Vampire Rain

"A good game, but could have been a tad bit better"

First off, before I say anything else, I really think that people who have played Splinter Cell then this game have a biased attitude towards it. The whole John Lloyd is a Sam Fisher wannabe but crappier and the gameplay is almost identical thing really just doesn't sit well with me. I mean, it makes sense and I see their point of view, but seriously, this game is unique and really should be reviewed so.

Even if it does borrow heavily from another game doesn't mean you should compare it to the other one (for reviewing sakes, talking about it with your friends is different). Also, to add, I have never really played a Splinter Cell game (I've played some, but never an entire game), so I guess you could consider this an unbiased view of the game.

With that said, let's start the review, shall we?

Story: 7/10.
You are John Lloyd, an AIB agent in a Special Forces team that is dispatched to take care of a vampire (called nightwalkers in this game) outburst in a town. There are nice FMV sequences that help the story along. Seriously, it wasn't that bad of a story. There are a good number of plot twists to keep you interested, and every mission has a cliffhanger so you'll keep playing. Some things don't make sense though, like how some nightcrawlers seem to be lumbering one second, and then they spot you and its like JOMG WTH *dead*. I don't really mind, you just don't have to be seen, which is easier since the rain, which happens throughout the entire game, dampens the vampire's senses. The game's script sucks, with lines such as “HEY, WATCH OUT!”, when you can see the vampire, or it's like two feet away and could hear you in a second if it wasn't a game. Also, every single time someone talks, EVEN when nightwalkers are nearby, it's in a normal voice. THERE IS NO WHISPERING. That just really bugged me, since I'm pretty sure they could hear you in a heartbeat, but, w/e, it's a game for a reason.

Gameplay: 7/10
Okay, this is really where some people just don't get it. They expect a shoot-em-up vampire game and get PO'd when they find out it's more like Splinter Cell then Doom. I really like the whole stealth thing, considering vampires should be able to kill you in a couple hits (btw, you basically die in one hit, first they hit you and you fall to the ground, and then like a second later they hit you while you're getting up). It does suck though, because checkpoints seem to be farther apart then you'd like, but you get the hang of it easily, especially after you've played a couple chapters.

There are nightvision and necrovision goggles. You'll almost never use the former, but you'll always use the latter. It's an incredibly helpful tool that shows where the enemy can and can't see. Another thing that sucks, is that there are basically three weapons in the game, a silenced sniper rifle, a shotgun, and a high-powered sniper rifle (one-hit kills anything). Everything else requires AN ENTIRE CLIP to kill anything. Seriously, if you're spotted, you're dead. I guess that they balanced this out by warning you before you get spotted. Two eyes will appear on the screen and a noise will sound, then the eyes will focus, then the vampire will attack. You have like two to three seconds to get to cover or its bye-bye Lloyd, hello last checkpoint.

Sound/Music: 7/10.
Again, the music sucks. They songs (if you could call them that) are short and on top of that they are few and far between. There is music that plays when you're spotted (a.k.a. dead 99% of the time), but the sound effects are nice and match. Voice acting sucks, and is accompanied by a crappier script. On top of that, mouths don't always match the VA, which really gets under my skin.

Replayability: 4/10
I'm not gonna lie, this game has very low replayability. Even on normal the game is hard, so I don't know why you'd wanna go back on hard (unless you're hardcore). The only reason I can think of is to get A's on all missions (which is really hard, btw).

Graphics: 8/10
Ah, last but certainly not least, the graphics. Now, while this is next gen. I would have liked to see more, but everything worked well and looked nice, and there were no major problems. The only thing that bugged me was that windows/doors that you didn't use looked flat like a previous gen. game. Seriously, this is the 360, let's step it up a bit more. Also, the rain looks incredibly realistic and nice, and your players even appear wet when they enter a vehicle.

All in all, I think this game had a really nice idea, but that idea could have been executed much better. The game isn't the greatest thing to ever hit the 360, but it is a good game, and I felt like my rental wasn't wasted when I beat it.

Buy, rent, or forget?

I'd at least say rent. If you don't like it sue me, this game isn't for everyone, but it is a lot of fun at the same time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/07