First Impressions: “Watchmen: The End Is Nigh”

So, I recently got my hands on an XBox 360 at long last, and with it came a month long trial of XBox Live GOLD. So, as I poked around, I noticed that “Watchmen: The End Is Nigh” is available, and decided to give the demo a go.

For those of you who don’t know, “The End Is Nigh” is a prequel featuring Nite Owl and Rorschach back in their heyday as partners. The demo is timed segment in which the two are trying to stop a prison riot at the prison which Rorschach would be incarcerated in during the movie. Its a fairly simple beat-em-up game, as onslaughts of escaped prisoners who all look remarkably similar to each other (maybe its the jumpsuits?) run at you and your partner, who is either AI controlled, or a second player can jump in the mix.

Both Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson reprise their roles from the film, for some pretty good voice acting. The animations on the two are rather interesting, as Night Owl maintains an air of karate mastered martial artist and Rorschach lumbers about in a style more resembling a hobo in a street fight. Unfortunately, the controls feel a little sticky, something unforgivable in a game of this genre. Too many times I took a hit because Rorschach was too busy running in the opposite directions, and once I was nearly beaten to death because Rorschach was ignoring the prisoner punching me in favor of kicking an unconscious one below me.

As I stated before, I only played the demo. The segment of the prison has a 30 minute timer on it, but the demo only allowed me to play for 20 minutes. Its not a bad game by any means, but the current price of 1600 Microsoft Points (roughly $20) is a little steep. When the price comes down on this one, definitely check it out, but for now make sure you download the demo before you buy.

Final Grade: C