Such a great movie, such a dissapointing game.
Given the ratio of money to fun the movie provided I had high hopes for this game. Unfortunatly from the get go, I was dissapointed. My first criticism is one I will not hold to much against CDV and Nival Interactive, because it's a matter of preference: I wish they had not made Night Watch a Turn Based Strategy style game. This would have been a perfect candidate to use a system like Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, only with far more characters, and a true good/evil option. I would not have mentioned this in a review as a critique except that it is really mind boggling that Night Watch was made into a turn based game.
For the story telling aspects of the game, I have nothing but respect. Gamespot is not wrong in saying that some may get more out of the story as told in the game than the movie. Of course, unlike a game like Xenosaga (which was blasted for having a great story and weak combat) Night Watch has a great story and almost nonexistant gameplay. Most of the game is just a matter of hurling spells and such and trying to get around some very VERY bland maps (not bad in terms of concept, just weak graphics). As it stands now, Night Watch the game would be better as a pen and paper RPG than it's current incarnation.
It may be petty, but I really do take points off for an opportunity lost here. For anyone who has not seen the movie and doesn't understand why I sound so bitter, rent it, then play the game. You'll understand. RPG, FPSRPG, 3rd person, even a PLATFORMER would have made more sense.