Title: Watchmen: The End is Nigh
Platform: XBLA (Also on PSN, PC)
ESRB Rating: M
Publisher: Warner Bros.
Developer: Deadline Games
Rating: 
Review by: Bill Jones
Watchmen: The End is Nigh, is an absolutely atrocious movie tie-in, and a prime example of what can happen when artistic integrity gives way to quick cash-ins. Not to mention, it is really bad gaming.
It works, in the basic sense that it functions as a beat ‘em up with an average move set and requisite “co-op” action, with each character providing a slightly different feel (though both can best be described as clunky). Even at that level, though, there is no reason for it to exist as a game. It is beat ‘em up by the numbers, with absolutely nothing fresh to offer. The co-op is ridiculously basic, the action never truly evolves, and while all games of the genre tend to be repetitive, 
The End is Nigh feels only tedious, never entertaining. And though the price tag is definitely an indicator of its length and production value, a longer game just means more self-hate for playing it, and the graphics don’t deliver what is expected in the high-definition era, nor do they provide any artistic flair.
On the other side of things, End is Nigh is an absolute insult to the property. Watchmen only in name, it simply usurps two of the novel’s/film’s characters – Rorschach and Nite Owl II – and sends them on a chase for Underboss, back in the days before the Keene Act clamped down on vigilantes. The dialogue is terrible, the story offers nothing interesting, and ultimately this game doesn’t even belong in the same universe as Watchmen. Rorschach goes into “Rage” mode where he growls and decimates enemies. Enough said.
If Alan Moore were the type of guy to acknowledge the existence of such things as this game, it would likely 
send him straight to his grave. The fact that this is designed as the first episode of a series would likely bring him back from that grave to seek revenge for such an egregious offense. It’s sad to think that both Len Wein (Watchmen editor) and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen artist) had a hand in this. Watchmen: The End is Nigh is a downright disaster.
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For more info, www.watchmenvideogame.com
May 17th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
A second part is coming soon and normally, it will be the same charaters. It think it will be relesed along with the dvd release in july.
In the game, I like the comic style of the cinematics but it is too repetitive and it doesn’t do juctice to the graphic novel.