Darkwatch Review

Darkwatch was a game I played on the PCSX2 emulator a while ago but I stopped playing the game due to the game crashing and being unable to load a late game level. I finally completed in 2019 but there were some visual glitches and hangups along the way. Now, I'm finally able to beat Darkwatch on PCSX2 from start to end with barely if even any problems. Outside of the emulator issues I had previously, Darkwatch is a blast to play when it comes to gameplay and moment to moment combat. There are some major problems but they never really get in the way that ruins my enjoyment.

The weakest aspect of the game is the story. Yes, you don't play an FPS for the story primarily but DW's opening hours was the narrative at it's best and most interesting. The game feels like a weird inversion of the cowboy story where his "final score" is actually the begginning of the narrative. Lazarus is a fairly prominent threat and how Jericho indirectly is the cause of it all due to him thinking the train he was robbing was full of riches. He causes Jericho to become a vampire and kills Cassidy Sharp. After that, the story derails pretty hard and it's just spent getting to the Darkwatch HQ, proving your worth, joinining the organization, do some errands, forming a "bond" with Tala, she betrays you, Lazarus gets taken out and the game does a bait and switch, kill Tala, game ends. Everything past the begginning is so barebones and slapped together.

Cartwright seems like a questionable and evil person but once you join Darkwatch, he disappears from the story. Tala is supposed to the connecting thread during the middle half of the game but she is nothing more than a "bad girl" who personfies temptation. There is not much too her than that. Most her character seems to be everyone except Cassidy fawning over her looks.

It's a shame, with a solid begginning and the interesting premise, felt like the story could've been more than just reveling in it's mature content.

With that out of the way, gameplay is where DW shines. To best sum it up, the game is basically, "Halo in the wild west with vampires". There's the two weapon limit, dedicated throwable weapon button, regen health, vehicle sections(mainly just one Warthog section and some on rail horseback riding parts), melee attack, the Redemmer Pistol being like Halo CE's magnum especially in terms of animations, and having the more higher jump from Halo 2.

It isn't a complete shameless clone however. DW has a rechargable shield along with health packs as well as enemies giving health drops upon death, Jericho having superpowers, having more than 4 enemy types and even a location based damage as well as enemies visibly taking more damage the more you riddle them with bullets.

Due to all this Darkwatch's action is very fast paced, frantic and over the top. You can use blood vision to zoom in and aim for the head or shoot off their arms. Would've been nice if their legs could be blown off too. Combat is ballet of picking off enemies from afar and then dealing with enemies up close. The enemy count is high enough but rarely ever too overwhelming. Timing a good dynamite throw to get some quick kills is as satisfying here as it is in Halo.

One thing DW does do better than Halo is that since enemies give health upon death as well as additional pick ups can be used to charge up your superpowers, you don't have to spend nearly as much cowering behind a wall waiting for your health to regen when at critical. If you are at critical, you could wait for your shield to recharge or use your power you had lined up to get some quick kills and the health drops can refill hp.

There is one interesting late game mission where you are only in sunlight and don't have your shield, I always hated this mission but I like it now in that you often had to be careful when to pick off enemies and finding patches of shadows for your shield to return.

With all this said, there are some major issues. For one, explosions is Jericho's 2nd kryptonite. Explosions can kill him quickly even at full health. Have one Kegger slip by you and Jericho is at critical. It's also easy to get boxed in by enemies and have a quick game over in seconds especially with no ability lined up. Load times are quick and checkpoints are plentiful at least.

The game has a morality system before Bioshock and the Infamous games where different alignments get you different powers. I was a good guy and the abilites I used were silver bullets and vidicator. Nothing else I used since they were good crowd control moves.

The weapon selection is lacking. Shotgun and Carbine are the most effective weapons. Redeemer takes an entire clip to kill one enemy even when aimed at the head. Shotgun is great up close and has a battle axe and carbine for long range especially with blood vision. Every other weapon I only wanted to use because I was low on Carbine and Shotgun.

This is one aspect Halo does better at least when fighting the Covenant. Due to the shield and flesh system. It means that the Covenant weapons are best for draining shields and UNSC weapons are best for flesh. So by comparison, you have more reasons to experiment with different weapons. In Halo, you could drain an enemy's shields then you could finish them off with a grenade, use a melee or finish them off with bullets. DW doesn't really have any reason not use your favored guns unless if low an ammo with them. 

Overall, game is still a lot of fun but can be rough in places.