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Darkwatch Review
Jon Wilcox
13/10/2005
A vampiric first-person shooter set in the Wild West? TVG grabs it`s Stetson and moseys through High Moon`s inaugural title...
Announced in 2004, High Moon Studio's (formally Sammy Studios before a buy-out earlier this year) Darkwatch has finally been released by Ubisoft; offering a twist that's certainly unique, does the Wild West set vampire FPS satisfy or is it more frustrating than a couple of itchy puncture wounds to the neck?
The game follows the story of wanted outlaw Jericho Cross, who in his last job as a criminal, raids an armoured train to get at its loot only to discover that the bounty is a Vampire Lord called Lazarus Malkoth. As Malkoth escapes from the train he bites Jericho, thus beginning his transformation into one of the blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Thankfully for Cross, the train was being manned by Cassidy Sharp, a member of the ancient 'Darkwatch', a secret organisation created to defend humanity from the forces of evil. Together with Cassidy, Jericho must get to Darkwatch headquarters before he fully transforms into a full blooded (pun intended) vampire so he can hunt down and destroy Malkoth. Later on in the game, Cross is initiated into the Darkwatch movement itself and teams up with a new feistier partner in a woman called Tala.
Set across Wild West locations from abandoned mines, obligatory ghost towns, and the open plains of the desert, Darkwatch has a visual style that compliments both the time period and the fantastical gothic supernatural elements. This melding of horror and Wild West even extends to the weapons used by Jericho and is opponents with melee weapons fixed onto the various guns in a twisted interpretation that works; for instance, axe heads are found on the bottom of the grip that though impractical in the real world, really accentuates and in some ways even epitomises the coming together of the two narrative genres.
As seems to be a trend in recent FPS titles, Cross can only carry two weapons at a time, so careful consideration is required throughout the game. One attribute shared by all of the weapons of Darkwatch are their sheer weight; there's a real feeling that these are heavy duty weapons, regardless of whether it's Cross's reliable pistol or the explosive mounted arrows of the crossbow, with the ability to kill rather than tickle, exactly what every FPS gamer requires from a shooter. One pistol in particular named "The Redeemer" gives players the ability for rapid fire holding down the trigger leaving Cross quickly hitting the hammer to discharge the next shot. Though the game 'visually' implements dual-wielding weapons (or more specifically one weapon in particular, the 'Dual Pistols'), this doesn't extend into independent button/triggers leaving the ability more like a rapid fire system than true dual-wielding. It's a small detail but one that in my opinion is a little disappointing given that independent dual-wielding is implemented throughout several FPS titles and would have made a fine addition to the gameplay.
Thanks to Malkoth's attack, Cross is 'inflicted' with several vampiric powers that aid him throughout the game including a regenerating 'Blood Shield' that protects Cross from mortal injury, 'Blood Vision' that allows him to see the creatures of the night easier in the darkness, and a very impressive 'Vampire Jump' that allows Cross to leap great distances and even control the direction of the jump in mid-air. Based on already established gameplay elements (Blood Vision in very much a night-vision filter that displays in crimson and bright white), they do playfully integrate well with the premise of Darkwatch, although they do support the argument that the game over-relies on its supernatural-Western setting. These abilities aren't permanent however, and tapping into traditional vampire lore, Cross is stripped of his darker side whenever he appears in the light so moving from shadow to shadow in order to replenish the Blood Shield is essential; he may be hard as nails but the game's anti-hero will get beaten to a pulp with relative ease without his dark powersâ¦
Besides these more traditional weapons and unholy abilities, the player can also assign further powers to Jericho depending on a series of decisions made throughout the game. These branching elements made up of 'good' and 'bad' decisions that allow Cross to use powers that are built up as players destroy the dark legions and include good abilities such as the 'Silver Bullet' and 'Mystic Armour', and the more sinister evil abilities including 'Blood Frenzy' and the even more ominous 'Black Shroud.' Having said that the level design is exceptionally linear and even though the game has two possible endings, itâs hardly a non-linear experience and fails to exploit the idea of decision-making to the extent that it might have done. Then again itâs an FPS so the more important factors in whether itâs an enjoyable game remains in the traditional camp of weapons and the general intensity of the overall experience, and in this as weâve already said, Darkwatch does succeed.
Travelling across the environments of the game, players can take advantage of the agency's pitch black armoured train, Midnight Special, which uses both over and underground rail tracks to cover the distances required to battle evil across the wide areas of the West. Taking the virtually non-existent threads of reality in the game and setting them alight, High Moon has also designed and implanted a heavy gun mounted buggy, the Coyote, that utilises the 'new technology' of internal combustion engines to create a vehicle that travels as fast as a locomotive; the Warthog of the 19th Century perhaps? It certainly appears to be thanks to the identical control systems (plus the advantage of being able to fire the mounted Gatling guns without the need for a gunner.)
One of the more important areas of game design is found lacking in Darkwatchâs Single-Player campaign, and thatâs the longevity of the experience. For most players the story mode will be completed fairly quickly (depending of course on the difficulty level selected by the gamer â“ cue further similarities with Halo difficulty selection screen), and will probably last for approximately ten hours, give or take. At this point in a review for an FPS title, weâd probably be saying something along the lines of, âBut to extend the longevity of the title, the developers have integrated a strong multiplayer mode that offers players the chance to take the action onlineââ¦or something like that in any case. Whilst itâs true that players can indeed take the action online (at least in the Xbox version of the game), the multiplayer elements donât exactly set the world alight in terms of both experience and originality. Like about 99.99% of first-person shooters Darkwatch offers the âessentialâ Deathmatch and Capture the Flag gametypes along with their Team based counterparts; coupled with that is the more Darkwatch âSoulhunterâ where gamers have to hunt down a soul-bar before the timer runs outâ¦With such a selection of gametypes on offer thereâs no real drive to get Darkwatch for itâs Multiplayer options.
The execution of the original idea for the game is accomplished to a high level in a variety of different areas from the visual presentation, which certainly brings what at first appears to be the chalk and cheese of narrative genres, through to the intensity of the gun battles that at times can feel quite hectic indeed. One area of the FPS genre that has been affected in Darkwatch (and does confuse matters until players get use to it) are the mirrored control systems. Itâs almost carved in stone that in an FPS title that t âAâ button (in the case of the Xbox) is jump with âBâ activating the melee attack and âXâ to reload weapons, and yet High Moon have seen it fit to swap them around, which at best confuses and at worst can be annoying â“ especially when Cross is in a bit of a tight squeezeâ¦
