Watchmen: The End Is Nigh on Playstation 3 Hands-On Impressions.

Thus, the development of the Watchmen game is one that has been viewed through the squinted eyes of the pretentious speech-bubble faithful. The team burdened with the responsibility, Deadline Games, have crafted a title of mixed success.

Penned by Len Wein, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is the first of two episodic downloads that tie in with Zack Snyder's upcoming movie. The game is split into six chapters acting as a prologue to the events of the movie.

Essentially, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is an old-fashioned brawler. You select either Rorschach or Nite Owl and subsequently beat the crap out of an oncoming slew of stereotype thugs. The game takes you around a prison, docks and sewers. It's all pretty standard fare stuff.

What is most impressive about Watchmen: The End Is Nigh are the fantastic visuals. As a downloadable game, we were instantly wowed by the truly excellent rain effects. In fact, we'd go as far as saying this game has some of the best looking rain we've seen this generation. Puddles gather on the floor, reflecting the urban surroundings and glinting in the light. The character animation is also excellent. Rorschach skulks about the level with his head down and hands in his pockets. The combat genuinely looks brutal too, with a selection of finishers emphasising the dark tones of the Watchmen universe.

Sadly, the combat is somewhat let down by the unresponsive feeling you get from the controls. You learn combos as you progress, which help you to understand the slower-pace of the controls, but at first it feels like there is little response from each button press. The camera is also a little wonky, functioning fine but occasionally not turning the way you'd want it to.

The story is progressed by a series of cutscenes drawn by the original Watchmen artist David Gibbons. These help to move the story along and look rather stylish. The voice acting from the main characters is also excellent throughout, however the enemies repeat the same dialogue far too often.

Watchmen's biggest problem as a video game is in its premise. The brawling is fine but it is not broken up enough by differing objectives. Essentially, you'll find yourself beating up thugs, opening doors and repeating all the way through the 3-hour campaign. The inclusion of two-player c0-op fleshes out the package but an online version is sorely missed.

Which brings us to the price. At anywhere around £6, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh would be a highly recommended product. But with the asking price at £12.99, it all seems a little steep. There's no doubt playing the game will get you in the mood for the movies launch. And if that's something you're willing to pay for, then by all means go for it.