BloodRayne 2

"Much better than the original but still not perfect"

BloodRayne 2 is an Action\Shooter developed by Terminal Reality and released by Majesco Games. Many said that the reason for the first game's success was the new sexy heroine it introduced to gamers. I've personally enjoyed the first game although I agree with this opinion. I've also found many disadvantages in BloodRayne that I hoped would be wiped out in the sequel. Let's see if that is what happened here.

Story: 4/10
Presentation: 4/10

70 years after the events of the first game, Rayne, the Dhampir, (half vampire), has been given a mission from the secret organization she's part of. A group of Dhampirs, which are actually Rayne's half-siblings, are preparing something big and you must find out what's that. Until you get the big picture the plot of BloodRayne 2 is quite good and it'll make you want to keep on playing until you've found out what's the deal. After that, the story in my opinion is a bit typical and just serves as an excuse for all the killing you'll have to do. Some interesting characters that look quite promising in the start of the game turn out to be typical comic villains that offer some simple plot twists and info about what's going on. Finally Rayne's character remains the same as before, so don't expect great info about her past, different aspects of her personality or anything that would make you feel more attached to her, she is just a sexy femme fatale that slashes enemies and makes cool, (stupid), action-movie-like comments while doing so.

Graphics: 9.5/10
Design: 9/10

A major improvement in the graphic section that can be seen from the first room of the game. The surrounding environments, although lacking variety, are very detailed. Most areas are filled with many objects, have good lighting quality and have good, although sometimes simple textures. Once again great job in the animation part of the game that luckily is even better than the first game. Rayne has many moves and from simple combat moves and special combos to acrobatics everything looks great. Also Rayne looks more real, sexy and dangerous with better facial expressions, great skins and clothing. Enemies, even simple grunts, are more detailed but still have inferior animation than Rayne's, (apart from the sub-bosses which move like Rayne). Also the game looks wonderful in its own gory way. Enemies are dismembered in a very good way and spurt great amounts of blood that splatter everything. Great special effects, especially when using Rayne's vampire abilities. Other than that, good fire, explosions, clouds, beams etc.

Sound: 7.5/10
Music: 6/10

BloodRayne 2 retains the sound quality of the original. Good sound effects, even better voice acting and in general everything sounds as it's supposed to. The disappointing part is once again the music. Like in the first game the music isn't annoying but is very simple and you can play the whole game without noticing it. In some fights a hard rock theme is heard that fits with the whole atmosphere, but like I've said nothing extraordinary.

Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 5/10

Killing has never been more fun with Rayne's new move list. Each move requires you to train a bit in order to use it and also let you play more strategically since all moves have their own advantages and disadvantages. There can be many combinations with simple moves in order to execute even better ones. Rayne still has those cool blades attached to her arms, which serve as her basic attack. She also has a harpoon that in contrary to the first game it now serves as a way to catch a foe and throw him whenever you want. Doing so can be a little tricky since you'll often throw enemies in places you didn't want to. Many times you'll have to throw enemies inside a machine or into a fire or sharp object to continue. When you do something like that you get Carnage points, which permanently increase your Health and Rage bars. Health once again can be filled by biting enemies, the big difference is that now while feeding on an enemy you have 3 choices: Fill your health bar, fill your guns, or choose from a great list of fatalities that fill your Rage bar. In general Rayne can slash, kick, (knocks down enemies and disarms them), make evasion moves and many more that offer a great fighting experience.

Before explaining Rage I'll tell you about Rayne's artillery. Here you won't use guns thrown away from dead enemies since you only have one pair of guns, that can be once again used without any delay since blades and guns are both attached to your hands. These guns in the start simply shoot bullets but after some missions you get more shooting modes. These guns are quite original due to the fact that they use blood in order to create ammo, so if you feed on an enemy you can insert him the needles these guns have in front of them and draw blood to fill them.

Now what about Rage? Rage is used as energy for Rayne's vampire abilities. Rayne can use Aura vision, which points out where nearby enemies are, where you should go next and reveals secret areas. Dilated vision makes everything slower thus making it easier to dodge bullets and fight more effectively. Finally Blood Rage makes you stronger, slows time a bit and prevents you from falling down while using the Rage bar as your health. Rage fills by hitting enemies or by performing fatalities while feeding on them. After some missions you get more advanced abilities, like a stronger Blood Rage, freeze time, fast movement, enemy conversion and many more.

The major difference in BloodRayne 2 is that now the camera moves independently from the character. You rotate the view around Rayne with the mouse and make her move with the arrow keys. This has many advantages but creates one problem that personally confused me a bit. Many moves require you to concentrate on where Rayne is facing while paying attention the angle of the camera. This is very important when executing some special moves, especially evading techniques.

Not many enemies but those that are here look quite good. Simple humans, vampires, Dhampirs like you, big brutes and many more. All require a different strategy and can be killed either by simple fighting or by using the environment itself. Levels are very linear and although they look good they are nothing more than interactive fighting arenas and like in the first game there isn't much level variety. Rayne can use many acrobatic moves in order to climb fences and poles, hang from metal pipes and many more. The parts where you use acrobat moves are very good but can also be quite frustrating since sometimes enemies shoot at you and sometimes you land where you don't want to.

The game is once again very small but fortunately more challenging, but then again I'm not very good with fighting games and I've completed it in 8 hours. Also after completing the game there's no point in playing it again other than the very good fighting experience BloodRayne 2 offers. After the final battle you unlock some costumes and slideshows and can select a specific level to play, but besides being able to achieve that with the use of a simple cheat code these things don't make the game better and don't add to the replay value at all.

Positives:
-Great graphics with very good animation quality
-Vampire abilities are even better than before
-Great amount of moves to choose from

Negatives:
-Camera movement that makes the execution of some moves a bit difficult
-Some times controls are a bit unresponsive
-Very small with small replay value

Overall: 6.6/10

BloodRayne 2 is a sequel to a fun but average game that sold more copies more for the protagonist's sexiness rather than its gameplay. Here the developers of the game made major improvements and created a Fighting\Shooter which, while being very good still remains far from being a classic. The final cutscene gives hopes for a third game and since Rayne is a face, (and body), that sells I hope that the franchise will be given to a more experienced developer and become a true classic.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/07, Updated 08/21/09

Game Release: BloodRayne 2 (US, 08/02/05)