Day Watch screenshots and information

[Slaughter]

3D Gamers has ten screenshots form the upcoming sequel to Night Watch called Day Watch. As you may recall, Night Watch is a modern day turn-based game built on the Silent Storm engine. These games are based on the Night Watch and Day Watch movies, that again are based on the book tetralogy by Sergey Lukyanenko.

 

This time it's global. The battle between good and evil - Night and Day Watch - takes place in Moscow, Paris and Washington, DC. Discover the Dark Side with the Day Watch! Unleash the tremendous power of your character - gain revenge for the battles lost to the forces of the Night Watch.

 

You can find the screenshots at 3D Gamers.

 

Spotted at Blue's News

[Paranoid Jack]

No thanks. I am still pissed off about Night Watch being such a dud.

 

[FullAuto]

Was it really that bad?

[Slaughter]

I have yet to hear a compliment about Night Watch, but I haven't tried it myself. Give the demo a spin if you're curious. A shame Nival wastes their time with these movie tie-ins, when they could be working on the next Silent Storm!

[daredevil]

I'm just giving the demo a whirl. It's not as bad as the reviews are saying but it's definitely got some problems:

 

1. No control over poses (walk,run,crouch, or prone)

2. There doesn't appear to be any form of targeting specific body parts nor aimed vs. snap shooting

3. Inventory management is worse than S2

4. Reliance on melee, but really no variety of melee attacks (there are some skills that give you a better melee attack at the cost of "magic" energy

5. I haven't noticed any reason to save APs...no interrupts!!!

 

On the plus side:

1. Maps appear to be much larger

2. New character models (if only we can get them into S2!)

3. Better voice overs

4. Not reliant on knowledge of the movie or book...goes on it's own plot line

 

Hopefully Day Watch will fix some of these problems

[Paranoid Jack]

As far as the demo versus the retail product... it is hard to explain but I played the demo and enjoyed it enough to think the retail release may have some potential. After six to twelve levels/maps played in the retail product I realized how shallow the game-play is. I haven't touched the game in months (it seems) so it is hard to go into specifics but here are a few things I remember.

 

Tactics are at a minimum. So what you see in the demo is pretty much it. Yeah, you find items along the way and you can create items if you choose to be an enchanter but I never found anything that was helpful or exciting before giving up on the game.

 

Over-scripting is a huge problem in the level design. No matter how you handle certain situations the out-come is rarely changed. Even if the map has two or three possible exits they all lead to the same thing. Again, I played roughly ten/twelve maps repeatedly trying different approaches when I didn't like certain out-comes... only to find due to scripting I had little or no choice. And usually my choices made no difference in how/when the next event was triggered or it's out-come.

 

For example you can't get past certain encounters not even using the Twilight to sneak around. So you fight the three guys and you kill two and the third guy is nearing death... bamb, another triggered event. You can't kill them/him for some stupid reason. Why? Who knows? Because if he triggers the next map or if you choose one of the other two exits all three lead to the same scripted story-line. I guess I was expecting more options less story driven game-play.

 

Limited abilities to choose from while developing your characters. Check the website and get the info there I won't list them since they are not fresh in my mind. Believe me I tried hard as I could to like this game but I felt like I was playing a very linear story-line with levels containing sometimes as many as four scripted events to move the story along. And at times the triggered scripts would conflict with what you just did or where you were on the map. That got old pretty quickly. Wish I could go into more detail but again I haven't touched it in a while.

 

I mainly bought it hoping it would help fund the next Silent Storm. I bought Hammer & Sickle also. It sits unopened on my floor just three feet away... I won't buy another Nival game unless they start improving.

[baby arm]

4. Reliance on melee

Not really. As the game goes on, it seems more and more designed with mages in mind, rather than shapeshifters (the melee class). Ranged attacks are almost always the way to go, especially with mage spells like Thanatos and Drain Life. And mages can continually knock away melee opponents with Telekinesis before they get in melee range.

 

Believe me I tried hard as I could to like this game but I felt like I was playing a very linear story-line with levels containing sometimes as many as four scripted events to move the story along.

Jack, you should certainly give H&S a try if you're looking for a less linear experience. It's not without its faults, but it's much closer to S2 than Night Watch and more of an RPG than either. Also, you already have it so why not.

[FullAuto]

H&S may be a bit short, but it's certainly not linear. Damn good game, that.

 

Sounds like I may have to give Night Watch a try.

[Paranoid Jack]

Jack, you should certainly give H&S a try if you're looking for a less linear experience. It's not without its faults, but it's much closer to S2 than Night Watch and more of an RPG than either. Also, you already have it so why not.

 

Yeah, I will but right now the memory of Night Watch is still too fresh in my head. Plus Company of Heroes is due out in a couple day and I am loving the new demo with skirmish mode. I favor the Allied Armor Company but I'm now trying to learn the Axis side and not really enjoying it as much.

 

I'm sure at some point I will be itching for some turn-based game-play and bust it open. Who knows though if VD releases AoD soon that may hold me over for a long while. I hope at least.