It was with equal parts trepidation and excitement that I pressed start on Watchmen: The End is Nigh's title screen. Can Moore's seminal work be translated into, of all things, a episodic beat 'em up?
This game will look up and shout, play me. And I'll whisper, no.
Well, to be fair, the game isn't an attempt to adapt the Watchmen comics directly into a game. The End is Nigh (The first episode in an arc of unknown length) acts as a prequel, occurring over a dozen years before the books take place. Penned by the editor of Watchmen Len Wein, the game's story draws inspiration from some references made in the original comic, and also from the Watchmen modules written by Moore for the DC Heroes table-top roleplaying game in the late 80s. It sets the player in the role of vigilantes Rorschach and Nite Owl in their attempts to unravel a mystery concerning bad guy The Underboss. In Watchmen fashion, there are a few twists and turns, but the story is hardly subtle: it telegraphs itself entirely by the end of its second level.
The game itself looks gorgeous though, that's fore sure. It proves that downloadable games can be just as good looking as boxed copy triple A titles. Especially impressive is the way Rorschach's jacket takes on different states depending on the weather of the level you are in: sometimes soaked in the rain, other times just a little muddy from splashing around in the sewers. The way neon lights in the street centric levels flash and glow is perfect. And for the most part the characters animate as you want them too. There is something rewarding in seeing Rorschach knock a guy's teeth out under the Rum Runner sign's yellow aura.
Sadly, the bookends of the levels aren't played out in the game engine. Similar to the Watchmen Motion Comics that were recently released, but with far less impressive artistic merit, the cutscenes are lackluster at best, laughable at worst (C'mon, couldn't have you guys spent the time to do a little lip synching?) What is worth some praise here is Wein's writing of incidental dialog for the two masked avengers. This is before Nite Owl has retired his luster along with his gadgets, and prior to Rorschach's personality shift, and the writing reflects this. They have academic disputes about welfare, schooling, and parenting. Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earl Haley nail their roles, with Wilson especially going the extra yard to nail a young, earnest super hero.
However, Deadline Games seems to have put so much effort into making their game a Watchmen game, that they forgot to make a good game. The combat takes a page from the action scenes in Zack Snyder's film adaptation, moving drastically (and unnervingly) between high-impact, bone breaking grit and four color, over the top, more-fun-than-deadly martial arts hijinks. In play, it's similar to a looser, slightly less rhythmic Assassin's Creed. You bounce between bad guys, combo them in order and end with a knock out finishing move. These finishers are brief well animated mini-cutscenes, each with more slow- or fast-motion than the last. Each character only has a handful of them, and within the first 45 minutes you'll have seen them all. Nite Owl and Rorschach play nearly identical to each other, where aesthetic difference is the only major separating factor of their standard attack chain. Yes, Nite Owl can electrify his suit, and Rorscach can use weapons and has the unique ability to, hurm, get mad, but these changes don't drastically differ the core experience of beating the hell out of gang members and special forces units. To its credit, the enemies you take on are dangerous foes. A few good hits with a wrench or a knife and you'll be on your back and reloading from the last checkpoint.
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