I do not mean to imply that this is the only reason to play Darkwatch, Sammy's forthcoming Gothic western FPS, but it's one of the first things I noticed. I'm a big fan, in my FPSes, of weapons that provoke an "oh hell I am about to explode" reaction in enemies (Cerebral Bore 4 life, yo). That's what Darkwatch's crossbow does. It makes zombies run around madly for a moment, as though attempting to escape their festive, firework-esque fate, before they go up in flames.

Like a couple of other upcoming FPSes, Darkwatch has managed to evade the PS2 curse. It doesn't look like a slightly tweaked 1998 shooter, using muddy textures, underanimated enemies, and hideously dark environments as weapons in the eternal battle to keep the frame rate above thirty; it actually looks good.

Everything is crisp and clear, from the sickly green glow of an oncoming skeleton, clutching razor-sharp sickles in either fist, to the endless black plains sliding by on either side as you engage in a gun battle from horseback with the undead inhabitants of a haunted locomotive. When you chuck a lit stick of dynamite at an enormously fat, puking zombie, it does not merely explode, but collapses in on itself in a far too well-rendered puddle of gore.

Then again, if you have a low tolerance for gore, I don't know why you'd be playing something like this. Darkwatch is unapologetically bloody, and you have the option to make it moreso if you want. As you make your way through the game, you'll encounter a series of choices between good and evil.

For example, in one stage, you'll run into a woman who's been bitten by the undead. You can opt to finish her off, which is the Evil way to go, or bite her and suck out the poison, which is Good.

These moral decisions have an immediate and tangible effect on how you choose to play the game. Cross's powers will mutate according to what kind of vampire he chooses to be, with a new ability making an appearance every time he makes one of these choices.

Cross's powers form the backbone of a fairly typical FPS arsenal. So far, we've seen a revolver (it's really some kind of minishotgun, but who cares?), the aforementioned crossbow, a dynamite launcher, a sniper rifle, and a powerful shotgun. Most weapons come with pointy bits haphazardly welded onto them, so they do double duty as firearms and a cutting implement, for use when you hit people with the melee button.

When you get into a fight, one of the first things you'll probably notice is that enemies are... kinda fragile. A lot of them are the walking dead, but you can knock limbs off them with little difficulty. That's because most enemies in Darkwatch have independent targeting zones, letting you shoot off their limbs or go for the instant kill with a bloody headshot.