Darkwatch

2005 video game

Darkwatch (also known as Darkwatch: Curse of the West) is a 2005 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 and by Ubisoft in Europe and Australia. The game mixes the Western, horror and steampunk genres, telling the story of Jericho Cross, an outlaw gunfighter in the late 19th century American Frontier who has been turned into a vampire and forcibly recruited by the titular monster hunting secret organization to fight against supernatural forces. Darkwatch was met with a generally positive critical reception, acclaimed in particular for its relatively unique horror Western setting and artistic merits. The game was accompanied by an extensive promotional campaign and was planned to be the first installment of a new media franchise, but its sequel got canceled in 2007 and the film adaptation remains in development hell.

Darkwatch features a reputation system that affects player's abilities in addition to the player character Jericho's starting, neutral vampiric powers of "Blood Shield" (a regenerating force field), "Vampire Jump" (a double jump that can be aborted at any moment) and "Blood Vision" (a system of heat vision highlighting enemies and objects that also acts as a zoom). Through the game, Jericho is met with multiple choices of a good or evil variety, allowing the player to select morality awarding Jericho new powers, called "Brands", based on the choices he made. The good path powers are "Silver Bullet" (making the player's weapons cause more damage), "Fear" (confusing minor enemies), "Mystic Armor" (an extra shield system) and "Vindicator" (bolts of lightning destroying all nearby enemies). The evil powers are "Blood Frenzy" (granting an immunity to damage and extremely powerful melee attacks), "Turn" (turning undead enemies into allies), "Black Shroud" (stealing life force from nearby enemies) and "Soul Stealer" (destroying nearby enemies and stealing their souls). The powers can be activated for a limited time when the HUD's blood bar, which is fueled through collecting souls of the slain enemies, is completely full. Jericho's health is also restored through collecting the souls. During the daylight hours, Jericho's powers are gone, so 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 a crossbow firing explosive arrows and a rocket launcher, as well as melee combat. In some missions, Jericho can drive a Gatling gun equipped Coyote Steamwagon vehicle; using it or a horse changes perspective to the third person view. During horse riding rail shooter sequences, Jericho is granted unlimited ammunition and high attack speed, at the cost of only being able to use the Redeemer.) follows the exploits of a former American Civil War veteran and wanted outlaw named Jericho Cross and his employment in an ancient vampire hunting order known as the Darkwatch. 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, as a result of being bitten by Lazarus. The game outlines either Jericho's struggle for humanity or his descent into darkness, depending on the player's actions. Darkwatch was an ancient organization established centuries ago by a Roman named Lazarus Malkoth to combat the dark forces that responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire. However, in pursuit for more powerful means to combat the dark forces, Lazarus tried to use the power of the dark forces against themselves, resulting him being possessed by a demon and thus turning him into a vampire lord. She then betrays the Darkwatch from within, allowing hordes of the undead to invade its headquarters. who became a gunslinger and train robber. During his "one last job", he releases Lazarus Malkoth from his prison in a failed attempt to steal the contents. While dueling with Lazarus, Jericho gets bitten and infected by the vampire curse. His already deadly skills are enhanced by his vampire powers that afford him superhuman strength, increased endurance, enhanced agility, and heightened senses, in the form of the bioluminescent red orb that regenerated from his empty eye socket. If fought as the final boss, she turns into an angel. Tala (meaning "Stalking Wolf") (voiced by Rose McGowan 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. The developers described her as not evil but "just ambitious". Tala is the only character who uses kicks in the game, due to the artists deciding that "some of the combat moves the actress performed fit the character so well that we changed the combat system she's using". If fought as the final boss, she turns into a demon. According to GameSpy, Tala is "without question, the more difficult boss to battle". Lazarus Malkoth (voiced by Keith Szarabajka decided to "bring a refreshing theme to a genre riddled with the stereotypical sci fi, fantasy, and military themes", an idea soon approved by the Sammy Corporation president Hajime Satomi. The original game concept was not very dark and the vampires "felt more like a cartoon property". and "with the accessibility of Raiders of the Lost Ark". Tala was originally intended to also be a player character, but the studio's marketing department "didn’t think that would fly".

