Night Watch

Reviewed by Lawrence Cicchetti
August 7, 2006

Developer: Nival Interactive Publisher: CDV Website: Click Here Platform(s): PC ESRB Rating: T for Teen Review Rating: 6 out of 10

Screenshot from Night Watch. Courtesy CDV. Click image to enlarge.

Night Watch is a tactical RPG/ strategy game. It is based on the blockbuster foreign film from Russia by the same name. Players start out on a rooftop as the main character, Stas, who has to assassinate a woman but he just can't do it. The client and his partner come up from behind to urge Stas to kill her. Then, all of a sudden some woman appears in a display of lights and tells the client and the person with him to stop. They run off but not before she can kill one of them with a spell.

Stas gets sucked into a war between two sides of magical beings called Others. There is the dark others and the light others. But they have a treaty which states since others are born with light or dark alignments, they cannot convert light into dark or vice versa. The dark others have a day watch and the light others have a night watch, and to keep them in order there is the inquisition. There is also a place called the Gloom that others can slip into. In the Gloom they have more action points in order use abilities.

There are three classes to choose from whether you are light or dark. There are the shape changers or werewolves, mages (sorcerers and witches), and then enchanters (vampires for dark side). Each class has its own set of spells that have different or similar spell effects Shape changers and werewolves are the muscle. They can deal a lot more damage than the other classes. Mages or sorcerers use plain magic spells on enemies. Enchanters and Vampires use items and turn them into stronger weapons or amulets.

The graphics seem a bit low but it doesn't seem to take up much storage or processing power. The game is fun and has an interesting story that seems to have twists and turns at every situation that will keep players going. After a while though, it begins to get very difficult. It is a different type of game as far as RPG's go. You decide what the characters do and what purpose they serve. If they don't have one players can upgrade them with abilities and spells.

It's a nice game for those still struggling to get their computer up to the MMO age and it doesn't require a fancy graphics card. There is replay value here as the combination of character you use can make your situations go smoothly or not. I would not pay the full $50 dollars for this game but a low $20 dollar price point will fit the bill of any gamer's collection nicely!

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