Product Description

Darkwatch: Curse of the West is cinematic 1st-person shooter action, as you become a vampire hunter in the Wild West. Explore a strange new version of the West, where you'll grind your enemies for fuel, wear their skin as a cloak and build weapons designed for mass murder. And you're the good guy! Online multiplayer capability with unique maps and original game modes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8534 in Video Games
• Brand: Capcom
• Model: 29020
• Released on: 2006-08-07
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Xbox
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

Features

• Explosive FPS action with unique graphics and an original storyline
• Travel through an interactive living West -- a massive, seamless world with non-linear missions & dynamic enemy/NPC AI that reacts to your reputation and experience
• Use weapons enhanced with the strange Darkwatch power, combined with horse-mounted gunfighting and special vampire abilities, in wild new FPS action
• Authentic Western weapons - Pistols, rifles, shotguns, rocket-launchers, dynamite and even weapon-specific melee attacks
• Location damage for precision gunfighting - Tear up undead by blowing them away piece by piece, or put a scare in those pesky living by shooting off hats or making them dance to your bullets

From the Manufacturer
Darkwatch is a mysterious secret society that has protected humanity from evil for centuries. The game is a first-person shooter that combines the lawless action of the Wild West with the blood-spattered horror of modern vampire movies. Darkwatch features a deep single-player story-driven adventure and adrenalin-fueled multiplayer combat and offers players the ultimate gun-slinging experience.

Features:

• Take on the role of Jericho Cross, a train robber, who through a horrific event is now taking on the form of a vampire and is now a member of the Darkwatch.
• Wide range of weapons true to the Old West and enhanced for Darkwatch purposes, all with a secondary melee ability to blast the undead--pistols, rifles, shotguns, rocket-launchers, and dynamite.
• Fire at enemies from vehicles and while riding horseback; location-specific damage.
• 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.

Customer Reviews

A dark shooter meant for adults
Darkwatch is a mature gaming title set in the old west. You're an outlaw set on robbing a train - but suddenly you're turning into a vampire and joining up with a group of monster slayers.

The atmosphere of the game is dark and moody. You are at times running along a dark, rusty train, or riding on your vampiric horse, or perhaps running through a graveyard. Along the way you absorb blood from your enemies, gain in powers and work towards your goal of slaying Lazarus - a vampire who has been around since the days of the Roman Empire.

Primarily a first person shooter, you can choose from a number of "period" weapons - crossbows, rifles, handguns, etc. There are of course the traditional tweaks to add interest - the crossbow shoots dual rounds, your horseback weapons spring unlimited ammo that never need reloading.

I'm intrigued and happy that both of your main friends are female, and are just as good at vampire-slaying as you are. Together with the Darkwatch, you move through Arizona slaying evil.

There is slight "customization" as you go - you can choose to do good or evil actions to certain characters. It doesn't change the course of the game, but it does let you earn different types of powers as you go. Other than that, the game is primarily about shooting a lot, moving to the next map area, shooting a lot more, and so on.

The game is definitely mature. When you fight the enemies, you can decapitate them, lop off arms, and generally cause a lot of bodily damage. There are sexual situations as well. The game is meant for and marked for adults.

I found the graphics on the disappointing side for an XBox title - they were more in line with PS2 graphics. The sounds were reasonably good - I was amused that the title theme was almost a direct take-off from a certain classic western movie.

All in all, the game is a relatively short play, and while you can re-play to try different good-evil combinations or try on different difficulty levels, it is primarily a shooter. If you enjoy shooters, the old west and a dark, undead atmosphere, you'll probably enjoy playing this as a way to relieve stress in a relatively mindless way. We all have our games that we enjoy for this sort of situation - tetris, gauntlet, etc. On the other hand, if you're looking for a more multi-threaded good-evil atmosphere like KOTOR or even Fable, Darkwatch will seem very linear to you.

Recommended for adults who enjoy dark shooters.

Adds style and panache to a genre that's been shot to death
I first saw Darkwatch at an electronics convention in New York City and immediately fell in love.

After completing the single-player campaign in Halo 2, I shifted gears to Darkwatch. Where Halo is basically every military science fiction trope (Starship Troopers, Aliens, Predator, Space: Above and Beyond, and Battlestar Galactica to name a few), Darkwatch sets out to create its own genre. And that genre is Wild West Horror.

Darkwatch draws on two sources for inspiration: Deadlands, the pen-and-paper role-playing game, and Pale Rider, a Clint Eastwood Western. Deadlands first combined Victorian gothic horror with Wild West sensibilities, creating a wacky combination of gore and grit. Pale Rider established the notion of a supernatural hero in a Wild West setting. The Darkwatch is a secret organization similar to the one depicted in Van Helsing with access to advanced technology dedicated to keeping supernatural villains under control.

