Given the heightened interest in all things Watchmen that stemmed from its recent theatrical release, a marketing blitz was a given. Virtually any product imaginable is available with Watchmen branding – everything from posters, to action figures, to flash drives, and most importantly, a game. That being said, is the game anything more than a half-hearted cash-in attempt? Sadly, it appears as though the answer is a resounding no.

Billed as an action/brawler title, Watchmen: The End is Nigh is the first in a series of downloadable episodic Watchmen games released on XBLA (also available on PC and PSN). Chronologically speaking, TEIN is a prequel to the events of the graphic novel, as it follows Rorschach and Nite Owl II when they were still working together, several years before the Keene Act was passed into law.

Upon starting the game, one of the very first things you will notice is the amount of graphical detail; TEIN has what may arguably be the best graphics of any Xbox Live Arcade game thus far. Graffiti, smoke, and other minutiae abound, presumably being one of the significant contributing factors as to why the game is nearly 1.5 GB in size. In a somewhat bizarre move, despite strong visuals, there is no physics engine here to speak of. Very few environmental objects are movable, and even fewer are usable in combat.

Speaking of combat, for a game that bases its entire design upon hand-to-hand battles, TEIN feels somewhat dated. Imagine a Streets of Rage or Double Dragon style beat ‘em up, add unlockable combos and a rage meter, and you’ve distilled the entire essence of TEIN’s gameplay. With the exception of the main villain in the final chapter there are no stage bosses to speak of. The AI is absolutely brain dead, and every enemy seems to be based upon one of the same three character models. Worse still, there are no variations in the opposition’s fighting styles, meaning battling them becomes an exercise in monotony very quickly.

Controls are simple and fluid, limited mostly to running, jumping (when prompted), punching, and kicking. Combos have a slight delay before being executed, making strategic use of them all but impossible, giving the game more of a button masher feel than that of an actual fighting game. There is no discernible difference in control between the two characters.

Unfortunately, the lack of contrast between Rorschach and Nite Owl mode doesn’t end with the controls. In an ideal situation, gameplay would change based upon character selection; each one would have different abilities, character-specific locations, and perhaps even their own unique set of puzzles. As is stands, this is not the case. There is little to no difference in Rorschach’s and Nite Owl’s respective modes, and to that end, no compelling reason to complete the other character’s mode after finishing one of them.