Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"Fun With Sticks!"

After spending years in developmental limbo, it seemed like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game was doomed. Doomed, I say! Besides, games based on movies or television shows tend to be truly awful, or at least so vanilla that they pass through your system without leaving a single trace of their existence. But as a huge Buffy fan, I kept my hopes high. If there was a show that lent itself well to video gaming, it was Buffy. C'mon... battling the undead, clever wise-cracks, adorable geeky witches... what more could a gamer ask for?
Anyhow, the game has finally landed on the X-Box, and much to my delight and relief, it's a beauty. It captures many of the elements that make the show so enjoyable, but better yet, it's a truly excellent action game with a lot of unique flavor. The odd concept and high difficulty level make the game a bit hard to recommend to the casual gamer, but more adventurous and discriminating types should grab this game in a hurry.
If you don't watch the show (and if you don't, what the heck is wrong with you?), here's a quick summary of what's going on. You play the role of Buffy Summers, a girl who has been chosen by prophecy to battle vampires, demons, and other miscellaneous forces of evil. As the Slayer, Buffy has enhanced strength and dexterity, and she also seems to have supernatural sass that causes her to taunt her undead foes at every opportunity. She's not alone in her battles, either. She has a Watcher named Giles who is there to guide her, train her, and do unholy amounts of research to try to figure out what those pesky vampires are up to. Buffy's got other pals, too, and fans of the series will be happy to know that Buffy has plenty of library meetings with Giles, Xander, Willow, and Cordelia. Everyone (except for Buffy) is voiced by the actual actor from the show, and the woman who does Buffy sounds almost exactly like Sarah Michelle-Gellar. I was a bit miffed at Sarah's absence, but then again, the prospect of sitting in a sound studio and making grunting noises for hours on end is probably not her cup of tea.
The game's plot is fairly complex, but it can be neatly summarized like so: ''bad vampires are doing bad things, so Buffy goes and kicks them in the face.'' You'll discover the story as you go along, anyhow. And yes, Spike is involved, and thankfully, he's smart-alecky mischievous Spike, my favorite version of him. In the end, though, the plot exists mostly to tie together the wonderful action sequences, and to move Buffy around to different locales.
The combat system in the game is superb, featuring the best aspects of traditional fighting games and old-school beat 'em ups. Buffy can punch and kick, of course, and there are plenty of combinations to discover. Giles will also teach Buffy some fancy special Slayer techniques as the game progresses, such as spinning punches and ground smashes. The fancier attacks drain Buffy's Slayer Power meter, which can be replenished by killing your demonic foes and collecting the yummy energy left behind. Right below the power meter is the health meter, which will be chipped away whenever Buffy is punched, kicked, stabbed, clawed, bitten, poked, or what have you. Some enemies leave behind healing energy when slain, but it's a somewhat rare and unreliable occurence, so Buffy will need to keep some elixirs on hand to regain lost energy.
What makes the combat so much fun (besides the tight controls) is the slaying aspect. You can pummel a vampire for hours, but unless you put a stake in his heart or decapitate him, he'll keep coming back for more. Healthy vampires tend to block your staking attempts pretty vigorously, so you'll need to smack them around for a bit before going for the death poke. When you're being attacked by multiple vampires, it can be very tricky to weaken them both AND deliver a hard staking on one of them before the other vampire jumps you from behind, making for some intense combat. It's also great fun to knock out a vampire on his feet and stake him while he's standing, or to slip in a stake while he's healthy but not on his guard.
Still, Buffy's life isn't all about stakes and vampires. There are plenty of other foes that you'll encounter along the way, and Buffy will arm herself with more complex Slayer hardware, like a crossbow and good ol' holy water. Sniping baddies with the crossbow adds some nice variety to the punchy-kicky stuff, and you can even augment your bolts with holy water or hellfire to give them that extra kick. And did I mention the nifty Reaper Blade, perfect for those much-needed beheadings? Or the Super Soaker-esque gun that Xander gives you, which spits holy water and hellfire at any nearby nasty? Heck, if Buffy ever used half of this stuff on the show, she wouldn't get smacked around so much. Don't forget to search every nook (and, time permitting, every cranny) for magic crystals, which Willow can use to increase your power or life bars. Be warned, though, that each crystal leads to a VERY small boost, so you'll really have to appreciate the sort of gradual growth the crystals provide.
