Darkwatch

Jericho Cross used to make his living as a deadly gunslinger. His targets usually ended up as residents of Boot Hill once he was done with them. But how times have changed. Now, most of his targets are coming from Boot Hill.

Darkwatch is the in-house developed shooter title for the PlayStation 2. Slated for release in March of 2005, this is a title that marks a major step forward for Sammy Studios – this is the first title developed internally.

This game is a blend of the Western and Vampire genres, wrapped into a first-person shooter with sterling graphics. GameZone was fortunate enough to get a preview build that feature three large levels, with evolving missions, and a host of action, and sunk its gaming teeth into the title.

Not exactly riding into the sunset, but you do get to ride ...

In many ways, the action of Darkwatch is typical of the FPS genre. The mobs come at you as you move through the environment, and you knock them off. But what sets this title apart are the cinematic nature of the vehicle and the setting.

Darkwatch centers on Jericho Cross, former outlaw gunslinger who was welcomed to the fold of vampires through a close encounter with a vampire lord. To save his own soul from eternal damnation, Jericho begins his hunt for the vampire across the Western landscape. But, the evil lord is not alone – he has a rather substantial amount of followers and minions, which he is throwing in Jericho’s path.

Jericho has been pulled into a group known as the Darkwatch, a vigilante strike force which has protected mankind from evil incarnate since the beginning of civilization. The Darkwatch is, perhaps, a vile organization in its own right. It is the ultimate extermination machine, and the undead are the bugs.

Might want to aim a little to the left ...

The preview disk received contained only the single-player game, and then only three levels of that. There was a multiplayer option which will feature online play. The three scenarios available in the received build were Boot Hill, Iron Horse and High Moon. Boot Hill was a walk through a graveyard, with skeletal mobs coming at you, floating demons to shoot out of the air, and dynamite to throw at groups for a satisfying explosion. But it was the Iron Horse level that provided the best feel for what this game has to offer, while nicely showing off the variety of action within the game.

Jericho starts off on a horse, pursuing the Darkwatch train. Naturally, there are monsters on the train. Shooting from horseback, Jericho must clear a place to climb aboard – that means shooting all the bad guys on the outside of the train. Yes, they drop weapons, like sniper rifles, shotguns and revolvers. Once aboard the train, Jericho needs to maintain his position by fending off those trying to get on from behind him, while working through the train to kill all the bad guys throughout it.

And here’s where it gets very cool. After Jericho boards the train, a pair of mobs comes riding after the train. You can shoot the mobs, or shoot the horses. If you do the later, the horse does a nosedive, and crushes the rider into the ground. Shooting bad guys from the top of the train will have them fall off and very nice rag-doll physics come into play as they slam into the ground and roll from the momentum of the fall.

In revolver mode, Jericho can access blood vision by pressing R3. This is akin to an infrared vision in which he can see the targets even if in a distance. Pick up the sniper rifle and instead of blood vision, you get two zoom modes.

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up ...

A rider comes alongside the train, shooting at Jericho. Entering sniper mode and zooming in, you can see it is a once-human, remnants of flesh barely covering the skeleton. Zooming in all the way and you lock on the head, and then squeeze the trigger. The head of the mob explodes in a shower of red.

The graphical elements in this game are exceptional. This is the typical first-person perspective for the most part, but the animation and environments are extremely well done. And the musical score plays a huge role in maintaining the mood of the game. In one word, it is “excellent.”

The control elements seemed just a bit sluggish, but perhaps that will be addressed when the options package is available. This was an early, early version, so it was not truly possible to get a sense of the storyline, but the action is terrific.

This is Sammy Studios first in-house developed project and this lays a foundation that will catapult that aspect of the company into the stratosphere. It is terrific and worth watching for early next year.