Darkwatch: Curse of the West

Remember the salad days of Street Fighter II? It's easy to forget now, but back then this game was beyond huge. If you were a shady arcade type (and who wasn't?) you would spend hours arguing that people who use Ryu or Ken were cheap pussies, and that Guile was where it was at.

The old stager games mag, EGM loved it long time. Seppoes may be many things, but gaming ignoramuses they are not. Hundreds of pages over key months, if not years were spent discussing the game, screenshots comparing the arcade with the much anticipated SNES version of the game, tips and tactics, even discussion of the game's bugs.

So wayback, when I read in EGM that one of the top SFII players was consulting on an uber fighting game to end all fighting games, I got hot. He was going to take all the hardcore, awesome features of fighting games, throw in a few "what if" features, and work with a team of programmers realise the vision. Sweet.

The name of the game? Don't remember. Why? Because even if it did get released, it sank without trace. Sure, some games can do well by cobbling together the best elements from other games, but in the end, you have a Frankenstein's monster of compromise, not something that can stand alone with it's own identity.

Which is the sticky thing about Darkwatch. As far as ideas go, it's kickass. You get this year's Vietnam/WW2 - the wild west - and get reliable old horror elements as well. Spoo-keee. You also get a lot of readily recogniseable chunks from other games. Darkwatch mainly pulls it off, despite the odd concern.

You're Cross. Not as in angry, as in surname. You're a train robber. Well, you are until you accidentally set free the soul of Lazarus. Not the guy from the bible, but rather the son of the devil. Instead of rewarding you, being truly satanic, he decides to make you a vampire. That's right - no more sun, surf and bikini babes for you my friend, now it's all about goth chicks and S&M clubs. If that wasn't bad enough, Lazarus has also risen the dead, and they're now roaming about the countryside lowering property values and stealing cars. Well, not the latter, but even so, it's not good.

Enter the Darkwatch. An underground army of western ass kickers, they know you're one of the good guys (well, you may be a train robber turned vampire, but you're heart is in the right place) so you're able to throw your lot in with them as they seek to wipe the undead out. Or at least move them into someone else's suburb. This is an excuse for cool FPS action, where you get a mixture of upgradeable powers to go with your more bog standard western weaponry. It's a hoot knocking the stuffing out of the undead and supernatural beasties with ye old fashioned gear as well.

Darkwatch could probably slide on the basis of what's here. But there's also a Fable/Knights of the Old Republic morality balance in play as well. Don't get too excited, it's way more superficial, coming down to how you dispose of your enemies. If you're a soul devouring monster, then obviously you open up the path to the "bad" powers. Be a prissy little angel and you get access to the good. The trouble here is that (a) the plot rolls on regardless - obviously the makers wouldn't or couldn't spend time building a true behavioural branch like you'll find in KOTOR/KOTOR II. (b) there's no compromise option, if you're smart. If you waver between good and evil, you remain weaker than if you just went for black or white hat. Be aware of this. There's no reward for fence sitting.

Single player isn't the longest in the world, but while it lasts, it's good. There's also a full suite of multiplayer options over Live here, but the level design is uninspired, and matters can quickly degenerate into "capture the powerful weapon". Put it this way, with the incomparable Far Cry Instincts also hovering around, there's no doubt that there's better current multiplayer experiences to be had.

Even so, Darkwatch's setting and action makes for good times. Go in with the expectation of an action-packed FPS blast with some occasional diverting multiplayer, and you'll be happy, at least until the sun comes up.