Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

"Visit intresting places, and while your at it, drain the blood of intresting people!"

Woo Hoo!!
After just about 2 years the game is here, and in my humble opinion, it's the best PC RPG I've ever played.

There are a lot of RPG's for the PC, most of which are top down, Diablo look-a-likes, or games that require the reading of a 100+ page manual before you can even attempt to take a stab at the game. This is where VtM:R is great, it's easy to jump right into, and you have complete controll of the camera angle in the game.

I'll start off by saying, I wasn't expecting much out of the graphics, I have a regular nVidia graphic card in my system, but I have a PIII 550, but with some games, the graphic card brings down the game, and forces me to use lower resolutions. Well Nihilistic Software did a great job with the game engine. I am up at 1024x768 and high detail set up and there is barely a hiccup in game. And wow it pays off too, the characters look so life like, and so well animated.

Characters make hand gestures while talking, mouths move and are actually modeled that way rather than differnt skins being used for the mouth to make it appear as if they were moving. But nope, no way, they whent the whole ten yards with this one. Spell efects and weapons are done really well also, hazes of colors fill the screen, real time lighting, all very, very spectacular and just a pleasure to look at...but don't take your time or you could end up being dinner for a rival Vampire clan.

Oh, and I can't forget the backgrounds, the levels, the scenery, it takes a while to get used to traveling around towns, but soon enough you get the hang of it, just as with a real town you will learn your way around by using sights as your guide. And this is no exception, it feels as if you were in a real town back way back when with people walking back and fourth around you.

After defeating a certain foe there is the obvious death animation, well rather than just the falling over and fainting differnt enemies have differnt animations. Now picture this, after defeating a hooded baddie rather than falling over and passing out, will fade away in a cloud of dust while their skeletal remains will fall to the ground.

If you don't enjoy reading tons and tons of text this game is absolutly for you. Everything is spoken, and really well done too. The voice actors are above average in this game, some being better than others but not to the point where it's horrible. Sound effects for the weapons are done greatly also, but don't exactly stand out. Ahh, the music though, it fits absolutly perfectly for the midevil scenery, and I can't wait to hear what it's like when i get to the New York and London levels.

The story for this game so far seems to be incredible. For those that don't know the game is based on the White Wolf pen and paper RPG, Vampire The Masquerade. I have never played the game, but from my understanding it stays fairly true to the game, things like all of the differnt Vampire Clans, are thrown right into mix. Anyways, back to the story, It's just good, twists and turns, you even feel for the main character Christof as he...nope, sorry can't say. And some how, some where, you end up in modern times even though you start off in Midevil Prauge, I really can't wait to get to those new levels/areas.

The gameplay is easy as I said before. I've been turned away by other PC rpg's because the topdown view usually gives me a headache and has been done to death. Not to mention some times the actual game play system is very confusing. This game plays just as easily as Diablo, with a pretty basic point and click system. I also mentioned that you can change the camera angle, this helps you develop a strategy against your opponent, not to mention a much, much better view of the action.

I can't actually comment on the multiplayer side of the game, but from what I gather you can play it some what like a pen and paper RPG. Where one player is the dungeon master, and every one else is character in his world. I truly can't wait to try that out.

Overall, I suggest getting this game if your looking for an easy to get into RPG for the PC. The story is captivating, the graphics are beautifull, and it's just one hell of a game, especially for a person into Vampires.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/00, Updated 06/08/00