The game was developed for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox side by side, with a PC version initially described as "possible". There were also plans to port the game for the PlayStation Portable. Havok and Quazal, while Autodesk MotionBuilder was used to create character animation and motion capture. The game was "intentionally designed as a cross between Halo and Silverado". Other video game inspirations recounted by O'Connor and Valdez included Half Life, Medal of Honor, Metroid Prime and TimeSplitters. O'Connor said the game's reputation system was inspired by the contrast between the Old West figures such as Billy the Kid and the likes of Wyatt Earp, who "both were feared gunslingers, but one was a psychopathic killer and the other was a good guy/lawman". The game's title sequence animation was created by Kyle Cooper using a collage of computer graphics images and live action footage. Darkwatch was officially unveiled on January 12, 2004, its announcement accompanied by a showing of its playable multiplayer deathmatch mode, and was originally slated for a Q4 2004 release. At one point, the game remained in limbo for several months until May 2005, when High Moon Studios, by then a fully independent development company, found a publisher in Capcom.

Darkwatch, described as High Moon's "flagship property", was released by Capcom in North America on August 16, 2005, and by Ubisoft in Europe on October 7. Ubisoft distributed the game in Australia as well.

In 2004, Sammy launched darkwatch. org, an official fan community website allowing fans to win points for prizes through completing various challenges while promoting the game. An interactive game demo of Darkwatch was shown at E3 2005 inside a custom build Gothic architecture inspired theatre dubbed "desecrated church". A trailer for the game, created by Brain Zoo Studios, was nominated for the Golden Trailer Awards and won two Aurora Awards in the categories "Best of Show: Use of Animation" and "Best of Show: Entertainment". In August 2005, Capcom launched a major marketing campaign to support the upcoming release. This included an extensive marketing program in the U. S. television networks, print advertisements in several leading video game and men's magazines, radio promotions broadcasts on alternative rock stations in major markets, and pre order and point of sale purchase campaigns. A Darkwatch music video to Good Charlotte's song "Predictable" was also featured in MTV2's Video Mods. 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" 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". Several more naked pictures of her and Cassidy appeared in Playboys "Girls of Gaming" series in October 2005 and again in December 2007. A few censored topless sketches of Tala were posted alongside a fake interview in an exclusive online gallery by IGN and a pinup picture was featured in IGN's Hotlist magazine in June 2006. 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.

The Art of Darkwatch, a 176 page art book for the game, was published in August 2005 by Design Studio Press. Darkwatch Original Game Music Score, a 30 track original soundtrack, was released in November 2006 by Sierra Entertainment.

A comic titled "Innocence", published in the July 2005 issue of Heavy Metal, serves as an immediate prequel and expanded introduction to the game. Set in the 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. The comic was written by the game's designers Ulm and O'Connor and illustrated by Philip Tan and Brian Haberlin. The issue's award winning cover art was created by Aaron Habibipour and Sergio Paez.

