Watchmen is regarded by many to be one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. For years, fans have been able to put Alan Moore's creation on a pedestal, and many are afraid that Zack Snyder's upcoming film adaptation can only disappoint. In conjunction with the movie's release is a video game tie-in, which should be cause for more concern, considering the poor quality of most licensed video games.
In theory, Watchmen: The End is Nigh, should be able to overcome the typical woes of movie-game development due to its distribution method. As a downloadable game, it doesn't need to offer the depth expected out of a retail box. However, it's clear that The End is Nigh simply isn't ambitious enough to do the franchise justice. Although much emphasis has been placed on the game's expansion of the franchise's canon, the core game experience simply isn't very satisfying. It can be summed up in just three words: beat-em-up.
Warner Brother's DC Entertainment has been known for putting out (mostly) consistent content for years, and that includes forays into video games. Given that DC focuses a lot more on their solo characters, particularly Batman, Superman and Green Lantern, than Marvel does, its no wonder that DC has had an easier time adapting their IP's to other trans-media proprieties. While Marvel's team movie effort The Avengers has proven wildly successful, DC's Dark Knight trilogy, recent Man of Steel film and the entire animated universe helmed by DC animation veteran Bruce Timm has defined an era of superhero cartoons and direct-to-dvd animated features.
Man, DC Comics hasn't had great luck with games, has it? They had to resort to a few pretty average games to fill out the list.
Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons revealed that he was paid a hefty sum to be a consultant on the critically-panned Watchmen: The End Is Nigh game even though he wasn’t heavily involved. Gibbons also says the game is not canon, and because of that, he was actually fine with liking and disliking parts of the game.
"A brawler? Are you serious? As a game developer you look at the Watchmen movie / graphic novel and think “Hmmm that would totally go good with a fighting game, but since Dr. Manhattan would own everybody lets make it a brawler with Rorschach and Nite Owl!” Screw you Deadline Games!" - FirstDropShow
Well, *as* a brawler, it was decent. And had better graphics than most downloadable games. And don't forget, most games take longer to make than most movies, so movie games are always rushed.
That said... yeah, it wasn't worthy of the source material.
