The single player campaign can be finished over a weekend, if that. There are multiple difficulty levels which allow you some replay value. The game uses an auto save ‘checkpoint’ system with unlimited continues, but if you find a very troublesome enemy, you could play the same scene over and over again (for example the Lazarus boss level) until you move on. A few levels are of the “throw everything but the kitchen sink” variety and are just an exercise in survival, but the game is worth completing.

You can go back and replay levels you’ve finished, but if you do it in the regular mode, you’ll lose all of the progress you had made ahead of that level. Your best bet is to either copy your save game if that’s possible or play in ‘gunslinger’ or chapter mode. In that mode you can also choose if you’re good or evil and have the appropriate powers. There’s also a ‘statistics’ page for the regular story mode to see your favorite weapons and the number of kills. It does NOT take into effect any game replays though, so if you spent 3 hours and multiple continues on one boss level, only the ‘success’ time counts.

Once you’re done with the single player, the good news is that there’s plenty of replay value in Xbox Live multiplayer. One game, called “Soul Hunter” is quite the challenge. There’s also capture the flag and deathmatch as well. It’s a shame the game does not have content download, but we can definitely work with what we’ve got.

Overall Darkwatch is a fun first person shooter game and a great first effort by High Moon Studios. Although singleplayer is over quick, online play is a lot of fun and unlike other vampire games, Darkwatch sure doesn’t suck!