September 12th, 2007

BloodRayne – Video Game Review

Judging by the name of this game you would probably expect to see a lot of blood splattered on walls and a lot of fast-paced action scenes followed by big explosions and big jumps. This game is not really new as it appeared on the market on the 13^th of September 2003, and also in terms of technology, it is an “allegedly” DirectX 8 game but when it comes down to the very thing that it gives to the players – it’s pretty much the same type of action that you would get in the games of today, even if the level of detail is not as high or as good as in the latest game-titles. I have reviewed the game under a system that surpasses with ease the gaming requirements from the game specs – 733MHz CPU, 128 RAM, 64 mb video card with T&L.

When you have incredibly high frame rates it can mean only 2 things – either that the game is not new or that you have a monster of a video card – it was both for me – I used my GeCube Radeon HD2900XT (with 512mb DDR3) with 2GB of system RAM, while my AMD X2 “took care” of the required CPU power, so I “owned” the enemies in the game with no issues whatsoever.

I was very much amused to read the comments of other editors on gaming sites, as they said this is a game where the action gets predictable after a while and tends to become routine. I think we should take a closer look to both good and the bad sides as this is the best way really to evaluate a product, even if it has an entertaining purpose. Due to the presence of adult phrases, the game has been rated M (mature) by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Board).

The Game Story:

The action started in 1932 when an American teenage girl (typical, isn’t it? – I’d love to see some more of the European characters in action) was caught in Europe while she was destroying anything in her way in order to find her biological father and kill him.

Her name was Rayne and she was actually hunting vampires (her father being their big bad boss) according to her own words. She disappeared before more information could be obtained. Rayne is not a vampire, but a Dhampir (her mother was raped by her vampire father). While she has all the powers of a vampire, she does not have the weaknesses such as “allergy” to holy items.

The Brimstone Society is a secret organization that fights against all supernatural threats – they have taken Rayne as a member, and since then she is also known as Agent BloodRayne. She “deals with “things” against which ordinary people wouldn’t stand a chance.Rayne has been working as an expert killer for Brimstone and there were 2 missions, with 5 years between them, which turned out to be linked by the same man, a Nazi general named Wulf. Oh yeah, he gets a lot of kicking in the end, but we’ll get to that part soon.

The Levels:

The game has been set to take through 3 main parts: Brimstone in the Bayou - Morton, Louisiana (where the first act begins), The Skull of Beliar - unrevealed exact location but within Argentina and the last part - Final Showdown - Castle Gaustadt, Germany.

The first act begins in Louisiana with the „Training”, and then you go on jumping in the „Sanctuary”, you slash some more zombies in the “City of the Dead” (very funny – it gives you an idea on what to do if you happen to walk near a cemetery in the middle of the night). Next you’re into the “Ghetto”, and then you shoot some more uglies in the “Town Hall”. “The Hill” is an optional level, accessible only by entering the cheat code BRIMSTONEINTHEBAYOU before you get to it. “The Hill” is basically similar, and not very fun, so I recommend skipping it and not entering the code, unless you want to see it at least once.

“The Beauregard House” – this where the rain starts (and no, not a blood rain, just a common one), and then you hop onto the power-lines to reach the “Colonial Power”, after which you return to the “City of the Dead”. In the mean time you will find out how to break a wall (but only where you see a “typical crack”) and after shooting and slashing more zombies and Maraisreqs (those spidy-looking huge insects) you get to Old Town where you must follow one of those stupid little long-legged bugs in order to reach the “ Queen of the Underworld”.

That’s the time when you have to use the BloodRage skill in order to slash-hack the “Big Momma”. Yes, you can use the guns as well but they will not do much damage. After you kill her, you get to watch a cinematic scene and you get to see the mysterious general Jurgen Wulf.

The next act begins after 5 years, somewhere in Argentina. One of the fun things to do is to take down a Super-Tank on foot. Next, after a lot of tunnels, military bunkers, blood sucking from soldiers to restore health, scissoring the targets set by Brimstone you get to meet the Hedrox (an ancient creature trained into slashing and killing) zombies and the German twins who are not a threat really as they can be taken down easily.

While on the move, the fighting skills get upgraded and you get some new features too, especially from the „Daemites’ Chamber”, where you get one of the artifacts Wulf has been looking for - the eye of Beliar (the big bad demon you get to fight with at the end).

By the time you get to fight against Beliar directly you need to know when and what type of attach to apply with the help of the blades: a) basic blade slash (not much damage); b)jumping kick (useful in fights with standard sized enemies); c)dual-blade scissor (the type of “a lot and fast” damage); d) flip-kick (damage designed more for breaking walls); e) jumping slash (high chance of dismemberment). Make sure you kill the big bad demon fast otherwise you will be the one killed and the “game is over”.

After you kill Beliar, you still have to pay back to Wulf for being nasty to you and because he killed Mynce (your trainer and teacher). You will have to use BloodRage intensively again and finish the game by chopping Wulf’s arms and legs – and then there are another 2 cut-scenes that lead to the next game title from the series - BloodRayne 2, another fast-paced action meant to bring an end to Rayne’s quest to find her father.

The Sound in Game:

The sounds tend to be quite realistic but they get repetitive once there is a long passage way in front of the character. The game-engine can use also the abilities of the Creative EAX system – so if you have a Creative sound card it’s exactly as Terminal Reality wanted you to play the game. The music is very good and stimulating, it contributes a lot to the general atmosphere, especially in the action scenes – and there are some fan websites on the net where you can get the soundtrack in WMA or MP3 format for free. I still listen to it from time to time, such as now when I’m writing about the game.

Digitainment Mark: 9 out of 10 (all games reviewed here by me will receive a mark for the quality of the digital entertainment they offer & produce)

Producer: Terminal Reality

Official site: http://www.bloodrayne.com/

Price: $19