Sometimes it only takes one
game to bring a company to the forefront. What Grand Theft Auto 3 did for Rockstar Games
last year is just one of many examples. Majesco has been around since 1986, but this year
everyone will know their name, due in large part to one very exciting title. BloodRayne is
being sold as a "supernatural action/horror" game, but that barely sums it up.
BloodRayne is a perfect evolution of the action genre, and its fast-paced, blood
pumping action combines the best elements of what modern games have to offer. Developed by
Terminal Reality, makers of Fly!, 4x4 Evo, and Nocturne, BloodRayne is a third-person
action/adventure title that combines some of the hottest current trends in gaming in a
satisfying narrative structure. Last year Max Payne brought "bullet time" to our
attention, and this year at E3 there were loads of games, ranging from Dead to Rights to
the new Bruce Lee title, using the effect. BloodRayne also makes use of bullet time, but
does not rest on that single, albeit very cool, trick to make the game interesting. Bullet
time is combined with several modes of vision, ranged weapon and melee combat, and a
healthy dose of hit combos to round everything out. And the icing on the cake is that all
of these effects serve the storyline, which not only makes them seem natural but creates a
much more compelling gameplay experience.
Now
that weve thoroughly jumped ahead of ourselves, lets back up and take it from
the top. Agent BloodRayne is a half-human, half-vampire special operative working for a
secret syndicate between the World Wars. She is sent on a mission to discover (and
presumably stop) the cause of mutated humans and swamp creatures in the bayous of
Louisiana, and quickly discovers that these arent your typical backwoods, geetchee
style monsters. These are products of an experiment headed by Jurgen Wulf, who is trying
to secure powerful occult relics that will give the fledgling Nazi party ultimate power
and lead them to their goal of ruling the world. In her travels to defeat the evil plot,
BloodRayne will visit a German U-Boat installation, a mysterious temple in Argentina, and
a vampire-packed castle in Germany. Needless to say, there will be plenty of opportunities
to use every trick, technique, and weapon in your arsenal. Luckily, there are a lot of
them.
BloodRayne
packs eight weapons at any given time. Many of these are guns: machine guns, submachine
guns, rifles, and pistols. She can also pick up grenades and take control of stationary
(and way powerful) guns she finds laying around the levels. In addition to all of these
weapons, she always carries a set of blades that attach to her wrists. These blades are
upgradeable during the game, and they are a lot of fun to play with. Using the blades
increases your rage meter, and, when combined with hefty doses of human blood, allow
BloodRayne to go into a bloodrage and thats when you realize that even Agent
BloodRaynes stilletto heels are edged. BloodRayne has a half dozen ways to cut you
up before you hit the ground.
As
mentioned, BloodRayne is half-vampire, so, naturally, she sucks blood to gain life.
BloodRayne can latch onto a Nazis neck, suck his blood, and simultaneously use him
as a human shield. If thats not ruthless, what is? Nazis scream in terror as she
approaches, and when she goes into bloodrage the screen becomes a ruddy nightmare of
action.
As if
BloodRayne needed any more assistance, she has three different vision modes to assist her.
She can slow down time in order to dodge bullets. This works very similarly to bullet time
in Max Payne and provides a similar satisfaction. BloodRayne can literally juke in and
amongst shots from a Nazi machine gun until shes close enough to latch onto the bad
guys neck and go to town. She also has an aura vision, which allows her to see which
of the baddies are the juiciest. This helps when making the crucial decision of going in
for the bloodsuck or just slicing an enemy up. The last vision mode is a retinal zoom,
which is handled very stylishly in the game. Because of her vampiric powers, BloodRayne
needs no binoculars or scope to zoom in and when she zooms her eyes you can see the
reflection of her retina.
Controls
on all of the systems were very solid. They all follow a similar scheme, using joysticks
to handle movement and camera, direction pad to toggle different viewing modes, and
shoulder buttons to cycle weapons and pull off attacks. BloodRayne has superhuman strength
and agility, so you can jump to places that seem much too high. This aspect of the
movement really takes a little getting used to because it opens up a whole new world of
techniques and possibility for taking out the bad guys. Level design, from the portion I
played at E3, is excellent. I found a couple of ways to reach goals without ever feeling
like I was just aimlessly roaming. The environments are very interactive if a guard
turns on the alarm you can turn it off; if you slice up a bed, feathers come flying out.
BloodRayne
is the kind of game that easily becomes more than a simple action-adventure title. The
stylish 1930s setting and vampiric antihero are pretty much guarantees that there will be
devout BloodRayne fanatics just based on the concept. Couple that incredible concept with
rock solid gameplay, great graphics, and a beefy narrative aspect, and youve got
yourself a hit. BloodRayne will make other third-person action titles look incomplete.
In all, BloodRayne looks to be a standout hit this fall. It will hit PC, Xbox, PS2, and
Gamecube on or around Halloween 2002. Keep a bloodshot eye open for it and watch your
back.