But wait! There's more! Do you enjoy shoving wood into the hearts of fiendish vampires, but you're sick of the traditional stake? Grab a shovel, or a bat, or even a rowing oar and fight with that! Smacking a demon around with a garden rake is truly entertaining stuff. Buffy can even use the environment to her advantage. Many of the environments in the game have some sort of pointy wood object sticking out, and you can grab a vampire and toss them onto it for an instant kill. And if there's a fire nearby, be sure to kick and punch the baddies onto it. It brings quick victory AND nifty pyro effects. The complexity and depth of the combat in this game is extraordinary, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. And I don't normally like games of this kind.
However, there is a catch. This game is HARD. Even on the normal difficulty setting, it can be rough going, and once you get to the point where multiple vampires are routinely ganging up on you, you may begin to swear. A lot. Controller-tossing is also possible. Much frustration stems from the game's save function, of which there is none, in the traditional sense. The game auto-saves at the beginning of every scene, which is fine, except for the fact that if you die 15 minutes into a particular scene, you have to start all over again. No mid-scene saves for you, Buffy! This can be particularly irritating if you accidentally fall into a pit or some water after surviving battles with nasty demonic beings. Hey, time to restore and fight the same demons again! And seriously, how can Buffy drown? She's a strong, capable, and athletic girl, and she can't swim? Or at least paddle to stay afloat? Guys, if you didn't want to design swimming controls for your game, don't make it so that Buffy can fall in the water. It's incredibly goofy to watch a Slayer die because she drowned three inches away from a dock.
In all fairness, the game is more manageable on the easy difficulty setting. In fact, it's a little TOO easy. The game really needs a level between the easy mark and the brutal 'normal' setting. The hugely varying difficulty settings and the save system are the only important flaws in this otherwise terrific title.
The graphics in Buffy the Vampire Slayer are top-notch. Great character models are on full display, especially Buffy herself. The other main characters look pretty much like the actors who play them, except for poor Willow, who looks awful. C'mon, guys... we nerds have so few geek women in the media to fawn over. If you mess up Willow Rosenberg, who do we have left? WHO?!? Curse you devils!
The sound package is also pretty groovy. The music is appropriately creepy, and it speeds up and gets all techno-ish when you're in a particularly dangerous spot. The voice work is superb; not a surprise, of course, considering the fact that professional actors are playing the same parts they've played on television for years. For the record, the game's story is set during the show's third season, which will either seem like a wonderful bit of nostalgia for hardcore Buffy fans, or a rather dated time capsule piece.
Overall, this is a terrific action game with splendid production values, and the polish really shows. Sadly, the game didn't seem to sell very well, despite rave reviews. It amazes me when X-Box fans will talk about stuff like Dead or Alive Volleyball for months on end and drop fifty dollars on it when it comes out, but gems like this just slip through their fingers. I know that tastes do vary, but it's becoming obvious that marketing and 'attitude' have completely superceded quality when it comes to sales. Hey, if you want to ogle digital girls and play a mediocre volleyball simulator, knock yourself out. But every time a great game like this doesn't sell, it teaches companies that there's no reason to put a ton of hard work and quality into a game if it will have little-to-no bearing on the overall profitability of the title.
But I do ramble on, don't I? This game can be found for as cheap as ten bucks if there's a sale going on, so for crying out loud, buy it! Today! It's a steal at any price, and it is currently the crown jewel of my X-Box collection. (Although Panzer Dragoon: Orta is pretty nifty.) As I said, I'm not even an action game fan, and this game rocked my socks.

Bonus Question: I'm a hardcore Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. Is this game worth buying an X-Box for?
Answer: If you're thinking of getting a console anyways and a great Buffy game would push you over the edge? Yes. If this is the only game you'll end up buying for it, and your X-Box will then become a giant paperweight once you've beaten the game three or four times? No. Still, if you're itching to play around in Sunnydale but aren't really a gaming fan overall, shop around. If you're crafty, you could probably score a used X-Box and a copy of this game for very reasonable prices. And hey, the X-Box functions as a DVD player if you have the remote kit, so if you need something to play your Buffy Complete Season DVDs on, why not get an X-Box and the game, too?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/03, Updated 01/25/03