The first and most obvious of which is the somewhat uninspired single-player campaign. Unfortunately Darkwatch has a couple of holdups that prevent it from reaching the same lofty acclaim awarded to other console FPS darlings like Red Faction and TimeSplitters. The CPU's whole mentality is pretty solid and packed with enough aggression to kick even the most hardened veteran in the teeth on the higher settings.ĭarkwatch Guide Satiate your bloodlust with our in-depth guide. Gunslingers, for instance, will dodge your bullets and melee attacks, Banshees coordinate in assault patterns to force you into their sonics, and the more basic low-level creatures team up in packs to rip you to shreds. While it's not on the same level as say, Far Cry or Resident Evil 4, the computer's intelligence and behaviors do manage to pull off a couple of impressive feats. Targeting your enemies is fast, easy, and accurate too, and that's just as it should be.Īlso worth mentioning is Darkwatch's excellent enemy AI. It's one of the most responsive first-person shooters I've played without needing a mouse and the smooth movement and highly customizable configuration means that fans of other games can jump right in without a hitch. Of course, the most impressive thing about Darkwatch's single-player experience is how it controls. But at least High Moon penalizes you for being indecisive, since teetering between the two forces doesn't reward you with anything but wasted cutscenes. Unfortunately for you evil folk out there, Darkwatch does seem to favor good-hearted users over the bad ones as the nice guy powers are a lot more useful than the wicked bits. When used in conjunction with the "vampire jump" and "vampire vision" abilities, you're potentially quite the formidable force. In fact, this morality system is a fairly prevalent aspect of the single-player campaign, as earning the super powers associated with your alignment can improve the amount of attacks for use against the horde of angry undead. Sure it takes away from the flow of the action a little bit, but at least it's helpful. Unlike some titles that keep the consequences of your decision-making somewhat subtle, however, Darkwatch always makes it obvious when the time comes to make a choice (thanks to a simple "good or evil" menu that pops up when these situations arise). The choices they make will then alter their path as well as the abilities of the main character, which creates some differentiation in level progression. At the forefront of its marketing pitch, for example, is a Knights of the Old Republic-style morality system that challenges players to choose between good and evil. That doesn't mean that Darkwatch isn't without its cool little gimmicks, though. In essence, it's a product that manages to stand on its own two feet without having to work some kind of revolutionary new mechanic or engine to do so. So while you can certainly see the game's various inspirations, Darkwatch never really exudes that tired "rip-off" vibe associated with most of today's lesser known first-person actioners. The good news is that Darkwatch manages to pull off the majority of its tributes rather successfully (whether you're talking about the obvious Halo Warthog copy known as "The Coyote" or the excellent use of the Havok physics engine found in most modern PC shooters).
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