- Darkwatch
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Darkwatch: Curse of the West 
Cover art for DarkwatchDeveloper(s) High Moon Studios Publisher(s) Capcom
UbisoftProducer(s) Charles Cuevas Designer(s) Paul O'Connor
Chris Ulm
Farzad Varahramyan
Emmanuel Valdez
Brent DisbrowArtist(s) Farzad Varahramyan
Sean Miller
Francis Tsai
Steve Jung
Shane NakamuraComposer(s) Mike Reagan
Asdru Sierra of OzomatliEngine Proprietary (uses RenderWare, Havok and Quazal) Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox Release date(s) August 16, 2005 Genre(s) First-person shooter Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: Mature (17+)
PEGI: 18+
BBFC: 15Media/distribution DVD Darkwatch: Curse of the West is a 2005 Weird West first-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was developed by High Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios) and published by Capcom in the United States[1] and by Ubisoft in the European Union and Australia.[2]
The game mixes western, horror and steampunk genres. A sequel to the game, titled Darkwatch 2, was planned for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but eventually got cancelled.[3][4][5][6]
Contents
Plot
The game's story (narrated by Peter Jason) follows the exploits of Jericho Cross, an outlaw-turned-vampire, and his employment in an ancient vampire-hunting order known as the Darkwatch (hence the game's title). After unwittingly releasing the Darkwatch's greatest enemy, a vampire lord named Lazarus Malkoth, Jericho is conscripted into the Darkwatch as an elite operative. Jericho, however, is slowly turning into a vampire himself, after being bitten by Lazarus. The game outlines either Jericho's struggle for humanity or his descent into darkness, depending on the player's actions.
The game begins in Arizona Territory in 1876 with Jericho attempting to rob a Darkwatch train that is transporting the captured Lazarus Malkoth to the Darkwatch Citadel, a frequently mentioned and often visited location in the game, and in doing so releases Lazarus into the West. In a seeming bit of mercy, Lazarus bites Jericho and gives him the curse of the vampire, causing him to slowly turn into one. The game continues with the introduction of Cassidy as well as the appearance of Shadow, Jericho's undead horse.
As the game progresses, Jericho finally makes his way to the Darkwatch Citadel, where he meets General Clay Cartwright, the current leader of the order. Cartwright puts him through Torture Maze, the Darkwatch initiation exercise which was designed as a test for Darkwatch Regulators, but Jericho gets a special version specially designed by Cartwright to kill him.[7] When Jericho passes the test anyway, he begins to do missions for the Darkwatch. Missions include tasks ranging from fixing some of the damage he has caused to acquiring Darkwatch equipment, such as the Darklight Prism, a stone that allows vampires within its vicinity to use their powers and walk in sunlight. On some of his missions Jericho is accompanied by other Darkwatch forces including his new partner, a sultry and vicious temptress named Tala. Eventually, during their night of passion, Tala causes him to bite her and inherits some portion of his power, transforming herself into a half-vampire creature similar to him.[8] She then betrays the Darkwatch from within, allowing the undead hordes to invade its headquarters.
A final showdown ensues with Lazarus, in which Jericho arises victorious, and a choice is given for him to side with either Cassidy or Tala. Either Jericho rids the west of the Curse of Lazarus, or he becomes the Curse; the player's choice determines how the game ends. If the character were to choose the good option, then the final fight will be against the vampiric Tala, and if they player chose to take Lazarus' curse for himself, then he must fight the ghost of Cassidy. The bad ending shows the now-monstrous Jericho killing Tala and riding into the night, while the good ending shows Cassidy's soul being released.[9]
Characters
- Jericho Cross (voiced by Christopher Corey Smith): The protagonist of the game, Jericho is a gunslinger and train robber with a mysterious past before joining the Darkwatch. During his "one last job", he releases Lazarus Malkoth from his prison in a failed attempt to steal the contents. His already deadly skills were enhanced by vampire powers that afford him super-human strength, endurance and agility, and enhanced senses, in the form of the red orb that bloomed from his empty eye socket.[7] Shadow is the name of Jericho's demonic horse that appears at his beckon.
