Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

"Best of all games of it's style"

What can one say about Buffy the Vampire slayer: Chaos Bleeds? In truth it is an excellent game. Especially, if you're a fan of the show, I highly recommend it.

First off, the playable characters in the game are Buffy, Willow, Faith, Xander, Spike, and Sid the Dummy. When you play as each of them (and you WILL play as each of them at one point or another in the storyline), you begin to understand each characters' unique fighting styles. Once again, if you're a fan of the show, an extra bonus awaits as you begin to understand the true nature of the characters. Questions like: ''Why does Willow usually run from a fight'' and ''Why does Xander usually get beat up?'' are answered through this game. There are over 150 combos in this game to give an array of exciting and visually stunning combat sequences.

The dialogue in the game is excellent and true to the Buffyverse. It is comedic in most cases, which is never a bad thing. Actors and actresses Amber Benson, Anthony Stewart Head, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Eliza Dushku, Robin Sachs, and Tom Wyner take on their roles from the show in this game. The voice over for Buffy is well done, and it sounds almost exactly like Sarah Michelle Gellar. Willow's voice over ironically sounds like the Alyson Hannigan's silly voice from the American Pie series (Note that Alyson Hannigan uses different voices for her characters Willow and Michelle in the American Pie series)

Weapons in the game range from a mighty battle axe to the almost comedic holy water super-soaker. Sometimes, if a vampire gets you really angry, you find a baseball bat in the level, and beat it senseless! An excellent feature that was apparently not present in the first Buffy game is the ''quick stake'' button. You can now dust a vampire with so much ease that it's almost natural.

Graphics are excellent, and the colors are very rich, especially for a game that has been ported to all three systems (all three systems is a good thing!). Level design is amazingly done. It's not one of those games where every room looks so much alike that you get lost often. In fact, it's just the opposite. The levels also stay true to the show and features locations such as Sunnydale High and the Magic Box. It even goes as far into little tiny details such as the appearance of Sunnydale's Hardware Store show in the season three episode ''The Zeppo.''

Sound is also excellent with great fighting music and the voices heard in-game are clear. Sometimes the music gets so suspenseful you almost begin to feel fear...then again some people could become scared without the music!

The most common complaint for the game is the camera. However, if you can get used to the camera, it is not even annoying anymore. I for one, no longer think the camera is all that bad.

Last but definitely not least, are the extras. There are so many interesting and funny extras to unlock such as interviews, voice-over sessions, and even a Chaos Bleeds E-Comic. Multiplayer characters are also unlocked through single player, giving the game an outstanding replay value.

The game itself is a 3rd person action/adventure. I've played quite a few of these types of games and I must say, this is the best (and has the most combos/moves). A must have for any Buffy fan, and a magnificent game for any 3rd person action/adventure game player.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/03