On a Dead Horse I Ride (Darkwatch)

[thrAsher]

'Darkwatch: Curse of the West' (PS2/Xbox) Announced

Sammy Studios, Inc. today announced "Darkwatch: Curse of the West," an all-new 1st person shooter (FPS) with an original premise blending Vampire-Horror and Western genres. The game is a cinematic FPS, with explosive action and great gameplay variety framed by a story and visual design that delivers a frightening re-imagination of the Wild West. "Darkwatch: Curse of the West" is the first title developed internally at Sammy Studios, created by the team who launched Sammy's US-based game development studio and publishing headquarters in 2002. The game is slated for release on PlayStation2 and Xbox in Q4 2004.

The game introduces the Darkwatch, a secret strike-force that has vigilantly protected man from evil incarnate since the dawn of civilization. Their newest and deadliest agent is Jericho Cross, an outlaw gunslinger pulled into their ranks by an unfortunate close encounter with a vampire lord. To save the West, and his own soul from damnation, Jericho must hunt the vampire that bit him through an American frontier suddenly overrun by his undead minions. At his disposal is the advanced, deadly technology of the Darkwatch, including an arsenal of powerful assault vehicles and enhanced versions of Western weapons, along with supernatural vampire abilities and a trusty undead horse. Players will experience an action-packed "living West" in "Darkwatch: Curse of the West" with massive environments, non-linear missions, dynamic enemy and non-player-character artificial intelligence (A.I.) affected by a player reputation system, and precision gunplay with location-specific damage.

With a wide assortment of Darkwatch-enhanced weapons and vehicles, horse-mounted gunfighting and superhuman abilities, "Darkwatch: Curse of the West" delivers tremendous variety in a FPS in both single and online multiplayer modes.

Features

Blast through a frightening re-imagination of the Wild West, with explosive FPS action framed by a cinematic storyline, and exceptional art and design work inspired by both Vampire-Horror and Western genres
Unique weapons, powerful assault vehicles, horse-mounted gunfighting and special vampire abilities bring new depth to FPS gameplay in both single and multiplayer
Take the "un" out of "undead" in a variety of ways with a wide assortment of "Darkwatch-enhanced" weapons, including pistols, rifles, shotguns, rocket-launchers, dynamite and even weapon-specific melee attacks
Experience a "living west" with massive seamless worlds, non-linear missions and dynamic enemy and NPC A.I. driven by a reputation and experience system
Location-specific damage brings precision to gunplay - tear the undead to pieces, or taunt the pesky living by shooting off hats or making them dance to your bullets
Online multiplayer capability with unique maps and original game modes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talk about cool. The setting for the game alone sells me on it. Too bad there aren't any screens, I'd love to see what it's looking like.

[RichVGS]

Sounds sweet. Any game where I can take out mass quantities of vampires is okay in my book (and yes, I do own both Buffy the Vampire Slayer games).

[Hard Boiled Cop]

Vampires slaying. It might be another repetitive game.

[RichVGS]

Yeah, but don't most first person shooters turn out that way too? I'm thinking of the Live multiplayer games. Hunters vs. Vampires 8 on 8 match-ups would be pretty cool.

[BORNGD]

sounds like my cup of tea...errr my type of game!

[nof]

"Cause I'm Waaaaaaanteeeaaaeaaad" waaanted...
Dead or... Revive.....

Sorry, had to do it. Did I go to far?

[themoosearmy]

Sweet, all for a new FPS to beat up on.

[l Maximus l]

Mmmmm...vampires

[qbakies]

Another FPS is always welcome. I like the story and the idea of the game setting. I'm looking forward to it.

On a similar vein (sorry) has anyone heard anything else about Dead Man's Hand?

[Ethereal S. D.]

This sounds like a great game... but what is a game without repeatedness? Oh shure, there might be fun things like how high can you blow up your undead horse? (aka warthog launching )

This kinda sounds like that 4 horsemen game that (I think it was) atari or some other compagny was making... bah... *goes and plays some halo*

[thrAsher]

Originally posted by qbakies
On a similar vein (sorry) has anyone heard anything else about Dead Man's Hand?

Last I heard it's been pushed back for fine tuning. The publisher supposedly sent out a buggy build, and all the reviewers who played this build tore it to pieces. Needless to say, the devs took this as a cue to go through the game w/ a fine tooth comb. Should be out Q2 or 3 this year, though.

[Duke]

Originally posted by qbakies

On a similar vein (sorry) has anyone heard anything else about Dead Man's Hand?

I've lost all interest in that one. Hopefully, they'll be able to save it, but from the vids and reviews, we'll still have to wait for a good old west FPS.

[thrAsher]

I'll definitely wait a while after Dead Man's Hand comes out to see what people think of the game.

That Red Dead Revolver could be good. Rockstar is behind that one, I do believe.

I just want a good western style shooter, and if I have to ride an undead horse and blast zombie roughnecks in a post-apocolyptic Texas to get my fill, then so be it.

[Sexaya]

Oh boy, I remember I had a western FPS once... Outlaw it was called I believe. Sweet game, had no story whatsoever, they give you a revolver, you go into a bar and shoot everybody up.

Good times, man... Good times.

There was this online mod for HL called Vampier Slayer, it was Vampires against Slayers, pretty sweet... But nothing special. I'm not really excited to get this one.

[thrAsher]

Well, I'll be darned! IGN has a hands-on writeup of Darkwatch.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/462/462140p1.html

And some screens:

[thrAsher]

IGN has another article about Darkwatch, this time focusing on the multiplayer side of things.

So dedicated to creating a solid multiplayer experience, Sammy Studios actually designed all of the multiplayer stages before it even tackled the story-heavy single player game at all. Broadband only and planned to support 8 to 16 players for both versions, Darkwatch is hoped to also support several classic multiplayer gameplay conventions (like deathmatch, capture the flag, and the like) in addition to a myriad of original options created specifically for this title. There's even going to be LAN play for link-up capabilities (on Xbox at least, still no word on whether it stays in the PS2 plans).

For our feature today, we'll be taking a quick look at three of the first known multiplayer environments: The Killpit, The Darkwatch Asylum, and The Donner Pass (complete with exclusive screenshots). As an added bonus, we've even included the concept art to a few other stages to be revealed at a later date, so be sure and check those out too. We'll see you again tomorrow with another Darkwatch surprise.

Source

IMO, this game is looking real good.