Below are user reviews of Night Watch and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
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User Reviews (1 - 1 of 1)
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Only played demo...
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User
As the title says, I've only played the demo, but since no one else has reviewed this item yet, I thought I'd add my 2 cents until someone more knowledgeable comes along.
The makers of this game are great fans of both the original books and the movies, and have striven to make a game that honors both. In my opinion, they have done a good job. The look, feel, and sound of the game is very reminescient of the movie, but the magic is a lot more prevalent, like in the books.
I don't know who wrote the product info, but don't worry, they didn't work on the game. The game itself is very clean, with no typos or problems with translation that I ever saw.
In the game, you play a character named Stas, a newly discovered Light Other and member of the Night Watch. Throughout the game, you get to team up with other characters, including some from the story. Every character is one of three classes, shapeshifter, mage, or enchanter(sometimes called sorcerer). The shapeshifters are the tanks of the game, dishing out solid physical damage and being able to take the same rather well. The mages are the heavy spell casters. The enchanters have a few spells, but they specialize in turning ordinary objects into magical ones.
The interface is a bit confusing at first. The view is third person from above, like most RTSs but closer up. You can move the camera in a number of ways for many different angles, but unfortunately that's the only time the camera moves. You always have to move it manually, it won't follow the characters naturally. This can be a little annoying at first, but seems to work out.
Combat is turn-based, which I don't mind. I suppose it might dull the action for some people but, with several characters to control and dozens of spells and special abilities to control, the break is welcome. Perhaps it might have been a little better with an option to toggle turn-based, but it's not that bad.
The graphics won't win any awards, but they're not the dregs, either. I wouldn't say they improve gameplay, but they don't detract from it, either.
Although Night Watch is a RPG, it is story-based. The developer said that there are numerous sidequests you can get involved in, but there is a definate story arc that you must follow. So, if that's a dealbreaker for you, there you go.
Having only played the demo, I can't comment on replayability factor. Usually, the fun of playing an RPG over again comes from trying different classes or getting different endings, but since there are only 3 classes, you can make sure your team has one of each and experience all 3 the first run through. Perhaps there are lots of different spells that you'd have to play through again to specialize in different ones--I don't know. I haven't heard anything about any alternate endings, either--someone more knowledgeable will have to speak on that.
Ok! So, enough with my (mostly) non-biased review... for those of you who, like me, are totally into the Watch tetrology, this game is a must have! Wielding enchanted flourescent lamps, casting spells, moving in and out of the Gloom... it totally rocks.
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