Watchmen: The End Is Nigh (Parts 1 & 2)

By Jay Williams

Set ten years before the film's main story takes place, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh follows crime fighting vigilantes Rorschach and Nite Owl as they fight their way through the corrupt streets of New York.

All the action takes place in 1977, you step into the shoes of either Rorschach or Nite Owl as you hunt for the missing Violet Greene and uncover the gritty truth behind her disappearance.

Choosing which character can make all the difference, as each one has their own special power-up, fighting style and routes through each segment of the game. Nite Owl is highly trained in the fine art of Marshal-Arts and battles enemies one-on-one, whereas Rorschach is a ruff-nut street brawler, who likes to be amongst the pack tackling and head butting foes and cracking heads from all directions. The gaming experience is the same, no matter who you choose, the same principles apply – just walk around beating everyone up - simple.

Controls are pretty straight forward. There is a light and heavy attack for each character. Later on as you progress through the stages or “chapters” you unlock new abilities, such as grab and throw moves, combos and a power-up meter for special moves. Nite Owl charges his kinetic suit to electrify his attacks, while Rorschach unleashes his rage and goes mental, speeding up his attacks for a brief amount of time.

The one aspect of Watchmen: The End Is Nigh that kept me playing was the over stylised, unbelievably brutal finishing moves. The first time I executed one of these finishing moves I was blown away with the raw savageness and the blood. These moves can be performed by pressing the corresponding button that appears above an enemy after they've taken a little punishment. Unleash the pain with your bare fists or (in the case of Rorschach) a weapon you've picked up to witness a stylised finisher that brutalises your enemy.

One thing that Watchmen: The End Is Nigh Lacks is depth and fun gameplay, I mean sure the first two chapters are fun and exciting because it's all new. There doesn't seem to be any variation and the bulk of the game is just the same fight repeated.

The enemies may change their mapped outfits, but they are essentially the same from Chapter I to Chapter VI. The difficulty level never really amps up and there are no new elements to keep the game interesting.

The only real challenge comes in Chapter VI, which is a boss battle against Underboss (which is the only boss fight in the entire game). The Underboss fight isn't that great but it's a welcome change to the zombie like clones.

Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is all about it's polished visuals, top-class rendering and cinematics, that make you feel like you are reading a comic book.

Visually, this game looks awesome. Great texture work and good character models, voice work is provided by the movies actors.

The game looks flawless but the overall substance and depth of the game let it down.

The multi-player feature doesn't save the game much face either. Online gaming is the way, as it's no longer enough to simply challenge people on your street or neighborhood. But taking into consideration that Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is a downloadable game and now bundled into a two game package for $AUD49.95 retail, it's not that bad.

Watchmen may be your cup of tea or it may not. It looks good but does it have enough to hold your attention I'll let you be the judge.

Game: Watchmen: The End Is Nigh
System: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC (Download)
Players: 1-2
Online: No
Developer: Deadline Games A/S
Distributor: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Rating: 45%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)