Night Watch: Nochnoi Dozor (Ночной Дозор)

Lost in translation 7/10

If you read any of the books, this game is for you. If you can understand Russian, get the Russian version from nd.ru, you'll enjoy it even more. Although the game doesn't stand out as a great or even above average rpg, I found it very enjoyable. The voicing is done by actors from the movie, at least in the Russian version. The dialogue is laced with humor and the lines the charecters say while in battle or when they level up can be outright hilarious, at least in the Russian version. In the English version, the voice acting is pretty bad and everyone sounds German. The translation is not horrible, though not great either. For example, in the stats screen, the magical realm is referred to as the "Twilight" which I think is the more correct translation. However, while talking, the characters refer to it as the "Gloom". Gaming magazines gave this game a pretty harsh treatment. In my opinion, they were too harsh. Everyone mentioned how dated this game looks and that it's running on the Silent Storm engine. The reason that this game looks old is because it's been out in Russia for over a year and has gone through one upgrade where balancing issues and play mechanics were addressed. The reviewers also seem to only know about Night Watch the movie. Night Watch the movie is only loosely based on the books and if you never read any of the books, not only will you not really understand the movie, you will not understand the game either. The main problem I have with this game is Starforce. Not only does the game use Startforce, for some reason, so does the downloadble demo. Refer to Boycott Starforce for removal instructions. In a few places, the game offers you alternate solutions and even rewards you for making the right choice. The problem is that there are only a handful of these and in general the game is linear. Also, my GeForce 6600 GT crashed during 2 cutscenes. Overall, I like this game and I'm planning on purchasing Day Watch when it comes out. If you're thinking of getting this game, read the books first!
I would like to take a moment to address my experience with buying games from Russia. I bought Night Watch and Night Watch Special Edition, both on dvd. The shipping took around 1 week, from Moscow to New York. Now here's the biggest surprize, each game was $8 and shipping was $4, for a total of $20! Do you hear that American publishers? You want people to stop pirating games, stop charging $50 for a game that takes half a day to finish. A game which has no replayability value and is mostly an advertisement for the current graphics engine. And let's not forget the bugs. Just because your CEO buys a new car every 6 months and a new yacht every couple of years, you think we have $50 to waste on your garbage every week?