- Cassidy Sharp (voiced by Jennifer Hale): The game's first female protagonist, Cassidy is the agent who attempts to stop Jericho on the train in the game's opening sequence. After the explosion of Lazarus' prison, she joins Jericho but is soon murdered by Lazarus. Cassidy returns as a good ghost and befriends Jericho, aiding him in his mission to stop Lazarus (a role similar to this of Cortana in Halo). As a little girl, Cassidy was orphaned in a vampire attack and then raised as a ward of the Darkwatch. Eventually, she became the most serious and dangerous agent in the organisation, yet really she is also deeply insecure about herself.[7][10] If fought as the final boss, she turns into an angel.
- Tala (voiced by Rose McGowan): Tala ("Stalking Wolf"[11]), a Native American shaman and an ambitious and power-hungry Darkwatch agent, is the second female protagonist. When she was young, Tala lost her seer mother and became an outcast from her own tribe, fearful of her mediumship abilities. Her father was then killed by a band of fur traders and she herself was kidnapped and abused by them, until her captors were killed by vampires. Tala was then herself rescued by the Darkwatch troops, who turned her into one of their own. However, her experiences made her extremely bitter, and she began pursuing ever more power at any cost, secretly desiring to get revenge upon the world for the death of her parents.[11] Despite her ruthlessness, Tala quickly rose through the Darkwatch ranks due to her fearless battle efficiency.[7] Tala was originally intended to be a player character, but the studio's marketing department "didn’t think that would fly".[12] If fought as the final boss, she turns into a demon. According to GameSpy, Tala is "without question, the more difficult boss to battle".[13]
- Lazarus Malkoth (voiced by Keith Szarabajka): Lazarus was a Roman who first founded the Darkwatch society in 66 AD in order to battle the dark forces responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire. He eventually got possessed by a demon and himself became a powerful vampire and turned on the organization he founded, raising an undead army to aid him in his task. The Darkwatch then pursued Lazarus across Europe and later America.[7] Lararus' name was Scourge during the game's development.[8]
- Clay Cartwright (voiced by Michael Bell): The brutal and scheming field commander of the Darkwatch in the rank of Brigadier General. A Civil War veteran, Cartwight snipes Jericho and enslaves him, forcing him to participate in a series of trials before inducting him into the organization.[7]
With Additional Voices:Laura Ortiz,Rupert Grint,Colleen O'Shaughnessey,Hiro Ziyi,Cam Ansell,Olivia Hack & Jullianne Hough.
Gameplay
The game features dynamic gameplay of non-linear missions and a dynamic enemy reputation and experience system that affects player's abilities. Jericho is met with multiple choices of a good or evil variety, allowing the player to select morality awarding Jericho different powers (called Brands) based on the same choices. The evil powers tend to be more rage oriented and deal higher damage per use, while the good powers deal less damage but tend to be more effective against enemies in general. Health is being restored while collecting enough souls of the killed monsters.
During the daylight hours, Jericho's powers are gone, and as such he has to fight as a normal human, using a wide variety of weaponry, from a Darkwatch's standard-issue 24-shot Redeemer handgun to the Gatling gun-equipped Coyote Steam-Wagon vehicle (using it or a horse changes perspective to the third-person view), as well as melee combat.[14] When riding on Shadow, Jericho is granted unlimited ammunition and high attack speed, at the cost of only being able to use the Redeemer. The game features a location-specific damage and physics system powered by Havok.
Multiplayer
The Xbox version has competitive multiplayer for up to 16 players online, although system link is not possible. The PS2 version does not offer any online connectivity and competitive multiplayer is limited to two players (or four players while using an optional multitap device) via splitscreen gameplay.
The game's story mode is available for split screen cooperative gameplay on the PS2, a feature absent from the Xbox version. In this mode, both players play as a rank-and-file Darkwatch Regulators (however, cutscenes designed for the single-player mode and featuring Jericho Cross as the main character are left unchanged, causing a number of glaring continuity errors in the co-op mode).
