"Wow ! In some ways. In other ways..."

Okay, a bit of history, that will better explain the game...

Vampire : The Masquerade is a pen-and-paper-and-dice role playing game. It , like the other roleplaying games, can be played in many different ways according to how each individual imagines another reality.

And since video gamers and roleplayers often mix or are one and the same its always interesting to see how a much loved RPG will make the transition.

Verdict ?

Vampire : The Masquerade Bloodlines is a flawed masterpiece. A wonderful painting upon a wheat sack if you will.

The initial mood created in the game is quite encompassing, especially if you have roleplayed it before. It's kind of like seeing a movie and saying " Now THATS the kind of action film Im talking about ". With the current level of technology its a pretty good attempt at conveying one possible viewpoint of the terrible existence of a newly dead vampire...

The Game.

The opening finds you seduced by a strange one, and made vampire. But something is amiss, and after a macabre vampire society you find yourself surviving, but owing some favours. Thus you are sent into the night to do others bidding. Which will involve finding , bringing, hacking, stealing or killing anything you need to.

Thus the game introduces you to a series of quests. In both the video and the RPG the vampires of the world have formed a pact, a society to remain secret from the mortal world. In the old dark ages the vampires ruled the night but after the inquisition the vampires realised a lot of humans knowing about them was not a good idea.

So your character must while performing your tasks must adhere to these rules. Different game areas change the actions that you can do, limiting abilities like combat or using your vampiric powers. Often your mission will be to stop some other being from breaking these rules.

Playability

And it is the variety of missions that keep this game so playable all the way through. Unlike your standard military-type plotline, the quests are many and indeed varied. One quest you're searching for morphine to ease the pain of a wounded agent. Another you're retrieving a sample of werewolf blood to preserve the secret. The next you're battling a creature that has been following a vampires servant. Sure, as the game reaches a climax and the missions get more ... reinforcements ... the game turns more combat based. Duh. What, you thought we'd all be friends ?

Again, at the level of current tech the game plays quite well. At this point though, some problems must be mentioned. Some are quite big.

There are quite a few graphical issues in this game. Too often the screen will freeze momentarily, but it's in the massive crowd or busy action/fighting scenes. The voice syncing with facial expression isnt spot on - But the facials are indeed quite good. Good enough to give you a feeling as to which way you will go with dealing with the NPC.

But some things are not so slight. One feature of stealth is the ability to execute certain NPCs that you can sneak up on. You sneak simply by crouching and trying to stay in the shadows, and your calculated success is based upon your character's statistics. Fine.

But in one later quest, when many vampires are waiting in ambushes to hunt you, i was able to execute nearly every opponent, when i realised how much my very-little-stealth char was able to even walk directly in front of an opponent because it was a bit dark, make a noise when i bumped into him, and still let me 'sneak' around behind him and brutally rammed a katana through his chest ... while his guard partner stood about 2 metres away and noticed nothing. This really hampers the mood of the game.

For a very long time the best weapon you have is your fists. Even if you have the minimum in abilities your fists remain better as weapons than some guns and melee weapons, mostly due to skill factor levels yada yada. Still, its not really good enough.

You can sell weapons and stolen car radios you find for money. Yet you cant take someones wallet when you feed from them in a dark alley ? C'mon GTA can do it. At least you can buy from illicit dealers both guns and ammo itself. I HATE that in so many games you have to buy the whole gun to get the ammo, it makes no sense.

While Im at it, I HATE legend of zelda games where you have to save the whole world, and the little shopkeeper tells you its up to you and only you to save the world, and still wont sell you the potions coz you dont have the cash. Dude you're gonna die if you don't... AAHH makes no sense, don't we deserve better as gamers ? There, I said it.

And the fifth dot Protean power of the gangrel clan, the war form, looks really cool and does really good damage. Except half of the time my gangrel seems to move at a quarter speed or gets stuck on some object. Die. Reload. Grrr. HALF of the time, literally. I hope it's not my PC :P

Major gripe; when will someone realise a game like this needs a better author ? Sure it will have broader appeal. Games nowadays all end up having the same stereotypical banter as dialogue. This game saw the potential for change with varied mission types but it remained that generally NPCs were good for 3 to 4 interactions before they stopped being involved in the game while still being around. It made trying to make allies or contacts less important.

When will we see games where the player has a choice of 6 or 8 or 20 dialogue options ?

The Mood.

The game really delivers on the mood. My friends had RPG'd the powerful society angle of the game. We decided we liked the cool powers the vamps had, though i always prefered a lower power game. One where you had to slug it out and use your brain to prevail. Some play the game Anne Rice style, with the incredible horror you'd feel at realising what you had become but being unable to end it. Some even dress up and act out the parts theatrically. weird.

On a basic scare factor, there are games out there like say Silent Hill that do it bigger. Not my scene but hey, someone likes it. But at times you really get hooked into a feeling of dread when you search a haunted hotel or the mazelike Tzimisce tunnels ... this is a game to play only with a small light on so you can see the keyboard, maybe a candle. Not the scariest game but quite nice in creating a feeling.

This game really creates a good feeling of being a new small fish in a big pond you never knew about. It lets you through your dialogue options act as either respectful of the ruling elder vampires, rebel against them or be an oh-so-cool loner. Your skills, that you build up through experience, change your options also. You may choose to slyly persuade people to see things your way, cow them into complying or even exert vampiric power over their minds, for a certain clan, at least.

Ah yes, the clans.

Replayability.

Lots. Lots. Lots.

One of the premises of the Vampire game are that there were thirteen 'clans' , Lineages of particular ancient vampires. Each lineage shares the same abilities, powers and curses. A vampire has three powerful vampiric powers according to their clan. Since these are used quite a lot in the game its important to decide what powers you like. Some are purely combat powers, some are more mental or social influencing. Troika, the makers, have done fairly well in changing 'use your imagination' powers from the RPG into set computer-friendly limited powers. Well, let's say they gave it a good try. Take heed RPGers, your favourite clan or discipline may not be so wonderful here. For a gamer who doesn't know the RPG , they will find it all just fine and not have any problem, all the powers are new to them.

But the game has replayability simply because playing as a different clan gives you different dialogue options, even the gender of your character affects what an NPC does with you. One clan, the Malkavians, cursed with insanity, get the same plotlines but with a very very different script. sounds fun, saving that clan for last. The Nosferatu, cursed with hideous ugliness, must play the game from the shadows, back alleys and sewers. The game is set up so it can be done, and the clans power of invisibilty ( sort of ) helps a lot. The Ventrue can influence peoples minds while talking to them , when the option appears. The Gangrel change their bodies into a fierce feral state for battle, the Brujah and Toreador both have incredible bursts of speed and the ability to overcome the minds of others.

In this way the game can be replayed as any number of clans, until you just get sick of it.

Different courses of action can be used to deal with tasks - talking someone around or stealing something sneakily gets you the same rewards as just killing everything allowable. Sometimes a certain method gives bonuses.

And the way you play and dialogue options you choose influence the path you end up at for the finale.

There's so much to do that a slight-above-average gamer like me found that the second time around with a walkthrough was needed to get the most out of the game, so much is hidden. The little experience from the side quests all counts.

And the Werewolf !!

At the end of the day, its a really good game with a few letdowns from the game engine. Its good enough for me to say 8 / 10. It gets this for being a game that captured a mood well, like Half Life or Deus Ex maybe.

Cant wait to see this game remade on the computers of ten years from now :)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/05