Impressions - Darkwatch

I've been wanting to play Darkwatch for a while now, and I finally got the chance. I have to say this game is great! Basically it's an old western game with zombies... and you're a vampire. The whole concept is pretty cool.

The first level I played was a graveyard. You have to cleanse it of the undead. You start out with a pistol and later get a crossbow that shoots exploding arrows. It's pretty hard to hit anything with the crossbow because every time you shoot it everyone runs away. The melee attacks are cool as well. That guy twirls his gun in true old west stile! You also have the ability to double jump- really, really, high! The last move you get is your vampire power. You can look through walls and see if any undead are nearby. It's kind of like heat vision. Anyway, getting back to the level. After you mash your way through undead, you come to a hill where the moral system comes into play. A woman has been poisoned and you can either kill her, or suck out the poison. Depending on which you choose, you'll get a different special attack. Be good and you get powered up guns, be bad and you get super melee. It actually pays to be bad here because if you save her she comes back as a banshee that tries to kill you. Either way, you'll have to fight a bunch of fat guys with swords that spit goop out of their backs. This was a pretty challenging level.

The second level was really cool. You start off riding a horse along side a moving train while shooting down undead. You then board the train and clear it too. Somewhere along the level you get a sniper and a shotgun- both very effective. Most of this level is just a blast fest; kill everything to survive. When you get to the end, you get to operate a giant double-barrel turret. You basically just gun down everything- not that that isn't fun.

Overall, I like Darkwatch. There are some problems with the controls, one of which is switching weapons, which you can't do unless you lean sideways (?). There is still some time to iron these issues out before the games release in the coming weeks.