After swearing out loud at the sheer audacity at the game and upsetting my neighbours, in my drunken stupor I decided to have a go at the game. Kind of for the same reasons that Mary Whitehouse used to watch offensive telly programmes, to get really wound up. And you know what? It’s a Streets Of Rage rip off with the Watchmen characters in. You control both the Nite-Owl II and the Comedian, taking in 1960’s New York and Vietnam with the relevant character, with the other Watchmen characters popping up throughout the game in cameos of sorts. Punching and shooting the enemies who range from Big Figure and his cronies to the Vietnamese (which if I was giving the makers of the game the benefit of the doubt, would say was an excellent satire on the Comedian and his values, but I’m not, so it just seems racist). Although there are a few Watchmen-like details (particularly the Nixon 4 More Years poster in the background) and setting the game in the Crimebusters (now in the film known as the Watchmen) era of costumed heroes does show a passing knowledge of the book, there are a few issues I have. Mainly that, even though the Comedian would use knives and guns to dish out justice, I have a hard time believing Nite-Owl would pick up a gun and just start shooting enemies. No matter how pissed off he was. The game earns two stars if you love Watchmen, four if you don’t.
