As disappointing as TEIN’s single-player mode is, its much-hyped multiplayer mode is far worse. Don’t be fooled by the game’s supposed co-op; splitting the screen and giving two players control does not automatically make it true co-operative play. In fact, save for a handful of puzzles that require both players to hit a button at the same time, there is very little actual teamwork involved. Multiplayer feels like a throwaway addition implemented at the last minute; almost as if the developer forgot to implement it until the game was ready to be released, especially given the fact that it is offline only. That’s right – want to beat up legions of enemies with your friends over Xbox Live? Not in this game!

It almost goes without saying that this game fails on its own merit – and the addition of the Watchmen license does little to enhance the gameplay. That said, fans of the film adaptation will be happy to know that Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley reprise their respective roles, the latter still having a pitch-perfect voice for Rorschach. Based largely on the inclusion of acting talent from the film, and a suitably ominous soundtrack, TEIN is passable sonically. That said, I could have done without the barrage of enemy taunts, as they do tend to become annoying after a while.

Moving back to gameplay, the difficulty level in Watchmen: The End is Nigh borders on insane, if only for the fact that enemies more often than not attack in waves. There is no save anywhere function, and checkpoints have the frustrating tendency of placing you directly before a battle. In that sense, if you kill the majority of the onslaught of foes coming at you, there is no picking up where you left off if for some reason you have to exit the game. Especially in the later chapters, this will irritate you to no end. The same thing is true if you die; regardless of whether you defeated one villain or fifty, you will have to fight them all again.

Perhaps worst of all, there is no real payoff for playing the game. Despite its steep cost and high level of difficulty, the game abruptly ends after a mere 6 hours of gameplay, on a decidedly flimsy cliffhanger. There are no unlockable bonuses to speak of -- no footage from the movie, no hidden art gallery, no time trials, not even so much as an additional increase to your rage/charge meter. At $20, I would have expected to see something extra for finishing the game – some incentive to play it again after wasting 6 hours offing anonymous villains.

In the end, TEIN’s biggest flaw is developer Deadline Games’ choice of genre. Anything Watchmen branded, regardless of its story, cannot and should not be represented in brawler form. Deadline Games’ Kapow engine would have served an adventure game or even an RPG well. I wanted to see an objective, any kind of mission of sorts to break up the monotony of killing wave upon wave of villain from chapter to chapter.

All told, I cannot recommend Watchmen: The End is Nigh to anyone. It lacks the necessary level of polish a proper brawler would have, it’s far too expensive to purchase as a casual button masher, and does absolutely nothing to earn its Watchmen branding. Ultimately,TEIN has no real targeted audience, and no reason to spend $20 on it. Watchmen fans would do well to avoid this one; it is an absolute embarrassment to the license.