"Darkwatch is a game that doesn\'t really know what it wants to be - and neither does the hero of the story, actually. Neither seem to have heard the old adage that if you try and please everybody at once, you\'ll just end up upsetting a lot of people.
Developed by High Moon Studios and published by Capcom, Darkwatch is a first-person shooter in which you play Jericho Cross, a bank-and-train-robbing outlaw who stumbles into a secret undead-hunting organization when he inadvertently frees a demonic villain from a train he\'s trying to rob."
Overall: One thing I like about PC games in regards to multiplayer is regardless of how unpopular a game may sell, generally you'll run into about 250 people who are playing the game. For an XBL game, that isn't a lot, but for some XBL games it's a god send, there's almost NOBODY on. I hate it. It's like not being able to enjoy the meat and potatoes of the game. The storyline was pretty decent, not corny or bad just not on the level of Halo/Halo 2. 60FPS makes a big difference in play. Play this, then play Halo 2 multiplayer, and you'll feel like the game is running slow, swear to god happened to me. The fact there's no people on XBL really hurts the score for me cuz it's fun when you play it with people and there are a ton of levels, like 26 and alot of'em are very different. I'd recommend at least renting, cuz many might fine this worthy of a purchase. Gameplay: First thing, ragdoll effects. AWESOME! Best in a console game. You can desecrate a person for like 5 seconds in multiplayer just meleeing their body watching it flail. The netcode is pretty solid, but sometimes sniping seems off to say the least. Also, the carbine is very inaccurate unless your zoomed in for some reason, well not zoomed, just in the red vision thing. The weapons are awesome, and defintely with the pistols, give the old west feeling. So does the carbine, Clint Eastwood as Blondie freeing Tuco before he's hung, defintely the feeling I get with that. The load times are pretty quick, the A.I. is pretty solid, mainly with the banshees, who fly down and melee generally only when they've flown behind you and others in front of you are distracting you. The dynamite throwing (which is like the grenade is this one) has a very small blast radius in mutliplayer, but if a guy is standing over it he's dead instantly. Not the mention the throwing physics are much different then halo 2, it tends to float in the air and not drop as quick.
Oh yea the multiplayer maps, very different, but all fun in their own ways. The ones meant for 2-4 players are really small, but they are good for that kind of game. Some of the 10-12 player maps though seem very large. I've only played some, one was a desert level with 3 automatic turrets and 2 cannon balls turrets that had a very big blast radius. One was like a small saloon town, the one on the demo, defintely some good 2v2 action there. And a map with 2 different types of vehicles, one really big and one fairly small, that level was massive, like MMO big, even with 32 iono if there'd be a lot of killing going on. There's no leaderboard which is really a bummer. No downloable content either, but with the plethora of guns and levels, I could really care less. Graphics: I like the look, very dark, the guns are modeled great, a lot of blur effects though around the infinite-respawn trees and enemies you score a headshot on, can be kind of overbearing when there's too much of it on screen. The level design is fine in single player, kind of repetitive, but not to the point of "*sigh* this sucks" or "I'd rather be play Library in Halo 1", just it's noticeable. Like the other reviewer said, the texture aren't that clean, though they do have detail, and are vastly superior to the PS2 version, on top of the extended multiplayer options and amazing blazing 60FPS. Sound: Gotta love the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at the title screen, it's not identical, but it has the "wah-wah-waaaahhhh" noise. Explosions and gun sound effects are excellent and pack a lot of punch, especially the double pistols going full speed, except, surprisingly, the shotgun, I think it sounds really weak for a shotgun. Suggestions: Gotta advertise this game better, showing PS2 footage isn't helping. It looks slow and sloppy, which the PS2 version probably is, but the Xbox version on the other hand looks so much better. Add leaderboards, clans, and maybe an option for downloadable content. Keep the setting, keep the music, please don't abandon the series. The vampire powers are awesome, though I think the Evil powers should be just as good as the Good powers in terms of effectiveness.
Overall: darkwatch from high moon studios..which is now published by capcom...is a pretty good single player experience..with some good ideas and design and some flaws as well..the graphics though at a smooth possible 60fps is great but it could look alot better on this console...and the repetitive nature of the levels and objectives make this pretty long campaign a pain sometimes...please id recomend a rental it has potential but it needs polish Gameplay: well this plays pretty much like any fps on the xbox but when you get your powers...you have a pretty good high jump and a glide fall that you can cancel on the spot for any platforming you may encounter..the framerate is smooyh so nothing is hindered...the aiming is good since area specific damage is posiible...the real problem is you fight the same enemies in the same areas and with the same objectives...kill the monsters in the area...tree pops of that makes monsters...destroy tree move on repeat...its like this alot there are some horse levels i think two and a cool vehicle level but its short and a waste of such a cool vehicle...it would kick the warthogs but Graphics: this game looks good on the xbox and loads fast but, could look alot better, better textures and possibly some bump normal mapping would be nice...the enemies look good but need more detail....mostly its the texture detial that hurts it most ...bland blurry death...i hope they make a 360 version...there is alot of great design here it just needs better textures Sound: good sound...weapons sound good and the music is ok...voicing is pretty good...there is no problem here really with the sound Suggestions: better detial...twice the variety of enemies, more variety of places and things to do more open ended with areas.i look forward to hign noon studios next project..good ideas and design and control..just too repeditive and not good enough visually also i didnt try the multiplayer its pretty good i imagine...you have to try it i guess
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