
Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is an episodic video game series that serves as a prequel to the film adaptation of the comic book Watchmen. The game will be released in installments in March 2009 to coincide with the film’s release, with the first episode released on March 4
Gameplay :
According to Electronic Gaming Monthly, the game allows players to take on the roles of either Rorschach or Nite Owl II in singleplayer or cooperative multiplayer. Rorschach and Nite Owl are the only playable characters in the game’s first episode, which comprises six “chapters.” Cutscenes that look like animated comic panels, similar to those seen in the Watchmen motion comics released on iTunes, bookend each chapter. Two of the film’s actors, Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earl Haley, provide their voices for their characters Nite Owl and Rorschach, respectively. The game features a mix of beat-em-up and puzzle gameplay, with the two characters having different strengths and abilities. Rorschach is faster but weaker and makes use of improvised weapons like crowbars and chairs; Nite Owl is slower but stronger and uses technological abilities, such as “screecher bombs.” The characters must work cooperatively to pass puzzles and defeat enemies.
The game is set in 1972 during the Crimebusters (for the film adaptation, The Watchmen) era. The first chapter of the game is a tutorial taking place while Rorschach and Nite Owl infiltrate a prison. Big Figure, a minor villain Rorschach and Nite Owl mention in the comic book as having been defeated by the pair in the past, appears in the game, as do other adversaries who are only mentioned or briefly shown in flashbacks in the original comic. Nite Owl’s flying craft, Archimedes, appears in the game, but the player never has control over it during the game.
An article on Comicmix.com emphasizes the game’s focus on teamwork between the two characters: in single-player mode, the AI controls the other character aside from the main character, while the game can be played in Local Co-op with two players as both characters. The article also mentions there will be no online Co-op mode.
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