Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

"A good mix of action and puzzles, for a bloody good time"

INTRODUCTION
This is the second of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer games, and first for American PS2. The games idea comes from the show that ran for 7 years on network TV. It is about a women who is chosen to be a slayer(someone who can defeat evil forces). She has a few friends that help her with her slaying duties, and a Watcher(mentor) which helps her with the intelligence of it all(tells her what to do to defeat the evil forces. Most of the evil forces of course are vampires, but also Gargoyles,werewolves etc.
STORY
This game is based on a lost episode from the 5th season of the show it includes characters that were on the show at the time and some that were eliminated from earlier years.
The evil worshipper Ethan makes a bet with the First and to the winners go the spoils, more or less.
GRAPHICS 3/10
For the most most part I believe the graphics are average at best. The characters are probably the highlight as the animations and the looks of the characters are pretty good. The weapons look like weapons you would use. The enemies that you face are not done as well but look good also.
The backgrounds,maps,buildings, are first generation PS2 quality at best, more like last generation PS1. The doors,stairs, elevators, city, etc. look so generic compared to what can be designed. The lighting is bad like other PS2 games and with bad design there are also bugs that came with the game.
SOUND 8/10
The characters have voices from the shows actors and the dialog is original for the game. They talk while their lips move and what they say is shown at the bottom of the screen, which is what most people expect in games these days, so that is good. The music is a variety of dark moody music, light enough as to not annoy. So overall good but nothing spectacular.
GAMEPLAY 7/10
The game consists of 2 halves fighting the vampires, and solving the puzzles. Unfortunately if you like one more than the other you don't get that. It is pretty much 50/50.
Fighting with Buffy consists of various kicks and punches to the enemy until the enemy is weak enough to destroy with a stake to the heart. Sometimes you get to fight as the other characters. Four of them fight just like Buffy for the most part. Willow fights using magic like shooting flames and other spells. You only get to fight as the characters when you are suppose to--you can't chose them at the start of a level. You can also use holy water or hellfire when you find them, bad thing is you usually have to fight before you can pick them up as every room almost has evil beings. Sometimes you can pick up an axe or a crossbow, and a few others. Sometimes they can kill the vampires, sometimes you still have to finish with a stake. It never is true to form for sure but every game has its own idea.
The puzzles consist of finding something to make something work in most cases, The bad lighting in the game really makes it easy to pass by something you should do but you end up never seeing it. I spent way too much extra time on finding one piece of a puzzle too many times in the game. All I can really blame it on is the lighting/design issues. I wouldn't say it takes a high Intelligence to play the game, but it just takes some patience sometimes.
Only 1 level of difficulty in the game, but I don't see it as too easy or too hard, it seems like a game of normal difficulty.
REPLAY ABILITY/LENGTH OF GAME
When you beat a level you are assigned a ranking, also there are secrets to be found in each level(just hiding spots with extra items) Also it is more enjoyable when you replay it as then you know how to solve the puzzles so then you can enjoy the action more. It took me about 12 hours to beat the game, but I chose to go through it slowly and find all the secrets,get high rankings. I believe if a person wants to zip through the game, it could be beaten in 5 hours, but that is doubtful because of the difficult to find puzzle pieces.
BUY/RENT
I rented the game, but I wouldn't have been disappointed if I bought it. If you are a fan of the show I would recommend to buy. If not a fan, you may not like it then. If you never saw the show or seen it a few times like me, I would definitely say rent.
CONCLUSION
For the most part it is a good adaption of the TV series, it is more original than a lot of games out there, and that is also a good thing.
Just nothing fantastic to put it up there with the great games of PS2.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/03