Development
The development of the game began in the summer of 2002, when Sammy Studios decided to "bring a refreshing theme to a genre riddled with the stereotypical sci-fi, fantasy, and military themes", an idea soon appoved by the Sammy Corporation president Hajime Satomi.[15] The original game concept was not very dark and the vampires "felt more like a cartoon property".[16] In the early derivatives of the project, the game "looked more like something from Pixar" and its protagonist was supposed to be a train robber named Chaz Bartlett, a "vaguely bumbling sort of comic relief character", described as "Eastern dude who was a card cheat" similar to Bret Maverick.[8] The turning point for a much darker and mature tone was the final iteration of Jericho's design.[16]
The developers licensed Ennio Morricone's main theme from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly which was remixed to fit the horror feel of the game. The remaining music on the soundtrack is completely original, co-composed by Mike Reagan, a veteran film and game music composer, and Asdru Sierra, front-man for Latin Grammy-winning indie band Ozomatli.[17]
Promotion and merchandise
A major part of the game's promotional campaign was based on using the sex appeal of its female characters. In October 2004, a picture of Tala "wearing only a feather in her hair"[18] was featured in a spread of the first special edition of Playboy that spotlighted provocative video game characters, also accompanying the article "Gaming Grows Up".[19][20] Several more naked pictures of her and Cassidy appeared in Playboy's "Girls of Gaming" series in October 2005[21][22] and again in December 2007.[23] A few censored topless sketches of Tala were posted alongside a fake interview in an exclusive online gallery by IGN[24] and a pinup picture was featured in IGN's Hotlist magazine in June 2006.[25] She was also featured in exclusive pictures on the cover and the pinup poster of Play issue #44 in 2005 and in the 2007 calendar The Art of Heavy Metal.
Tala and Cassidy star in the Heavy Metal graphic novel which serves as an immediate prequel and expanded introduction to the game. Set in Nebraska Territory, the story follows them as former partners reuniting for a mission to capture the tomb of Lazarus, an ancient vampire lord and Darkwatch's original founder. Along the way, they release Jericho when they raid a jail. "Cass" does not hide her current dislike of Tala, but Tala kills Cassidy's father-turned-vampire, saving her life. An award-winning[26] picture of Tala and Cassidy appeared on the cover of the July 2005 issue of Heavy Metal.[27]
A 176-page art book The Art of Darkwatch was published in August 2005 by Design Studio Press.[28] A 30-track original soundtrack Darkwatch Original Game Music Score was released in November 2006 by Sierra Entertainment.[29]
Reception
Upon its release Darkwatch has received positive reviews from most reviewers, including the ratings of 7.9 ("Good") for both the PS2 version at GameSpot ("If you're looking for an intense shooter experience, Darkwatch will not disappoint.")[30] and the Xbox version at IGN ("Cowboys, vampires, and sexy dead girls are fun in parties, but not so much alone.").[31] According to review aggregation site GameTab, the PS2 version of Darkwatch scored a rating of 82% with the gaming press with the Xbox version scoring 85%.[32] As of June 2010, the game's Metacritic average score stands at 74/100 for the PS2 version and 75/100 for the Xbox version.[33][34] In 2010, GamesRadar ranked Darkwatch as sixth on the list of the top seven weirdest westerns.[35]
Some of the most notable reception the game received regarded the character of Tala. The voice-acting role of Rose McGowan was critically acclaimed by numerous gaming outlets.[30][36][37][38][39][40] In 2007, GameDaily featured Tala in the gallery Babe of the Week: Outrageous Boobs.[41] She was a runner-up in ActionTrip's 2007 lists of Top 10 Video Game Chicks, both by staff and by readers' choice.[42][43] In 2010, Complex ranked her 14th among The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games.[44] GamesRadar included her on the 2008 list of top seven Native American stereotypes and choosing her to represent "the sex object" stereotype, but nevertheless calling the portrayal of "an empowered female who’s not afraid to be sexy and go after what she wants" to be "a vast improvement over the appalling depiction of Indian women in Custer's Revenge".[45]
