WARNING, This contains spoilers!
Let it be known that I've previously written a review for the first part of the "Watchmen" game, and I am writing for the Complete Experience because that is what I've bought and considered to be definitive to help squeeze this review together.
For $49.95, you get the Director's Cut of "Watchmen" on Blu-Ray on one disc, and on the other disc you get "The End is Nigh" Parts I and II, not to mention all the bonus features for the film are also on this disc.
Since Part I has already been given the rundown, I will focus on Part II, and how it's kind of disappointing. A couple of the more valid complaints from Part I was repetition and length, and Part II has done virtually nothing to fix these issues. As a matter of fact, Part II only has 3 more chapters, albeit VERY long chapters, which only adds to the frustration of getting through a level. And there's still the same "pulling levers" routine in these levels as well. Oh, and you learn absoultely nothing new as far as moves go. In Part I, you could learn a couple new combos every level, and find power-ups to increase Rorschach's Rage and Nite Owl's Charge respectively, and if you missed them, you had to finish the current game without them. Well in part II, they give you all the combos and full power-ups from the get-go, which to me wasn't a good sign of there being anything new. You can still find more power-ups in these three chapters, but it only serves to increase Rage and Charge even further, so it really doesn't add anything new.
The first chapter has our two heroes infiltrating a sleazy sex-disco to find information on a kidnapped girl. The enemies here are limited to the same 3 or 4 character models that are just burly-looking guys in leisure suits. This level is annoyingly long, switching between bar areas and various backstages (with horrible 70's bom-chicka-wah-wah background music to boot). Late into the level, Nite Owl even starts commenting on how impossibly big this Disco is. When a game's character starts commenting on how long a level is, you know it's getting bad. At the end of the level, it's revealed that the villain you're after is a bondage-queen by the name of Twilight Lady. She was only very briefly mentioned in the comic and it is insinuated that her and Nite Owl had a fling before he put her away before.
The second chapter brings them back to the alleyways, to fight the Knot-tops gang members...again. These were the guys from Chapter 3 of the first game, and they didn't change a bit. Another hour of this, and we're onto the last level. Wish I could say more on it but that's really all there was. No joke.
The third chapter brings a couple of surprises. You end up at Twilight Lady's mansion, which only serves as a front for a BDSM bordello for the local politicians. We FINALLY run into a few new things in this level. A couple of new, more dynamic enemy models, which sadly aren't very pleasant to look at. They consist of a shirtless fat, bald guy in black latex pants (with realistic belly-flopping physics), and a couple of female dominatrix models (with, of course, realistic boob-jiggle physics). It is also on this level that you get treated to new finisher moves, which only leads me to wonder why they weren't included in the previous two levels. Rorschach's new finishers were more brutal than ever (I haven't played through as Nite Owl, so I can't comment on his new moves).
This is easily the longest of the 3 chapters, taking me roughly 60-70 minutes to finish it. We finally end up at the boss battle with Twilight Lady, and unlike Underboss, there's no real strategy to beating her. Just dodge and attack, rinse and repeat. But it's after this fight where things get interesting, and not necessarily in a good way.
Upon defeating Twilight Lady, she lands on a fragile plate glass, and could fall to her death any second. Nite Owl wants to save her and turn her in, while Rorschach wants to finish her off. All through this game, the storyline shows off the obvious tension between Rorschach and Nite Owl's preferred styles of fighting crime. Things come to a head when Rorschach attempts to kill Twilight and Nite Owl gets in his way, prompting...you guessed it, a final boss battle against your own partner. Playing as Rorschach, I defeated Nite Owl and killed Twilight Lady. This ended in Nite Owl telling Rorschach that their days as partners are over and he calls Rorschach a "f*cking psychopath".
On a strictly personal note, I found this inclusion of a "friend vs friend" boss battle completely insulting, and anyone who read the comic will probably agree that this was absurd.
But going back to the review, I found Part II to be a barebones extension of part I. The lack of anything significantly new just screams "rushed production", although they seem to have minimized the screen tearing in this game.
I know I gave a positive review to the previous installment, but I have a very hard time finding anything good to write about here, considering it was literally nothing but more of the same, just half the amount of levels. I recommend renting this collection if possible, but if not, borrow it from a friend. I have a feeling that playing these games one after the other would feel like a classic beat 'em up experience, like a marathon "Streets of Rage" session. A lot of my complaints with it probably stem from how long it's been between Parts I and II for me, and I expected more when I really shouldn't have.
The game is essentially the same on Xbox 360, except the disc collection of Parts I and II don't come with the movie. In this case, I also highly recommend a rental if possible.
PSFocus writes: "Watchmen is the world came as a 12-part comic series (in Dutch and 6-part series). The story is complex, dark and focuses on social issues, which were then in the order. The story was written by Alan Moore and the British comic was released in the years '86 / '87. Recently there is a Watchmen movie that was recently published and available on DVD and Blu-ray, but before the movie came out it has only two PlayStation Network games published as a prologue. These two titles are now combined into a bundle on Blu-ray and there is our review on."
It's a safe bet to say you've played a movie game, and it's and even safer bet to say that you've hated said movie game. Let's just face the music: games based around feature films are garbage almost 90% of the time. Worst of all, you end up paying the full $60 for the movie game that sucks, but this is where Watchmen comes in. The End is Nigh originated as a download-only product on PSN and XBLA, for the comparatively small price of $15 a piece. Is this cheaper alternative worthy of your time?
Watchmen: The End is Nigh is a "beat-em-up" style action game and prequel to the Watchmen feature film. The End is Nigh was originally released in two downloadable parts before being collected for this disc, so be aware that it is not a separate game (just a compilation with bonus features).
In the game, set several years before the events of the film (and the graphic novel it is based on), you play as either Nite Owl or Rorschach, two gritty superheroes that work together to fight criminals and other foes in a variety of locations, including a prison, sewers, a construction site, and a strip club. Between missions, the storyline (which includes political discussion and mentions of popular figures from the 1970s) is told via comic-like animated cut-scenes.
Does the movie make it worth it. I enjoyed the first half of the movie I watched.