With the release of Darkwatch, there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that it’s another Vampire first person shooter game. The good news is that it’s a hybrid Cowboy/Vampire first person shooter game with an engrossing storyline that is above average and well worth your time.

The back story of the game is rather interesting: you play as Jericho Cross, an outlaw trying to get rich by getting treasure off a train. However, when you blow the safe, instead of seeing treasure, you release Lazarus, a very bad vampire lord. He thanks you by biting you so you turn into a vampire. You then begin the quest to help the people recapture the vampire lord you freed and also attempt to recapture your soul. The quest involves you killing lots of enemies, as any good first person shooter would.

Although the game is relatively linear, the script penned by Paul O’Connor and Chris Ulm of High Moon Studios is quite compelling. I won’t ruin the entire plot for you as there are some nice although expected plot twists, but the game is definitely worth playing through.

During the game, your character will start to hunger blood as he transforms into a vampire. You’ll find victims of Lazarus throughout the game and you’ll have to make a choice: rescue their soul by ‘sucking’ the evil out of their arm…or drink up from the victims’ neck and claim the soul for yourself.

There is a reason for all the blood sucking. Every time you find one of these victims, you increase your good or bad Spirit Bar. Once your spirit bar is full, you will develop additional powers. It absolutely makes more sense to pick a direction and never waver from it as the powers get better. There are 4 ‘good’ powers and 4 ‘bad’ powers. On my first time through, I went up to 3 good powers and 2 bad. The ‘level 4’ power on either side is easily the most powerful and very important to have when you are facing the bosses.

The first person shooter is a very overworked genre and it’s rather difficult at this point to have something novel or unique. Darkwatch does borrow elements from other first person shooters -- the “coyote” is a vehicle straight out of Halo and the Lazarus boss battle reminds me of the game MDK. The good news is that Darkwatch does feel like it’s an original game despite this, which is no small feat.

Gameplay consists of going through various environments and killing or be killed. First you have to shoot while riding horseback, but unfortunately that level is over very quickly. There’s one other horseback level, which is difficult but over quick. Other environments include a wild west city at nighttime, going through various caves and a level in broad daylight, which really hurts you because you’re a vampire. You’ll have to hide in the shadows to regain your vampire jump and ‘blood shield’ power. (The vampire jump, performed by pressing the “Y” button twice, gives you a huge jump, and you’ll need it in order to avoid some enemies.) This makes a rather ordinary level much more challenging.

There are over 10 enemies that you’ll fight in the game, ranging from a pretty easy to kill ‘reaper’ to a “kegger” who tried to kill you with a keg of explosives, to a Jabba The Hut look alike oozer and then finally my least favorite, the Banshee. Luckily you’ll find plenty of weapons to blast the baddies, however you can only carry two weapons at a time. I would recommend the carbine because usually you can get a good head shot with it. Using the crossbow is always enjoyable as the arrows are flaming – just make sure you aren’t anywhere near the bad guy when he explodes or else it will affect you as well. The game is supposed to take place in 1876, and I’m not sure any of these weapons existed back then, but the fantasy works well.

The game has position specific violence – shoot an enemy in the head, and the results are gruesome. You can see why the game is rated M – it’s definitely not for the kids. The cutscenes are also violent and there’s one sexually explicit cutscene as well. I won’t ruin the scene titled “Prom Night” but I’m sure you can figure out what happens.

Graphics in game really bring you into the game. It can be scary at times and of course the gruesomeness makes you feel like you truly shot off someone’s arm. One drawback is that the game does not support HD at all, at least according to the back of the game box. In game sound fits the environment you’re in, and there are always appropriate shrieks when someone is dead or you suck their blood. Voice acting includes work by Jennifer Hale, Rose McGowan and Kari Wahlgren and is good, although during my long term relationship with the Lazarus boss level the “Aw hell, here comes Lazarus!!” really started to sound like Ellen DeGeneres…not sure if that’s good or bad. Probably bad.