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BloodRayne
Score: 8.4 / 10
The last half-vampire game I played was
Blade II and in more ways than one BloodRayne (BR) hits the jugular far
better than Blade II. But first…
It’s the time between WWI and WWII and a group called the Brimstone
Society recruits a shapely half-vampire known as Agent BloodRayne to
help protect humanity from supernatural threats. In short order (after
level 1), she’s sent to investigate gaming’s standby villains, the
Nazis, who are searching out occult artifacts. It’s Agent BloodRayne
against the Nazi horde…
The one-woman army approach is used to good effect here, considering how
powerful Rayne is (and becomes). Swarmed by a group of five Nazis? Not a
problem. Soon they’ll be trying to figure out where their arms and legs
are. (If the
phrase, “It slices! It dices!” runs through
your mind, rest assured you’re not the only one.)
Rayne has a good assortment of moves, both ranged and melee. The
emphasis is definitely one close combat – not a stretch considering the
blades on her wrists and her particular dietary requirements. Although
there is an extensive roster of guns – from the Panzershrek Rocket
Launcher to the 22G33
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Assault Rifle (all fictional) – they’re
mostly fire and forget. Basically, don’t worry about ammo conservation.
Spraying a room with machine gun fire has its uses (and is occasionally
necessary) but once you run out of ammo it’s a simple matter of offing
another baddie (or breaking open a crate or gun cabinet) to acquire
another set of guns. No, as I said, Rayne works best up close and
personal.
Being a half-vampire has its perks and some of them include being able
to jump incredibly high, run along telephone wires, and view the world
four different ways. Even if you never use a gun, you’ll be able to get
through quite a chunk of BR thanks to those worldviews.
The first is normal view, the other three are Extruded (like a sniper
mode), Dilated Perception, and Aura Sense. I found myself slipping into
Dilated Perception partly because it looks cool but mostly because it’s
arguably the most useful. Those familiar with Max Payne’s bullet-time
feature will be right at home, but Rayne has the advantage of being able
to enter this mode whenever and for however long she wants. Aura Sense
helps Rayne get a bearing on level exits and boss locations, plus enemy
health – if they’re red, get ready to suck and replenish your own
health. Then there is the devastating Blood Rage, an attack that becomes
available when Rayne’s rage meter is maxed out and activated. (Single
Rage Attacks can be executed if the meter is high enough.) Not only does
everything slow down as with Dilated Perception, Rayne moves faster and
puts her blades into acrobatic overdrive. All but the most powerful
enemies are reduced to giblets.
Managing all this action is quite easy with the left stick moving Rayne
forward and back, strafing left and right, while the right stick
controls the right/left movement and up/down look. The left trigger
activates Rayne’s melee attacks and the left trigger gets the guns
going. All the other buttons are mapped out well. On top of that, it’s
the control is responsive!
In the presentation department – Yowza! It’s the small touches here that
bring BR up a notch or two. Practically everything can be destroyed or
marked up. This is no more evident than a confrontation between Rayne
and a Nazi “priest” in a battle reminiscent of The Matrix’s lobby scene.
There are other points of interest, especially the character skins and
models – most notably Rayne’s “uniform” that looks like something stolen
from Frank N. Furter’s wardrobe. (There are quite a few movie and game
references including Raiders of the Lost Ark and No One Lives Forever
with an off-color joke about a cross-eyed bull.) With all the
slow-motion features you get ample opportunity to get a good look at
everything. The animation is also good. Not quite as impressive is the
audio but even that manages to shine on occasion. At its worse, BR’s
sound is unbalanced or spotty – music too loud while voices are soft (on
defaults), gunshots that are repeated with no discernable source – but
at its best, you get disembodied voices that taunt Rayne or Rayne’s soft
pleasurable moans as she mounts some hapless mutated Nazi goon.
Enemy intelligence still relies on swarming, rushing at you with guns
blazing. But to be fair, often they’ll pull the alarm first to call for
back-up or run away if they’re really getting hammered. There are other
enemies that stay at a distance firing away. This can create some
interesting maneuvers as Rayne takes on nearby enemies while evading
hostile fire. (The ability to use your victims as shields while feeding
is a great asset.) However, this can also lead to enemies killing each
other (including higher ranking officers) before Rayne gets the chance.
So why, with all this, does BloodRayne fall somewhat short?
For one, there is only one way to crash though a door: by jumping and
performing a corkscrew move. In one case this fact led to much
frustration. Most doors will open upon walking into them, some are
locked, one-way doors, or activated by a switch. It’s the doors that
don’t fall into these categories that need to be kicked in. Slashing it
with Rayne’s blades – even during a full-on rage attack – might leave a
scratch. Unloading her entire arsenal, including a couple of grenades,
won’t budge the door. But give it a flying kick and it shatters like
glass! It’s inconsistencies like this that drive me crazy. (Not just
with BR but with games in general.)
BR takes a few cues from Max Payne and unfortunately, one of these is
game length. Even starting from the beginning of the last area you saved
in doesn’t add much to play time (minus any aimless backtracking). And
most of the game takes place in one location, which can start to feel a
little “samey” – even though I like the chance to tackle challenges in
the order I wanted. But also like Max Payne, BR is fun while it lasts
and it has enough style to make it worth revisiting.
I don’t know the life expectancy of half-vampires, but it’s almost a
given that we’ll see a sequel (or prequel). And that’s a good thing.
BloodRayne may have its faults but that doesn’t make it any less
enjoyable.
