Editor’s note: Alexandr sees where the recent Watchmen: The End Is Nigh fits with great brawlers of the past. His conclusion isn’t pretty. -Jason
I thought that if I played through Watchmen: The End Is Nigh with a stern face and my toes to an open flame, maybe Watchmen comic writer Alan Moore would look the other way. I was wrong; he no longer takes my calls. The two-part series is a huge letdown, and worse, it flies in the face of what makes Watchmen unique.
The universe depicted in Moore’s comic series Watchmen is complex. Deadline Games’ take on the events before the comic’s happenings could not be further from complex. Heroes Rorschach and Nite Owl star in this uninspired action brawler. Their enemies come in two sizes: medium and large. And they all look the bloody same.
Part One was released back in March, and while the combat numbed the soul, the spot-on voice work and motion-comic cut-scenes were enough to keep gamers from dying inside. But with only a change in setting, Part 2 is a stale intruder. It’s a gift that it’s only half as long as the original.
I thank the mighty lord Death Adder that I can cleanse my palette with Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection. This Sega collection features a handful of brawlers exponentially better than The End is Nigh. This is most true with the first two installments of the Streets of Rage trilogy. Deadline Games should have looked to the 17-year-old Streets of Rage 2 for their inspiration. Instead of rechargeable health, which has no place in a brawler, they should’ve stuck to retro conventions such as apples and whole turkey pick-me-ups.
Also, enemies and bosses in Streets of Rage 2 were more varied and featured off-the-wall names like Galsia and Y Signal. The End is Nigh recycles the same nameless street punks that change their clothes only when a new location demands it: suits for strip clubs, and leather for the whorehouse. To further sour the deal, there’s only one boss at the end of each part. Last time I checked, a gaggle of wacky bosses is a brawler staple. Who are any of us to change that?
In 1989, an even more robust brawler appeared for the Nintendo. River City Ransom offers an open world with cafes and sushi bars where skill-enhancing treats are sold. Three 8-bit sprites going at it with whips and tires exhibit more strategy than Rorschach does against every clone in The End is Nigh.
Deadline Games should’ve made a strategic 2D action game with the comic’s art and personality. Seeing Rorschach and Nite Owl as crisp sprites in HD would have been amazing. It could have been an evolution for the aging brawler formula. Instead, the characters that I love are puppets in a product that takes the genre down several notches. I pray that Turtles in Time Re-shelled won’t kick it while it’s down.
But hope exists for another Watchmen brawler. Behold, Minutemen:
(This article appears in some form at gameandplayer.net)