Darkwatch
High Moon's vampy Old West shooter has potential, but what's there is stretched a little too thin.
Published: August 25, 2005
There are so many generic first-person shooters on the market these days that even the idea of a FPS with a decent storyline and a little well-thought out back story makes me excited. A little originality is really all that's needed to at least pique the interests of us jaded game-a-holics, and the story of an outlaw-turned-vampire battling the undead while trying to save his immortal soul is plenty original enough for me, thank you very much.
Darkwatch certainly does nail the originality part -- at least it did in the pre-production phase. Somewhere along the way, either because of time constraints or because it simply didn't fit in with the pacing of the game, much of the storyline was lost to a familiar, predictable series of levels filled with the same basic enemies and plot twists you can see from a mile away.
Since we are talking about the plot here, I've give you the basic setup. Guy's an outlaw, guy tries to carry out a one-man train robbery and accidentally unleashes ancient vampire. Vampy bites guy, guy is turned, but not before being rescued by extremely busty girl. Girl informs him there is a secret society dedicated to hunting and controlling evil, takes him there, he gets a fancy new suit and starts helping them out to save his humanity.
One of Darkwatch's biggest plusses is of course the ability to choose whether our vamp Jericho Cross is good or evil, but rather than making this a relatively seamless process where letting the powers get to the player and letting their natural tendencies decide the fate of Cross' humanity, the game takes a more blatant approach. At very obvious parts in the game, you have the ability to free or consume a tortured soul, or suck out the taint or all the blood of an infected person on the verge of death.
Because your choices are clearly defined, it's never really possible to get into playing as Cross, since you're regularly taken out of the game to make a choice. When you're actually in the game, there isn't a whole lot of immersion either, simply because the game loves to throw about 10 guys at you, lets you proceed to the next section, and then does it again.
Part of the drag here is that the enemies tend to come from three distinct types: the run-at-you-and-hack-at-your-face type, the shoot-you-from-a-distance type, and the oh-hey-check-me-out-I-can-fly-circles-around-you-and-I'm-incredibly-strong type. There are usually only two or three different types of enemies from each category (with the final bosses falling into the last one), and no, the "ghost" (read: harder) versions of bad guys don't count. Because of the similarity in foes, it feels like you're just trudging through a handful of scripted spawn sequences all the way to the end of the level.
Darkwatch does try to break up all the shooting by slowly introducing some powers to the mix, which build according to those oh-so-crucial choices you make throughout the game. They're a nice touch, and when combined with Cross' vampiric double-jump/glide, you feel like a badass -- at least until you're hacked up by a banshee or something. The best part about the powers is that they aren't just mirror versions of each other; the good side has what can best be described as defensive spells and the evil powers are more offensive, giving you a different experience if you play through the game twice on each side.
The game also tries to introduce a vehicle and a few mounted chaingun sections, with the latter definitely faring better than the former. The Coyote drives like a drunk man's Warthog from Halo; a wide turning radius and slow response. Luckily you're only forced to play through a few levels with it.
The Coyote isn't the only thing borrowed from Halo, though. Cross has something called a "Blood Shield" which slowly recharges given enough time away from attacks. Why yes, it is familiar -- so are the melee attacks with all the weapons, the ability to carry two weapons at a time and swap them out, and the talking sidekick stuck in your head.
There's nothing wrong with biting a little style off of a successful game, but things were moved over a little too completely. It's not that the shooting bits aren't fun, they're just eerily familiar, and they came from a game with much higher production values.
Darkwatch certainly does nail the originality part -- at least it did in the pre-production phase. Somewhere along the way, either because of time constraints or because it simply didn't fit in with the pacing of the game, much of the storyline was lost to a familiar, predictable series of levels filled with the same basic enemies and plot twists you can see from a mile away.
Since we are talking about the plot here, I've give you the basic setup. Guy's an outlaw, guy tries to carry out a one-man train robbery and accidentally unleashes ancient vampire. Vampy bites guy, guy is turned, but not before being rescued by extremely busty girl. Girl informs him there is a secret society dedicated to hunting and controlling evil, takes him there, he gets a fancy new suit and starts helping them out to save his humanity.
One of Darkwatch's biggest plusses is of course the ability to choose whether our vamp Jericho Cross is good or evil, but rather than making this a relatively seamless process where letting the powers get to the player and letting their natural tendencies decide the fate of Cross' humanity, the game takes a more blatant approach. At very obvious parts in the game, you have the ability to free or consume a tortured soul, or suck out the taint or all the blood of an infected person on the verge of death.
Because your choices are clearly defined, it's never really possible to get into playing as Cross, since you're regularly taken out of the game to make a choice. When you're actually in the game, there isn't a whole lot of immersion either, simply because the game loves to throw about 10 guys at you, lets you proceed to the next section, and then does it again.
Part of the drag here is that the enemies tend to come from three distinct types: the run-at-you-and-hack-at-your-face type, the shoot-you-from-a-distance type, and the oh-hey-check-me-out-I-can-fly-circles-around-you-and-I'm-incredibly-strong type. There are usually only two or three different types of enemies from each category (with the final bosses falling into the last one), and no, the "ghost" (read: harder) versions of bad guys don't count. Because of the similarity in foes, it feels like you're just trudging through a handful of scripted spawn sequences all the way to the end of the level.
Darkwatch does try to break up all the shooting by slowly introducing some powers to the mix, which build according to those oh-so-crucial choices you make throughout the game. They're a nice touch, and when combined with Cross' vampiric double-jump/glide, you feel like a badass -- at least until you're hacked up by a banshee or something. The best part about the powers is that they aren't just mirror versions of each other; the good side has what can best be described as defensive spells and the evil powers are more offensive, giving you a different experience if you play through the game twice on each side.
The game also tries to introduce a vehicle and a few mounted chaingun sections, with the latter definitely faring better than the former. The Coyote drives like a drunk man's Warthog from Halo; a wide turning radius and slow response. Luckily you're only forced to play through a few levels with it.
The Coyote isn't the only thing borrowed from Halo, though. Cross has something called a "Blood Shield" which slowly recharges given enough time away from attacks. Why yes, it is familiar -- so are the melee attacks with all the weapons, the ability to carry two weapons at a time and swap them out, and the talking sidekick stuck in your head.
There's nothing wrong with biting a little style off of a successful game, but things were moved over a little too completely. It's not that the shooting bits aren't fun, they're just eerily familiar, and they came from a game with much higher production values.
