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" Also available on: PlayStation 3 Developer: From Software Publisher: Namco Bandai Genre: Action role-playing game Dark Souls continues where Demon&amp;#039;s Souls infamously left off, and that&amp;#039;s by offering a challenge of the soul-crushing variety. A seemingly simple action role-playing game on the surface, the enemies and trials that await its many dungeons can be devastating to the unprepared and foolhardy.  Attacks by the most simple of foes will knock serious chunks off your health, while traps, such as rolling boulders or trapdoors, will gleefully kill if you aren&amp;#039;t looking out for them. Dark Souls is a continuous gauntlet of unknown and very dangerous tasks, and it&amp;#039;s very difficult to get through them unscathed. Dark Souls also features the same unique and superb features that made it truly stand out. Dying will see souls, a currency earned from killing enemies that can be used for levelling and buying new items, dropped at the point of defeat, for you to pick up again on your next attempt. But fail to get there the next time and the sum is lost for good, making subsequent runs more tense than the last.  Elsewhere, its clever online features return, allowing players help each other with notes in the field, such as a warnings for impending dangers lurking round the next corner, or maybe to spread a few lies to lure them to their doom. Those traits make their transition into Dark Souls with ease, and they hold up just as strong. However, the key difference here is how the world is explored. While Demon&amp;#039;s Souls had you jump in and out of different dungeons from a hub world, Dark Souls is a far more free roaming affair. While it can&amp;#039;t really be classed as an open world \u2013 areas are closed off and opened through the course of your story and actions, not unlike Metroid or Castlevania - the scope and sense of exploration is far wider. The world around you is far more convincing, too. Demon&amp;#039;s Souls had terrific environmental and enemy design that was dark, moody and terrifying, but having to return a safe location before being transported to somewhere thematically different was a jarring experience. Here, you have to physically wander from one area to a next, which bestows a far more adventurous feel to exploration.   Dark Souls regularly opens up to grand vistas of surrounding mountains dotted with faraway paths and castles, sights made more exhilarating because you know at some point you&amp;#039;ll be stood at that vantage point looking back, even if it&amp;#039;s a dozen or so hours later. The more open scope also works devilishly well with the challenge and level of tension of the game, not knowing what&amp;#039;s round the corner or what you&amp;#039;ll encounter next. You&amp;#039;ll often find yourself hours into a dungeon, not knowing where to take the left or right path, or whether to risk taking on a new enemy in the hope that there is an all-important, life-saving bonfire on the other side. There was always a risk to exploration in Demon&amp;#039;s Souls, but having it part of a vaster, stranger world makes it far more daunting, in the most thrilling way. Despite its jaw-dropping vistas, Dark Souls&amp;#039;s visuals can come across as a little stale. While the art and menu presentation is pleasingly styled in an old fashioned manner, within the game itself objects can come across as ugly up close, while certain areas sees the framerate reduce almost to a standstill. Voice acting in the game is also shockingly bad, but thankfully, exploration is slow and lonely enough that these factors are rarely an issue.  There&amp;#039;s also no denying that the barrier to entry is very steep. While it&amp;#039;s far from an impossible challenge, it&amp;#039;s most certainly a formidable one. The slow-paced and thorough approach to exploration and combat, which is utterly essential to survival, is something that comes with time, practice and a lot of patience.  The level of constant danger and tension never changes, but your approach to the game does, and once it all clicks into place, the rewards and level of elation gained from success is something few other games can provide. Dark Souls is intentionally stubborn and mysterious throughout, and seemingly resists your efforts to improve, but that&amp;#039;s all part of what makes it so enjoyable. It&amp;#039;s a game that regularly throws away entire afternoons or evenings of progress because of a simple mistake or surprise encounter, but that only makes you all the more eager to dust yourself off and do better next time. And how many games can you say that about?  &amp;gt; What do you think of the game? Share your views "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a344166/dark-souls-xbox-360/>