The game received the score of 7.9 ("Good") from both Bob Colayco of GameSpot ("If you're looking for an intense shooter experience, Darkwatch will not disappoint") and Jeremy Dunham of IGN ("Cowboys, vampires, and sexy dead girls are fun in parties, but not so much alone"). According to the review by Cheat Code Central, "just about every aspect of Darkwatch is cool. The environments are cool, the weapons are cool, the characters are cool and while the gameplay is not unique it's definitely one of the best first person shooters on the Xbox and PS2. The controls alone are worth the price of admission". John Scalzo of Gaming Target wrote that "for anyone looking for something a little different out of their FPS experience, Darkwatch is that game". The reviewer in GamePro wrote that Darkwatch "mixes its western roots with gothic horror and steampunk aesthetics, and the results are uniquely engaging", adding that if some the game's "cooler" concepts "had been explored further, lengthening the game in the process, Darkwatch could've rivaled the best of the genre". Several reviews praised the game's setting. GameSpy's David Chapman called it "a truly remarkable experience. And, while the game itself may not have broken any new ground, the world it introduces more than makes up for that. It will leave gamers hungry for more". On the other hand, some reviews thought that the gameplay was actually the strongest part of the game. Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine stated that Darkwatch "has a few neat ideas but wins us over by doing solid shooting well. Fast paced with cool guns, what's not to like?" GameZone's Mike David wrote that only a "weak plot pacing and that feeling that something is missing" kept it from being given a score of 9/10. Eurogamer's Martin Coxall called it "a generic and quickly tiresome shooter, with a contrived premise which, unfortunately, does nothing to elevate it". Tala was a runner up in ActionTrip's 2007 lists of Top 10 Video Game Chicks, both by staff and by readers' choice. She was ranked as the 14th "hottest woman" in video games by Complex in 2012 and as the fourth by in Index. hr 2013. GamesRadar included her in the 2008 list of top seven Native American stereotypes, chosen to represent "the sex object" stereotype, but nevertheless stated that the portrayal of "an empowered female who’s not afraid to be sexy and go after what she wants" is "a vast improvement over the appalling depiction of Indian women in Custer's Revenge". Michael Sheyahshe, author of Native Americans in Comic Books, listed "the continued objectification of the Indigenous female character, Tala, in Darkwatch" among "cultural ‘ouchies’ in video games". She was also discussed in the book Sex in Video Games by Brenda Brathwaite and in Fantasy Women by Amanda Greenslade. Jericho Cross was included among the top five vampires in games by Laurie Anne Vazquez of 2D X in 2012, and on the 2013 list of ten most notable vampire characters in video games by Kotaku's Gergo Vas, who wrote that "the weird western steampunk hybrid style, mixed with classic vampire lore made this character (and the game!) really exciting". According to a retrospective article by GamesRadar in 2009, "while it didn’t innovate much in the gameplay department, Darkwatch was a solid shooter with proficient controls. Its real strength was its unique horror/western setting and bizarre selection of gothy undead characters and enemies". In a 2012 article about the history of steampunk video games, Mike Mahardy of Game Informer wrote that "although not a widely known shooter, Darkwatch garnered a cult following with its unique story and unusual setting". That same year, Robert Workman of Comic Book Resources called Darkwatch "in particular [ ] a fantastic effort, a first person shooter with beautiful, spooky atmosphere and excellent gameplay". In 2013, Metro included it among the "games that didn't get the love they deserved". Mark L. Bussler of Classic Game Room said in a retro video review that among many shooters on the PlayStation 2, "few are as fun as this", adding that Darkwatch should be "in your collection" alongside Red Faction and TimeSplitters. FEARNET included it among their five favorite vampire games in 2014.

Darkwatch was supposed to be first of a series of games that would be set in different time periods, including Ancient Rome, the Crusades era and World War II. O'Connor said they wanted "to tell not only the story of Jericho Cross but of the Darkwatch as an organization, from its origins in Roman times to its ultimate fate in Earth’s future". After the game was canceled, the studio abandoned further attempts to create their own IP and instead concentrated on developing licensed games, such as Transformers and Deadpool. In 2009, GamesRadar ranked Darkwatch as the 22nd top "game with untapped franchise potential", adding that a sequel could have improved the original game's supernatural powers and its "anemic" multiplayer mode and "make it shine". Classic Game Room's Mark Bussler expressed regret that so many bad games did receive sequels, while Darkwatch did not. In 2011, it was reported that Glen Morgan and James Wong, the writers/directors/producers behind The X Files and the Final Destination film series, "have developed a pitch based on the game's plot and action sequences, and are currently writing a screenplay". Morgan and Wong's involvement with the project has been first reported already in 2004.