BloodRayne

"The first word in the title is blood, a very fitting title,!!"

The Game:

BloodRayne is a game where you play the role of a vampire who has been adopted by a secret clan to perform missions requiring a lot of violence and death. You have the powers of the night and use the same methods to replenish your energy by sucking the life out of your victims. This game follows the likes of Max Payne in the sense it is very action oriented and the controls are somewhat similar. There is the option of using a rage mode where everything slows down and you cause way more damage.

The Graphics:

The game has some pretty good graphics. You can tear up a enemey from limb and watch the parts fall. There is still room for a little improvement though a some bump mapping and a little more light and shadowing would be nice but as it stands the game looks good. The enemey Nazi's have very real looking uniforms that must have been referenced. The explosions look very good and when you go into blood mode the effests are really good.

The Game Play:

The game runs smooth I have not yet had any signs of locking up. The frame rate is locked no matter what is going on and trust me at times there can be a whole lot going on. Your energy gets depleted when you get hit or if you touch water being a vampire and water don't mix. The way you replenish your energy is by taking it from your enemies jugular. As you slice dice and shoot down your enemies your rage meter fill until you can enable the rage mode. As you slaughter you also can upgrade your slicing skills giving you new moves.

The Sound:

The games music is good nothing spectacular but nothing that will put you to sleep. Where the sound does a real good job is the voicing of the nazi's I wouldn't be suprised if they went to Germany to get the voices they sound very authentic. The weapons sound good with distinctive sounds for each weapon and the blades make very real gushing sounds when your slicing apart the guy. A little heavy metal when your in rage would have been a nifty touch but as it is not bad.

The Controls:

Here is where this game has really stood out to me. The way you move is by the thumbstick you can strafe easily which is important but the jumping has a cool feature you can jump kick one enemey jumping off him to another gaining momentum and power as you progress with the kick. The weapons are my only gripe as you are stuck with the choices of light or heavy and then your alternative weapon plus your blades which makes it a bit cumbersome. You do grow accustomed to it though. I find myself liking my blades alot nothing like tearing an enemey limb to limb.

Replay:

Well like most games of this type there's not a whole lot of incentive to go through the game again. However going through it the first time is a lot of fun and who knows you may want to try it again.

Overall:

Well you have to had it to Majesco they really put together a good game which if they decide could lead to really great series. If they decide to utilize the XBoxs power and do some graphic enhancements add a bit to the games overall value downloadable features and what not I would very much anticipate this games sequel

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/03, Updated 04/11/03