With control schemes for console first person shooters fairly standardized, developers seek to differentiate their titles with theme and storyline. High Moon Studios chose the relatively untapped genre of the vampire cowboy for their latest offering, Darkwatch. The former U.S. Guilty Gear publisher tries to explore some semi-serious story elements along with a heavy helping of spectral prostitutes, skeletal riflemen, and dramatic voice acting. Read on for my take on the best undead western you're likely to encounter any time soon.
- Title: Darkwatch
- Developer: High Moon Studios
- Publisher: Capcom
- System: Xbox (PS2)
- Reviewer: Zonk
- Score: 6/10
There is a lot to like about the setting of this game. Darkwatch combines some of the best elements of Vampire Hunter D and Brisco Country Jr.; riding a horse quickly through the night pursued by a vampire lord, driving an armored buggy over ranks of skeletal undead, leaping onto a moving train just to hitch a ride. The two worlds are well blended, with the fantastical elements melded to the western in an interesting style.
You'll be seeing that world through the eyes of Jericho Cross, a former bandit turned vampire through his own bad luck and poor preparation. Cross is short on words, but rubs up against some interesting characters who do plenty of talking for him. The game follows Jericho's pursuit of the vampire lord named Lazarus, who kicks off the plot by slaying the protagonist within the first ten minutes of the game. In your afterlife you pursue Lazarus with the help of a pair of western beauties voiced by Jennifer Hale and Rose McGowan. These characters make up the bulk of the NPC interaction you'll encounter during the game. Representatives of the Darkwatch, an undead hunting organization, and the slavering undead they slay fill out most of the other NPC roles. Despite the subject matter, the voice work comes across as respectful to the roles. The voice actors gave their all to give these characters life. The dialogue is regrettably less respectful, with some corny eye rollers spread throughout the game. The storyline itself is interesting enough, moving with a frenetic pace and throwing a few twists and turns at you. Unfortunately, the game is over too quickly to really settle into the plot.
Gameplay and story are somewhat interconnected. Throughout the game, you're presented with 'good' and 'evil' options. Choosing either path nets you new vampiric powers, but disappointingly does not affect the storyline or the game's outcome. Controls are the typical console based FPS, with one thumbstick controlling movement and the other orientation. Even with the sensitivity turned up as high as it went, I found the movement a little gummy. The problem lies in the pace of the game. Enemies spawn quickly and in many locations around the gamespace, forcing you to react quickly to incoming opponents. While this makes for exciting gameplay, the mushiness of the controls leads to frustration. Even if you see an opponent coming you may not be able to line up your attacks quickly enough to defend yourself. Thankfully, your vampiric powers give you an edge. In addition to a 'blood shield' (ala Master Chief in the original Halo), Jericho can execute great leaps, speed himself up, and enter a vision mode where his opponents are clearly highlighted against a red background. Other abilities manifest themselves as you consume the souls of the damned, or release them into blissful oblivion, based on your chosen alignment path.
The vision ability is very useful, because as you might expect from a title with a touch of horror there are a lot of dark spaces to explore. The game maps tend to be well laid out. Regrettably the sameness of the visual elements, the darkness and textures, begin to blend together fairly quickly. Creature designs, too, run together into sameness before the short title ends its run. They certainly look good, but after you've worked through a few levels you'll have already encountered most of the critters the game can throw at you. Refreshingly despite their sameness they can be crafty opponents. The skeleton foot soldiers are dumb as hammers, but the gunfighters do a good job of seeking cover in a long-range fight. Throwing a stick of dynamite in the direction of a group of foes will send them scattering, and they even react appropriately when one of their number is hit with an exploding arrow. There won't be any moments of eerie intelligence, but it's gratifying to know they'll at least put up a fight.
Visually, Darkwatch does a good job of placing you into the moment. While the graphical capabilities of the console of your choice won't be pushed to the limit, characters are attractively animated and opponents convey a sometimes surprising sense of speed. Both the undead and story characters share a somewhat exaggerated style, with large facial features and angular body shapes. Jericho's vampiric powers are stylishly realized, as are the explosions and weapon effects in the game. The audio landscape of Darkwatch is not as attractive. Generic-sounding monster screams and underwhelming weapon effects will be your constant companions. The game is slightly less forgettable music-wise, with some nice musical stings and twangy background tunes. But then, I like spaghetti westerns.
