Blade II

"Rushed, but alright for a rushed game."

Well, along with many other games, I got Blade II for Christmas. I was excited, because I've always like the movies, regardless of the lack of plot. It was fun for an hour or two, then it got repetitive.

You start out on a training mission. You do extremely basic control training. If you do not rapidly complete it, you're trainer, Whistler, begins yelling at you, often calling you a bastard. The training mission is extremely pointless. You learn what the average person would learn in about 30 seconds of an actual mission.

The missions are exactly alike. Only difference is environment. The games leads you to believe you are not going the same process over and over again by making ''plots.'' You do not need the plots, because on ANY level, all you do is kill vampires.

Graphics - 5/10
Horrible. Blade looks NOTHING like blade, although the tattoos are pretty cool to look at. Enemy vampires pretty much have no face. The only strong point in graphics is there is no lag. Also, graphics are quite awesome in rage mode, which makes everything a shade of red, and also give a motion blur anytime you move.

Controls - 3/10
Well, you use the right analog stick to attack. Which, at first was awesome. The bad part is, in order to perform combos, or even fight well, you must perform attacks SLOWLY. Needless to say, when fighting a gang of vampires, it's not natural to attack slowly, nor is it possible to successfully complete a combo. Horrible.

Music/Sounds - 7/10
Music begins playing occasionally, instead of constantly playing. Most people dislike that. However, some of the music is very energetic, making you get hyped up and kill a bit faster. Sounds are fairly excellent.

Weapons - 3/10
You start with a pistol, and gradually gain worse weapons. You really don't even need the pistol, as the vampire lack the ability to fight you. You are only aloud to pack a certain amount of ammo or weapons, and it's very little. It should have had an economic system to where you could have as much ammo as you wanted, but you would have to purchase it.

Rent or buy?
Rent. Or better yet, neither. This is one of the games that is just not worth playing. If you do want to give it a shot though, rent it. But you will most likely regret it.

Final thoughts -
Without the repetitiveness, horrible graphics, bossy trainer, horrible controls, and the rushed feeling- this game would be alright. But, it has all of the above, so it's horrible.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/02/03, Updated 02/02/03