See also
References
- ^ Capcom Releases Darkwatch: Press Release], GameSpot, Aug 16, 2005
- ^ Ubisoft Stakes Darkwatch, IGN, June 1, 2005
- ^ Darkwatch 2 Being Pitched, 1UP.com, 12/07/2005
- ^ It came from the GDC: Darkwatch 2 footage, Joystiq, Apr 12th 2006
- ^ Darkwatch 2 In Development, Gun 2 Cancelled And More…, Kotaku, October 17, 2007
- ^ Darkwatch 2 (X360/PS3 - Cancelled)
- ^ a b c d e f Darkwatch Character Bios Unveiled, FileFactory Gameworld Network, Aug 31, 2005
- ^ a b c Darkwatch: Interview with the Vampire Cowboy, GameStar, April 11, 2004
- ^ Darkwatch fmv #2
- ^ The World of Darkwatch, IGN, January 14, 2004
- ^ a b Darkwatch: And Death Came with Them..., IGN, August 10, 2005
- ^ Beth Aileen Lameman, The Good, the Bad, and the Sultry: Indigenous Women in Video Games, Simon Fraser University School of Interactive Arts & Technology, March 2010
- ^ Darkwatch - xbox - Walkthrough and Guide - Page 22 - GameSpy
- ^ Darkwatch - xbox - Walkthrough and Guide - Page 2 - GameSpy
- ^ Developer Diaries | Darkwatch Full Moon: Volume III, GameSpy, Jun 9, 2004
- ^ a b Developer Diaries | Darkwatch Full Moon: Volume IV, GameSpy, Jul 8, 2004
- ^ Darkwatch Gets Grammy Winning Musicians to Create a Dark Score
- ^ Associated Press, Playboy's Newest Pinup: Video Game Characters, Fox News, September 08, 2004
- ^ CNN/Money: Women of Gaming
- ^ Tala Bares It All in Playboy Magazine, TeamXbox, Sep. 12th, 2004
- ^ Videogame Chicks Take It Off, 1UP.com, 09/08/2005
- ^ Playboy strips down girls of gaming...again, GameSpot, Sep 9, 2005
- ^ Playboy’s Girls of Gaming return for the 2007 holiday season, Gamertell, Dec 7, 2007
- ^ IGN Babes Exlusive: Tala, IGN, September 9, 2004
- ^ IGN's Hotlist Is Hot, Also Hot, Additionally Hot, GameSetWatch, June 2, 2006
- ^ SinisterUrges :: Illustrations :: 0705l
- ^ July 2005 - Heavy Metal
- ^ The Art of Darkwatch: Book - Design Studio Press
- ^ Darkwatch Original Game Music Score - Music from Games
- ^ a b Darkwatch Review for PlayStation 2 - GameSpot
- ^ Darkwatch - Xbox Review at IGN
- ^ Critical Reception: High Moon/Capcom's Darkwatch, Gamasutra, August 17, 2005
- ^ Darkwatch (ps2) reviews at Metacritic.com
- ^ Darkwatch (xbx) reviews at Metacritic.com
- ^ The Top 7… Weirdest westerns, GamesRadar US, 2010-05-17
- ^ Darkwatch Review, GameZone, 08/29/2005
- ^ Darkwatch Review, GameRevolution, 08/24/05
- ^ Darkwatch Review (Xbox), TeamXbox, August 15th, 2005
- ^ Darkwatch PS2 Review, IGN, August 13, 2005
- ^ Darkwatch Review, GameShark, August 22, 2005
- ^ Babe of the Week: Outrageous Boobs, GameDaily, November 30, 2007
- ^ AT's Top 10 Video Game Chicks, ActionTrip, September 07, 2007
- ^ Hottest Video Game Chicks – Reader's Choice, ActionTrip, October 16, 2007
- ^ The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games, Complex.com, November 8, 2010
- ^ The Top 7… Native American stereotypes, GamesRadar US, 2008-11-24
External links
- Official website (archived)
- Official website and concept art at High Moon Studios
- The Art of Darkwatch slide show
- Darkwatch at MobyGames
- Darkwatch (Xbox) at GameFAQs
- Darkwatch at the Internet Movie Database
- Darkwatch at Giant Bomb
Categories:- 2005 video games
- Capcom games
- Fictional organizations
- Fictional vampire hunters
- First-person shooters
- Ghost video games
- Horror video games
- PlayStation 2 games
- Steampunk video games
- Third-person shooters
- Ubisoft Entertainment games
- Western (genre) video games
- Vampire video games
- Video games developed in the United States
- Video games set in the 19th century
- Video games set in the United States
- Xbox games
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