, Character Customization and Death Penalty: (10/10)
Full score!
When you start the game you need to pick up a class. those classes aren't forcing you into certain play style. they just gives you the necessary means to try an particular play style right at the beginning.
for example, you can pick warrior and still end up as great sorcerer by buying the right spells and equipment. but if you'ed start with the sorcerer you'll start with some spells and magic wand and a few points into INT.
this leads to highly customizable characters to any play style.
for example, my sorcerer isn't as durable as an average warrior, not because he is a sorcerer but because i didn't put enough points into Vitality and Endurance. but this doesn't mean i have to rely only on my magic, because i crafted to myself a sword that scales with INT instead of STR.
this way, i can save my powerful magic to the harder targets.
there are quite a few different "basic" play styles and you can combine those to build your character just the way you want it.
the basic play styles include: heavy slow hitter, nimble fighter, tank, dodge based character, bow using hunter, sneaky backstabber, user of one of the three magic schools.
so for example you could use swords (not to fast or to slow), wear heavy armor and learn some miracles and play as classic paladin.

Exploration. you play in set of more or less linear areas that connected to each other in non-linear ways.
what do i mean by that? you can't turn into a random direction and start walking like in Skyrim. but your path have many splits and turn that lead into different areas. you don't have to play those areas in any set order (with some exceptions ofc).
there are quite a few hidden passages and secrets in each and every area so you are rewarded quite well for exploring. for example i just got a very powerful ring with my second character because i know where to look and took the (calculated) risk of getting there despite the stronger enemies.

Death. as mentioned above. you are an Undead. this means you can die as many times as you want and you'll keep rising. but that doesn't mean it's an good idea.
every time you die you'll drop all your souls and humanity in the place where you died. souls are used both as money and EXP so they are important. humanity is arguably even more important. more on it latter.
anyway, you drop your humanity and souls and they are left on the unfortunate blood stain that you once were. if you'll get to this spot again you can pick them up and no harm where done. but if you'll die again the new blood stain will replace the previous one and all your hard earned goodies will be lost.

Humanity. there are several ways to get it and all of them are hard. just keeping it on you have many benefits. it increase the drop rate of items. it increases your curse resistance (curses are really bad in this game) and it even increase your defensive stats just as a level would. (i.e. holding 99 humanity is equal to getting the stat bonus from 99 levels. i finished the game in level 105).
humanity can also be used to revive yourself. i.e. turn from undead back into human. there are a few benefits of being human.. but one disadvantage. once you die, you are revived as undead.


  Multiplayer: 3/5 (polarity -1)
Minimalistic yet interesting concept. By reviving yourself (a.k.a spending humanity to stop being a walking corpse and becoming a human) you enable the multiplayer in the game (among other things).
This means you can invite players into your game to help you. This also means that you are open to invasion from hostile players.
there are different guilds (called Covenants) in the game each having some benefit for multiplayer. for example:
joining the Warriors of Sunlight makes it easier for you to summon (or be summoned) help.
the Dark Wraiths make it easier for you to sneak-invade other people.
Path of the Dragon enables you to challenge the enemy to honorable one-on-one duels.
Guardians of the Forest that are summoned immediately to deal with any trespassers into the Great Forest.
and there is even "police force" covenant called Blade of the Darkmoon, that invade players who who "sinned" either in their game or by invading others and being indicted by them.

  Graphics: 1/2
outdated for a relatively new game. but it doesn't hurt your eyes so it's easy to let it slide.

  Length and Replayability: 5/5
full score again!
this game is one of the longer (modern) games. not fallout, but longer than hitman or bioshock. this gives it good clock/buck ratio.
you also get very challenging NG+ and if you clear it you'll get even more challenging NG++, then NG+++ all the way to NG+7. (after that you can still keep playing, but it won't get any more difficult).

most people won't go that far, but you get 2 endings. so one NG+ is a likely option.
also because of the vast differences in play style between different builds you'll probably want to start completely new games to play as such.
lot of content.

  Availability of the game (literally): 0/10 (polarity +10)
had to mention this. this game is impossible (again, literally) to acquire in some countries unsupported by GFWL. yup. you can't buy it in my country or even through steam if i didn't lie about my location.
i felt like i'm trying to throw money at those people and they refuse to take it. dunno what they where thinking off....
it probably won't bother the majority of you. the people from US or the "major" european countries, but i had to vent it out.
update: finally found a legit copy and got it. for the price of 20 euro it is probably the most expensive game i got for a long while. normally my bar is $10. 15 for the exceptionally good ones.

Final score: 9/10 (polarity -2)
as you might have guessed, i like the game very much. but this experience is a hit or miss thing. some people will like it and some will hate it. but i can't rally imagine someone being indifferent.
i'll advise everyone giving it a shot regardless of what i'm going to say next, but here are some criteria that might point whatever you of the former or the latter.
you'll like it if:
you like action-RPGs. deep character customization. challenge . hidden goodies or roguelikes.
you'll hate it if:
you can't stand the thought of losing something permanently.  missing goodies. dying.
quite often because of some stupid mistake (but always mistake on your part).
if you don't like action-intense real time gameplay (you can't even pause the game! .. i know, i know.).
and finally if you can't stand the challenge. (yes, this is a provocation).