• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 17, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 17.

• Is it any good?

  3.0

• Common Sense says

  Violent but philosophical brawler inspired by the film.

Why We Rated This

The good stuff

• Ease of play:

  It’s a basic button-mashing brawler with in-game instructions. Shouldn’t take long for most players to figure out.

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  This game is about fighting crime and dispensing justice, though not of the court-sanctioned variety. Players go up against aggressive and obviously villainous enemies, but often against the wishes of the police and with no option to show their foes pity.
• Role models:

  Our playable superheroes express different philosophies throughout the game (Rorschach is pessimistic and has a very negative view of the world, while Nite Owl is more buoyant, confident that the world’s problems can be tackled and solved through hard work and diligence), but both are clearly good guys out to fight crime and save innocent lives. That said, they use extraordinarily violent means to dispatch foes.
• Violence:

  The majority of play is composed of extremely physical and bloody hand-to-hand combat. Blood goes flying in red gushes with most punches and kicks, teeth can be seen flying out of enemies’ mouths, and the sound of cracking bones accompany some of the more vicious strikes. Players can also wield weapons, such as clubs and bottles, and there are a wide variety of particularly brutal finishing moves, such as one in which Rorschach uses a crowbar to repeatedly hit an opponent in the face as he collapses.
• Sex:

  One chapter takes place in a strip club with women dancing in cages, on stages, and in peep show booths. There are also a pair of rooms screening a pornography film showing a woman in a bra moaning and looking down at her off-screen partner. One of the characters, a blue-skinned man named Dr. Manhattan, appears nude, but not in a sexual way (his character in the novel and film doesn’t wear clothes, believing he has moved beyond them).
• Language:

  A broad spectrum of profanity is present and frequent in the game’s voiced dialogue. Examples include "f-ck," "sh-t," and "p-ssy."
• Consumerism:

  This game features characters found in both the Watchmen comic book and film. It will be viewed by some as nothing more than merchandising meant to take advantage of the recent publicity generated by the film’s release. The PlayStation 3 version comes bundled with the film.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Not an issue.

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Watchmen: The End Is Nigh was written by Chad Sapieha

Families Can Talk About

More on Watchmen: The End Is Nigh