Darkwatch follows the twisted life and death of Jericho Cross, a train robber who decides to rob the wrong train. He unwittingly unleashes Lazarus, an ancient vampire, and thus brings about hell on Earth. For reasons we don't ever fully understand, Lazarus turns Jericho into a vampire. And thus, Jericho has all the cool traits of a vampire, from drinking blood to "blood vision" that allows him to pick out living auras.

What ensues is a visceral shoot-em-up. You can shoot enemies heads off their bodies with a six-gun (called a Redeemer), blow off their limbs with shotguns, and even mow them down with Gatling guns. You can also use a scope rifle similar to the one used in Halo. Did I mention the "rail rocket" AKA bazooka? The game even has a Coyote, similar to the Warthog from Halo. Unfortunately, I didn't read the instructions closely enough; there's a "chieftain" setting on the controller to make Darkwatch's controls match up with Halo's. Which would have helped, as my subsequent Halo games have suffered from playing Darkwatch so much!

Need more parallels to Halo? Instead of the artificial intelligence known as Cortana we have Cassidy Sharp whispering ghostly advice. Jericho has a "blood shield" just like the energy shield in Halo that slowly replenishes. And instead of fragmentation grenades, Jericho throws dynamite...with predictable results. There are even dual pistols that fire in a glorious cacophony at close-range enemies. You can also elbow critters with your ranged weapons, although they're considerably more deadly since in Darkwatch every gun has a blade on the handle. Just `cause it looks cool.

Darkwatch is all about shooting things up. Bottles explode. Bad guys snipe at you from everywhere. And you can fan your pistol, firing at ridiculous speeds. You run and jump across cactus-studded canyons, burning towns, dripping caverns, moving trains, and on horseback. Even the music is reminiscent of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. In short, Darkwatch is most definitely a homage, if a twisted homage, to the Wild West genre it riffs on.

Being a veteran Halo player, I decided to play Darkwatch on the harder setting (Shootist) and I'm glad I did. The game goes by quickly. In addition, the bad guys are repetitive; it suffers from the Diablo-esque tactic of reusing the same enemy model by tweaking it slightly: they're not just evil skeletons, they're SHIMMERY evil skeletons, with twice the EVILNESS! Still, that doesn't keep the aforementioned Reapers from being alternately scary and hilarious. Blowing Reapers' heads off causes them to stumble around in confusion looking for their heads; throwing dynamite causes Reapers to cover their heads and running screaming. And since Reapers lack a lower jaw, they're pretty freaky critters.

Then there are the screaming Banshees that are fond of taunting you. "Run!" they whisper as you run away, or "Dynamite!" when you throw dynamite or my most favorite quote of all, "MY ARM!" after blowing off one of their arms.

In theory, there's a bit of a role-playing element as Jericho whether he wants to reject his vampire/criminal heritage or embrace it. Poor souls, sometimes dead and sometimes living, give Jericho an opportunity to prove his moral character. These choices provide access to good or evil powers, neither of which have a very significant impact on the game.

The single-player storyline is barely coherent and surprisingly adult. There's a video titled Prom Night that will undoubtedly get a lot of replay by male players (my wife thought it was ridiculous). The ending is very abrupt, but I've gotten used to that with games these days.

The multiplayer is excellent; the blood vision power becomes much more important when picking out an intelligent enemy from a distance. The ability to jump really far changes game play, even more than it does in Halo. The multiplayer games can be played with vampire powers turned off, turning it into a traditional Wild West shootout.

Darkwatch doesn't break any new ground as a first-person shooter, but it definitely adds style and panache to a genre that's been shot to death. Playing on hard, I felt I got my money's worth.

Dark Watch Rocks!
Darkwatch is a Vampire Western. This game is not for everyone. In particular it is not for young children. However, if you are an adult who like First Person shooters then you should seriously consider this game.
The game is a little dark and edgy...but in my opinion this is a good thing. There is a great battle of good and evil and some cool weapons and powers. It is a Vampire-Western which to me is an awesome concept and I hope it spawns a sequel and possible other variations (time periods).
Controls: The controls are very Halo-like. If you like the controls in Halo you will like these. Enough said.
Graphics: The imagery is in one word awesome. They really did a good job. However the graphics in the end are not quite what they should have been. Don't get me wrong.... They are good, but they are not pushing the limits. I really expected this game to push things forward NOTE: This is my main negative on the game.. which should tell you that this is an awesome game.
Good vs. Evil: There are decisions to be made which lean you either good or evil. However, this really did not work out to enhance the game in my opinion. If there was more of an impact in the game play then it might have worked out. In the end this didn't seem to have a good or bad impact on my impression of the game. If there is a sequel I either would like it removed or enhanced.
Xbox vs PS2: The versions are different. XBOX by far has better graphics then PS2. Each has there own bonus material. PS2 has a War Train level and Xbox has some added Live capability.
Length: The game was a little shorter than expected.... However I had a blast playing it.
Recommendation: If you are an adult then check Dark Watch out! You will either Love it or Hate it! You can probably tell by the cover. If you like First Person shooters then you will probably love it. If you don't then you will probably hate it. I