Darkwatch

Genre: Horror-Western FPS Video Game

Publisher: Capcom

Availability: Broad. It’s a Capcom game, and easy to find.

Storyline: For time immortal, the ancient organization called ‘Darkwatch’ has used a combination of technology and magic to keep the powers of darkness at bay. Champion among them was a man named Lazarus until, disillusioned, he fell from grace and became one of the most powerful foes of Darkwatch as an unholy and vampiric demon. While Lazarus can never truly be killed, he can be contained, and that’s just what Darkwatch does until the fateful night in 1876 when the smalltime train robber, Jericho Cross, busts open the wrong safe and sets free the powerful evil.

Before leaving to reek his revenge on the Darkwatch, Lazarus sucks neck on Jericho turning him into a vampire also. Then he promptly raises the dead and turns the Old West into a zombie-infested hellscape.

Now, as Jericho Cross, you must hunt down the evil you unleashed in a quest for your own redemption, or for more unholy power than you could have ever dreamed… your choice, really.

The Good: This game is fun. Regardless of any flaws it may have, the highest praise you can give any piece of entertainment was that it entertained you, and that’s just what this game does. It’s fun to use your vampiric powers. It’s fun to use the cool guns that Darkwatch gives you (every Darkwatch gun resembles a real ‘Old West’ gun, but has a cycle-like blade on the back for melee attacks). The whole game is exactly what I like in a western: supernatural, with an old west feel. I’ve also found that this game is highly re-playable.

The Bad: This story is very ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon-ish’ with its heavy handed depiction of Good vs. Evil. So much so that, when it comes time to make a moral choice affecting whether you get the ‘good’ power or the ‘bad’ power, the ‘good’ ending or the ‘bad’ ending: your choice is highlighted as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

And to be honest, as far as games have come story-wise, there really is no story here. It’s a railroad FPS with an obvious storyline and predictable ending.

The Ugly: Not much to say here, really. There’s a vampiric sex scene about the midpoint of the game which may have been tasteless, or you may be into that kind of thing. This game is very 2D in its story and characters, so it has its good point and bad point.

Conclusion: I give this game a three out of a possible five tin stars. Even in 2005, when this game was released, there were much more dynamic FPS games available to the general public, and if Westerns aren’t your thing, you probably won’t get quite the enjoyment out of this game as I did. Arguably all video games rot your brain, but this is like the pixie stick of the junk food world: sweet, enjoyable, and mindless.

All of the posts in this series will be posted under the category of ‘War Chant.’ That will make them easy to find and read in order if you have missed any of them. You can also read this series on the western wheel website and I have a book manuscript on the Western Wheel posted to Pariah Online Magazine. It is not the storyline that is being posted here and the book is not complete; however, you can get a good fix of Western Wheel if you visit my website. The comments links of Pariah Online Magazine now link over to the forum of this site.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 00:01 and is filed under War Chant, Western Wheel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.