Blood II: The Chosen - The Nightmare Levels

"What a bloody mess!"

As one of those sadistic few fans that really enjoys the Blood series, I couldn't wait to see what new mayhem would be served up in this official add-on to Blood II - The Chosen. Having played all the way through Blood II and being left with a cliff-hanger ending, I was eager to find out what happened to our undead anti-heroes next. What I discovered was truly frightening.

Picking up where Blood II left off, The Nightmare Levels find the Chosen wandering about in an alternate dimension trying to find a way home. One night while camping out, they decide to recount their most horrific tales. As each one speaks, they are whisked away to reinact that nightmare. Caleb ends up with the most problems as after he faces his own memories; he jumps around and sees everyone else's before facing the demon responsible for their suffering. Some of the stories for the individual Chosen are hilarious, in fact, I couldn't stop laughing, but its still leaves you wondering what's gonna happen to Caleb and Gang. Hopefully we'll see Blood III before we see another add-on.

Same graphics as Blood II, new locales. No new special effects or anything, plus the glitches found in Blood II are also in the add-on. Still, there are a lot of bright, vibrant colors and textures that are lacking in most of the FPSs. I still think they should have at least attempted to boost the graphics a tad, something to make up for the glitches.

I don't know why, but I love the stupid little one-liners and haunting mechanical music of Blood II. The add-on only offers more of the same, but since I liked it the first time around, this isn't a bad thing. The music really adds to the atmosphere of the game, chilling you as you walk down dark hallways with five shots left in your handgun and you know there's at least six baddies in the room ahead. The sound effects are also pretty good, but if I have to hear a Cabelco guard say "we won't hurt you" one more time I'm gonna bitch-slap my speakers.

Surprise, surprise, the controls are exactly the same. For those of you that don't know what the controls are like, it doesn't matter. This is an add-on; you can't play it without the original game anyway! And if you're reading this and don't own Blood II, what the hell are you doing?!? Anyway, the controls have a few problems with timing, but for the most part they're pretty good. I usually play FPSs with a keyboard, mouse and game pad, and I had little trouble adapting my tactics to Blood II - The Nightmare Levels.

Now we come to the design aspect of this game and I finally get to rant. I just have one question for the designers of this add-on; WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!? As far as a single player game goes, The Nightmare Levels sucks the wind from my bum. You have six levels to play through. That's it. This is all you get for your money. Bite me. Granted, you get a new multi-player mode where you play soccer with a decapitated head and you slew of new multi-player maps, but come on! Why only six levels? Why even bother with the story if it ends after a half and hour of play?

No bonuses found here. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that. Blood II - The Nightmare Levels comes with the latest patch for Blood II. Of course, once you beat the single player game, you can always use the CD as a drink coaster while you play through Blood II again. Hey, I figure this add-on better be useful for something.

The only possible way I would recommend this game to anyone is if they are a huge, and I mean huge, fan of Blood. Since you don't get a whole lot for your money, you'd have to be a die-hard fan to appreciate it. Though it offers something new, casual fans won't be able to get past the fact that they actually wasted green on this add-on.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 07/05/02