High Moon offers up a game with an interesting setting and memorable characters, muddied by sluggish controls and repetitive gameplay. Though Darkwatch will likely not be remembered as one of the pinnacle releases of 2005, it does stand out from the crowd of generic shooters thanks to the obvious attention paid to the game's background. Despite that the too-quick story doesn't allow for time to fully appreciate the environment, and the sameness of the game levels and monstrous opponents drains the player's interest in the gameworld long before the plot concludes. Darkwatch is another game that could have been great, but ended up only worthy of a rental. While I think there are elements to enjoy here, I can only recommend it to someone specifically looking for a shooter with a western or horror theme.
Update: 09/21 19:24 GMT by Z : Clarified that High Moon was the former U.S. publisher, not developer, of the Guilty Gear series.
Genre! (Score:5, Funny)
I think there's a pretty good reason for that.
Re:Genre! (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Genre! (Score:2, Informative)
You obviously haven't heard of Zombie Pete! (Score:2)
Re:Genre! (Score:3, Informative)
Hellsing
Vampire Hunter D
If zombies are counted: GunGrave.
If immortals are counted: Trigun.
Also, I remember an older cartoon called Lonestar where the baddy was a skeleton man in a cowboy outfit who drove a hog.
Re:Genre! (Score:2)
Says who. (Score:2)
If you hurry, you can probably catch 1966's Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula [imdb.com], now playing on a VHS machine near you...
Re:Genre! (Score:2, Interesting)
The Deadlands RPG put out by Pinacle Etertainment Group was set in 1800's America in the "Weird West". The game features demons (manitou), werewolves, zombies, mad scientists, wizards in the form of magicla card sharks, and yes, undead gun fighters. Granted, it was a tabletop RPG, akin to D&D, but it's worth mentioning here.
Clint Eastwood Westerns (Score:3, Insightful)
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that it's a good movie or anything (it's not), but if you've ever seen it, it does define the "Vampire Cowboy" genre more than most things out there.
Re:Genre! (Score:2)
Relatively untapped genre? (Score:2, Redundant)
Gee, I wonder why that might be?
Re:Relatively untapped genre? (Score:5, Insightful)
Rather than an innovative genre, however, wouldn't innovative gameplay be better?
Parent
Re:Relatively untapped genre? (Score:2)
Wait. What's that? It's been done before? [tv.com] Damn. Guess I'll have to try for the "Turtles turned into mutagenic superhero
how many others are there?? (Score:5, Funny)
i think its safe to say that its also worst "undead western" you're likely to encounter any time soon.
Trigger is stuffed (Score:5, Funny)
The only question is, will Dale Evans rise to the occasion?
Tala (Score:4, Funny)
I've seen some dialogue from the game. I don't think even Tala's big jigglies can save this train-wreck.
Oh, THAT'S creative! (Score:5, Funny)
That's not a genre, that's an unimaginative combination of two ganres.
And by "relatively untapped", I assume you meant "absurd".
Seriously, the people who put out games like this must be Adult Swim flunk-outs... and that's saying a LOT!
Re:Oh, THAT'S creative! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Oh, THAT'S creative! (Score:2, Insightful)
*ahem* (Score:5, Insightful)
I think someone [nintendo.com] disagrees with that comment.
In essence (Score:5, Interesting)
Levels and enemies are repetitive.
Game is short, so plot is ineffective.
Dialogue is sub-par.
Graphics are ok, but don't push any limits.
Levels and enemies are repetitive.
The characters are pretty good.
The setting is different from other FPSs.
6 out of 10? "Cool! Six-shooters and skeletons!" Almost every other part of the review was negative. What does this game offer that makes it better than average?
If you say that you "can only recommend it to someone specifically looking for a shooter with a western or horror theme," doesn't it deserve a rating of 3/10? Or is an "average" game worth 8/10?
Re:In essence (Score:2)
Re:In essence (Score:3, Insightful)
The "6 out of 10" should be modified, then, to "6 out of 10, where average is 7.5"
Re:In essence (Score:2)
I played this game (PS2 version). I will summarize this in a way that this review takes too many words not to say. Shooters should have two things:
Now, simply consider every FPS back to Doom 1, and think how many fail one or both of these things. Lots of hallway-running and not enough shooting, or scarcity of ammo, are the two main ways to fail these. It's a shooter. I want
Re:In essence (Score:2)
Re:In essence (Score:2)
What's truly sad is that something like Darkwatch which, while fun, doesn't have a lot beyond the bare minimum going for it, stands out among FPS's. Something is seriously wrong with the evolution of the genre.
