BloodRayne

"It’s Raining Blood… And Meaty Chunks"

Judging by how many games are released involving it, World War Two seems to be one of the more popular settings for a video game. The cause of this probably has something to do with the fact that Nazi's are the ultimate bad guys, nobody likes them and nobody ever objects to their violent demise. Vampires also seem to be pretty popular, although they don't get the video game treatment as often as one might think. One can only assume the minds at Terminal Reality brought up these points during the meeting that spawned the concept of BloodRayne, which involves a hot young vampire chick killing lots and lots of Nazis.

As the story goes, Rayne is actually only half-vampire, a dhampir, created when her vampire father raped her mortal mother. Naturally Rayne isn't too happy about all this though one is left to wonder if she's more pissed off about the rape or the fact that her daddy was never around to give her hugs… Nevertheless, Rayne is actively hunting her father for what we're left to assume is some sort of extravagant vengeance. In the end, it's all largely irrelevant as Rayne is inducted into the Brimstone Society, a sort of supernatural secret police, as Agent BloodRayne. She's then sent off on a series of missions, first going to investigate strange events in Louisiana and then on to fight the Nazis and put an end to their supernatural ambitions. The story ends up being a rather listless foray into the pseudo-historical elements of the Third Reich and severely underdeveloped to boot, as the game only stops to dish out some random plot element every hour or so.

Listless is not a word that could be used to describe the actual gameplay of BloodRayne. In fact, it's probably one of the more energetic and quicker paced action-adventure games I've played in some time. After the introductory Louisiana levels, which have Rayne slogging through the flooded bayou trying to avoid the water (apparently vampires are allergic to water, which makes me assume Rayne is one smelly girl) while beating down enemies at a relatively relaxed pace, things ramp up in a big way. The Brimstone Society drops her into a Nazi base in Argentina with a list of officer's that need to be eliminated. From there the game becomes an absolute bloodbath. The game is designed to be played at breakneck speed, with Rayne dashing from area to area slicing and dicing everything that crosses her path and in the end, the game is little more than an extended spree of homicidal slaughter.

Thankfully Rayne is quite up to the task of cleaving through entire German regiments due to a combination of her agility, fighting prowess and the two massive blades attached to her forearms. Taking advantage of these killing implements is as easy as mindlessly smashing a button and she'll automatically go into fancy acrobatic combos. Of course, being a vampire brings an entirely different set of abilities to the table. Rayne is capable of some really astounding jumps, which can quickly get her out of harm's way when the need calls for it, or quickly get her to an out of the way enemy. As a vampire, her most important trait is the ability to latch onto an enemy and suck his blood, thereby replacing her own health.

She also has several different vision modes which serve different purposes. The first of these is aura vision which casts a dark haze on the environment and illuminates enemies with a glowing aura that shows their health, as well as highlighting objectives even if they're located behind numerous walls. This is definitely the most useful of the vision modes as there is no map with which to navigate. The second is the requisite bullet-time knockoff that slows time. Oddly enough it is almost entirely useless as Rayne is slowed down just as much as her enemies, which defeats the purpose of the ability altogether. Finally, Rayne gains access to a sort of zoom ability which lets her get a close up view of areas and enemies, and there isn't a single instance where it is necessary or even useful.

It's at this point that I'd like to point out that BloodRayne is a spectacularly violent game (though if you've been paying attention you might have guessed this by now). This should really come as no surprise, given that the title of the game is pronounced “Blood Rain”. And at times, you might be fooled into thinking it really is raining blood. As Rayne fights it's not an uncommon occurrence to see the limbs of an enemy be chopped off, heads sliced in two and entire bodies cleaved in twain, all of which leads to spectacular geysers of blood which cover everything in the vicinity.

The game kicks it up another notch when Rayne enters Blood Rage mode. While engaging in melee combat, she'll slowly fill a meter. When activated, a red killing haze descends over the screen and Rayne goes into berserker mode. In this mode she moves faster, inflicts more damage and cleaves limbs from bodies like a human chainsaw. After the Blood Rage ceases, most everything on the screen is likely to be dead.

Though close quarters combat is the most visceral and spectacular way of engaging the enemy, guns are always an option. Rayne is capable of carrying quite an arsenal on her person and she can dual wield most anything she picks up. However, there is no on-screen targeting reticule meaning guns auto-target, so Rayne usually chooses her victims based on proximity. This is occasionally frustrating when gunning for a particular enemy you don't want to get close to, but she keeps aiming at another one.

From the description thus far, you might be thinking that BloodRayne is an extravagantly violent and highly entertaining game. I'll concede to the violence, but the entertainment value falls short. This is due to a variety of factors. While combat is gruesome, it just isn't that much fun to take part in. All the wanton carnage is accomplished by mindlessly smashing a single button and as long as Rayne is near an enemy, they'll get sliced and diced without any hassle. There's also a woeful lack of enemy types, with the basic bland infantry grunts usually taking most of Rayne's punishment. Level design is also a contributing factor because most of them take place in labyrinthine, nondescript German bases. All these things add up to make a game that is quite repetitious and boring to play.

There are also a few other issues to address. The difficulty level is usually very easy, and is a contributing factor to how quickly most players will be able to blaze through the levels. The vast majority of the enemies are very weak, and even when Rayne is taking a beating she can just jump on one, suck him dry and continue fighting. On the few cases difficulty ramps up, it actually becomes a frustrating issue with hordes of enemies mobbing Rayne. Should Rayne die, players will get to witness the sheer dunderheadedness of the design team at Terminal Reality as death means starting a level over from the start as there are no checkpoints. Not to mention that every boss encounter in the game is tacked into a level, so dying during a boss fight means getting to go back through the entire level. Can I get a hurrah for idiocy in game design? Didn't think so…

Visually, BloodRayne continues the theme of blandness. As previously mentioned, the majority of the game is spent in nondescript military bases which are comprised of endless gray corridors and large rooms filled with crates and catwalks. At the very least, I can say that the textures look a lot better than expected. But that's a relatively dim bright spot in the landscape of mediocrity. Rayne's model is not exactly detailed, especially for having to look at her the entire game, although there is some comic relief from an unexpected source. For whatever reason, Terminal Reality saw fit to endow Rayne's lady parts with their own crazy physics. In cut-scenes, her breasts bounce and jiggle so much you'd think they're trying to escape her vinyl halter top.

Thinking that this mold of mediocrity will somehow be broken by the audio design will only lead to disappointment. The music is a sort of pseudo-industrial metal works for a character wearing a vinyl outfit and stiletto heels, but conflicts with the WWII setting. Rayne's voice actor sounds bored and aloof, although it seems fitting for her character. Even so, her one-liners are the epitome of stupidity (“Hush baby, what would the neighbors think?”) and repeated far too often. The rest of the voice talent is merely average, though occasionally funny like when Rayne mounts a soldier to feed and he screams “Get it off me! Get it off!”

THE VERDICT
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there's really only one word to describe BloodRayne – Bland. Everything about it, from the story to the gameplay, from the graphics to the audio is thoroughly unimpressive. While I can certainly get behind the concept, the actual execution is sorely lacking.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/09

Game Release: BloodRayne (US, 10/15/02)