If you’re in the market for an action packed western vampire first-person-shooter (fps), then look no further; Darkwatch has exactly what you have been looking for. In fact, if you are in the market for a fast paced fps that has a solid single-player experience you have probably found it. Darkwatch isn’t your typical fps, but even with its rather limited multi-player options and its ten hour story mode, there is enough here to satisfy just about any fps fan.

Darkwatch puts you in the boots of outlaw train robber Jericho Cross. The game starts off with Cross pulling off his last job before retiring from a life of crime. Unfortunately Cross chooses the wrong train, and inadvertently releases Satan’s son Lazarus from captivity. Lazarus curses Cross with vampirism, and unleashes an army of skeletons and other baddies upon the world.

Cross immediately joins forces with Cassidy, who works for a secret society called the Darkwatch. Cassidy fights along your side for a while, but then points you in the direction of the Darkwatch’s headquarters. I don’t want to spoil too many story elements for you, so I’m not going to go into much more detail. But not to worry, you get an ample amount of cut-scenes to guide you through the story which even has an alternate ending depending on one choice you make later in the game.

Cross has plenty of weapons and abilities to battle the forces of Lazarus. You have your requisite pistols, shotgun and rifle. You also have dynamite, a crossbow with exploding arrows, and even a rocket launcher to give you a little extra oomph a little later on. Each weapon has its various benefits, and since you can only carry two firearms at a time you find yourself making some tactical decisions about which ones you think you will need. You can usually find a pistol lying around from a dispatched foe, so I stuck with the big guns most of the time. But even the standard pistol was satisfying in a fight due to the high number of rounds you can kick off at pretty quick.

In addition to the firearms Darkwatch has a decent melee attack with just about every weapon. You will probably spend a great deal of time hacking away at enemies with the butt of your shotgun because it is very efficient and conserves ammo. One good hit from the ax shaped butt of your shotgun will dispatch most basic foes.

You also have an array of vampire powers due to your curse. Cross gets a blood shield, which takes the first bit of damage dealt by your foe. The blood shield quickly recharges and protects your primary life from being depleted as quickly. Cross also obtained vampire sight. Vampire sight allows you to see items, enemies and doors more easily by making them glow. But one of the more unique abilities is the vampire jump. This ability allows Cross to double-jump and control his movement in mid-air; which is useful for jumping onto roofs or higher levels in the caves. You also can also obtain eight other powers, four good, and four evil. You unlock these powers by choosing to either draining Lazarus’ other victims, or by releasing their tortured souls. Your choices here don’t really affect the story-line.

You are also given a decent variety of foes to battle. You have skeletons attacking you with pickaxes, and cowboy skeletons that shoot at you. There are flying banshee women who shoot some nasty purple globs, and some fast demons who vomit at you. A word of advice, don’t shoot off both of the banshee’s arms (they don’t like it), go for the head. Which brings up another point, the enemies take damage to the area of their body that you hit. Shoot them in the head, and end things quickly. Or shoot off their limbs rendering them un-armed (sorry, I thought it was funny).

All and all I was very satisfied with Darkwatch’s single player game. It only lasted about ten hours, but it was fast paced and fun. The game really took me into its world, and I went through most of the story-mode in one sitting. The multi-player portion of the game on the other hand really never caught my attention. There was no co-op, which is always a letdown for me. And there was no online support for the PS2. You could battle it out on Xbox Live with up to sixteen players, but there aren’t many deathmatch modes to choose from. If you don’t care about the story, and just want a great multi-player game, then you may consider passing on this title.

Graphically you have a well animated western horror fps. The world is detailed enough to bring you in. The PS2 and the Xbox version are pretty much the same and neither one stands out as looking that much better than the other.

I was hesitant before picking this one up. I just didn’t see anything that I thought would catch my attention. I was wrong; Darkwatch is a great game and should be on every first-person-shooting fan’s wish-list. So give Darkwatch a shot, it may not have the replay value of some other fps’, but the story mode and production makes up for the multi-player shortcomings.