BloodRayne

"Drink a little blood . Kick a little butt . Get down tonight !!!"

Hello all and welcome to my review of '' Bloodrayne '' on the X-box . I just finished this game a little less than half an hour ago and thought someone should post an X-box exclusive review on these boards . So I decided , '' Hey , why not me ? '' . Let us begin .

STORY :
Bloodrayne is the story of a girl , half human , half vampire ( all HOT ) , who is inducted into a secret organization called The Brimstone Society '' A top secret organization that hunts down supernatural threats .'' End quote from manual .

A few years after joining the society , She is assigned the task of hunting down a man and finding out what he is doing searching for a lost artifact . During the execution of this assignment , Rayne encounters zombies , Nazi's , demons and other forms of vampires . Her travels take her from the bayous of Louisiana to the mountains of Argentina and the Castles of Germany . Let's just say that although the plot is a little thin sometimes , it plays out in a way that keeps your interest . No Shakespearean tragedy here , but hey , if we wanted Shakespeare , we wouldn't be playing videogames. I will say no more about the story because I don't want to give away anything . So , moving right along .....

Graphics :
Here is where my problems begin . This is supposed to be an X-box game right ? So what the heck happened with the graphics ?!!!!! To be fair , they don't suck ( Get it ? Suck ? Bloodrayne ....Vampire ? Never mind . ) The problem lies in the fact that they are just plain mediocre . The character design and model of Rayne herself are good and in my opinion , for a character that has as much personality and attitude as she does , the graphics should have been better . The enemy models are repetitive and sometimes downright laughable . The background textures and environments are bland and muddy and do absolutely nothing to take advantage of the X-box hardware . I know that this game was not designed just for the X-box alone , but c'mon , they could've at least made an attempt to make it better than the other systems . Again in the spirit of fairness , when you use some of Rayne's special hand combat abilities , the animations for her are at times very well done . I found myself using the slow motion mode just to watch her flip and kick and all that good stuff. Also , there is a bit of a problem with the collision detection at times and don't be surprised if you find yourself killing enemies just to see them float above the ground or fall halfway through walls . The one graphical treat were the CG cut scenes in the game . All I will say about them is , very nice .

Gameplay :
Here's where things get interesting . The controls are not the tightest I have ever experienced but I will say that after completing the training level they became easier to use . The options menu allows you to choose from six preset control styles and I am sure everyone can find a setup that is to their liking . I did and I am a stickler for good controls . The game will test your skills as you run , gun and slice your way to complete levels and objectives . Rayne earns abilities as she progresses through the game and they make the fighting and overall gameplay a lot of fun at times . You will be able to walk tightropes , use a chain harpoon to snare enemies and bring them to you a la Scorpion from Mortal Kombat ( C'MERE !!!!! ) Other earned abilities are slow motion , a sniper mode for the camera and an aura sense that allows you to see enemy auras to determine their locations . Before I get ahead of myself , let me point out that from the outset of the game , you can drink blood from your enemies to replenish your health and can even shoot at the same time if you have a gun weapon armed . Rayne also begins the game with Blood Rage attacks , which when activated , do more damage than her regular attacks . There is also an auto aim feature for Rayne that is really well executed when she targets more than one enemy at a time . Cool looking stuff .

Sound :
Stock sound effects . No other way to put it . The special sound effects in this game are nothing to flip over and do an adequate job of creating the necessary
atmosphere . The additional music in the game is done by the world famous Tommy Tallarico ( Hey does anybody remember Skeleton Warriors ? ) and he does a good enough job . The quality of the audio as far as home enjoyment is concerned is good . The sound is crisp and clear , nothing else .

If you are getting the impression that I hated this game....Wrong !!!!! I played it through and enjoyed every minute of it . The main character is easy on the eyes and a lot of fun to control . The gameplay , although unoriginal is a lot of fun . I just wish that Terminal Reality had put more effort into this game . A couple of more months in development and it could have gone from okay to excellent . Maybe they weren't able to do more with it because they needed to get it out to the public. Everyone knows that when it comes down to it the corporate bottom line dictates everything . Let me add that I am being very hard on the graphics in this game because as an artist myself , It is one of the things I look for along with good gameplay and a good story . I end this review with the sincere hope that I get to play another Bloodrayne adventure in the future . This one was good ....but I know it could be better . Peace all .

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/02, Updated 10/28/02