Re:In essence (Score:3, Funny)
You get 5/10 if the game installs and displays a splash screen. You get 4/10 if the game won't install, but the screen shots on the box are cool. I think 3/10 is reserved for games that won't install, and the box is made from poison ivy.
1 million sold... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:1 million sold... (Score:2, Funny)
Untapped Genre (Score:4, Insightful)
Could a game like Civilization or Sim City get off the ground today? Not likely.
Genre Selection Table (Score:5, Funny)
Characters -- Setting
(1)Pirates -- (1)Carribean
(2)Cowboys -- (2)Old West
(3)Knights -- (3)Camelot
(4)Vampires -- (4)Erie Castles
(5)Soldiers -- (5)WWII, burned out society, etc.
(6)Aliens -- (6)Outerspace
The scalawags rolled a 4 and and a 2, but Douglas Adams they ain't. Arr!
Re:Genre Selection Table (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Genre Selection Table (Score:2)
P.S.: Yarrrr!
Metacritic (Score:5, Informative)
Also, I ask, did Zonk play PS2 or Xbox?
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/dar
This game sucks (Score:2, Interesting)
Bet next review is another Command and Conquer, or another Wing Commander, remember when they actually made NEW games? Don't give me that MMORPG tripe, I was playing MUDS in the early 90's also, all they did was add pictures. There has not been a major advance in the actual GAMES since I last booted my Amiga 500.
Re:This game sucks (Score:2)
I know this is minor scenario change, but this seems a lot more interesting than all these flat map games...
Re:This game sucks (Score:2)
I cannot stand scripted games, and more more can you do with just frag fests?
Not the FIRST undead Western (Score:2, Interesting)
The Ghost... Goes WEST!
http://www.phillyburbs.com/edwood/wood2.shtml [phillyburbs.com]
Long live Ed Wood.
Darkwatch is a great game (Score:2, Insightful)
"Former Guilty Gear developer?" Huh? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:2, Interesting)
Coal is cheap, and produced locally.
-Rick
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:2)
Sorry to nitpick, but no, it couldn't.
-nB
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the laws of thermodynamics would have something to say about that.
or if designed like a heat pump could even cool a room
sure.... if you want to put your computer outside
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:2)
There is a lot less hype about games where the improvement is in gameplay and/or plot. You can easily impress people with screenshots and demos; it's harder to get people to buy games that require playing the whole game to understand its advantages.
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:5, Interesting)
It's often not even polygons new PC games are pushing - rather, intensive shader operations are used for surfaces like plain walls when a bog-standard texture would do.
I thought about this a lot when I played the demo for F.E.A.R. a few weeks ago. Despite crushing my not-cutting-edge Geforce 6600 under its boot, it still didn't exactly look pretty, and didn't manage environments beyond horrendously cliched, incredibly simple alleys and corridors. I think there was also a small warehouse in there too.
Deus Ex: Invisible War did something similar. Where the first game had some pretty huge, nonlinear maps, its sequel had tiny, cramped levels with a couple of characters wandering round. But it had completely real-time lighting, so that makes things okay! Apparently.
I've got a fairly powerful PC. It can run older games at ridiculous framerates and resolutions. I'd much rather developers made better use of the resources available, and presented gamers with good design rather than graphical buzzwords. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't bother with stencil lighting, expensive shader operations or whatever, a typical, generic PC of today could manage some gigantic maps - a whole city block instead of a few alleys, crowds instead of two or three characters, a decent-sized island instead of a Rockall-with-trees.
Or whatever. I still reckon today's incredible hardware is wasted on rendering corridors and crates...
Parent
Graphical advances grow on you (Score:2)
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:2)
Re:Looks... pretty much the same as everything els (Score:3, Interesting)
How did you come at this number? It is totally absurd. Someone recently claimed something similar, so I did some calculations as to how much coal is actually needed to run a computer for a day [slashdot.org], which is about 8 kilograms worth.
As it turns out, 1.25 Titanics worth of coal would run your computer for millions of years.
Re:A game that gets 6/10 is posted on FP? (Score:2)