Vampire Rain takes an easy to sell concept and destroyed any sense of fun that could be had with the game.
Just to let everyone know, I am a Vampire fanatic. I have read all the Ann Rice novels, gone through Dracula from cover to cover and have loved the Vampire the Masquerade PC and RPG games. So I was all over this game for months, because good Vampire games are hard to find. Vampire Rain is set in a different reality where Vampires have started to take over the world. Whole towns have been infiltrated by the scourge of the Nightwalkers, so the government starts up teams that are trained to kill vampires. But to be honest, the story is throwaway fluff at best. Never once does it make any sense. We are never really given a reason as to why all the boss vampires are in this city. None of it seems to matter after awhile. This becomes obvious when you end up playing levels over and over again.
While all the trailers show you shooting and killing vampires, you will find out that you only perform those tasks sparingly at best. The game is far more of a stealth game than action. Most levels have you sneaking around rooftops staying out of sight. This would not be an issue except that if you make a game about Vampires, the last thing you expect is to have to sneak around them the entire game. It becomes a bigger issue when you realize that you get no feedback on how well you are doing. No sound meter, just a vision cone that shows you the Vampire line of sight, that is wrong it seems. And the shadows are only there for looks, because if you get into their line of sight, even in the shadows, you will be seen.
The game is a mixed bag when it comes to visuals. Character models have a lot of detail in them, including lots of facial animations. But the black outfits limit any sort of definition of the body structure of your team. Vampires are fairly generic and beyond the bosses, have no real stand out features. The environment is also very repetitive and drab. Some of this is because the game takes place all in one night, but nevertheless, the game is just dark and unimpressive. The lighting makes it near impossible to see your way around sometimes. This effect is good when put to use correctly, but here it is just annoying, because it is used everywhere. Walking down a street and I can barely see the street. Part of the problem is that the game takes place in a somewhat small city, so you end up backtracking through familiar areas time and time again.
Now anyone that has delved themselves into some Vampire lore knows that these creatures should be somewhat tough. I mean they are impervious to everything barring sunlight, UV rays and some silver. But the Vampires in this game are not only difficult, but insanely difficult. If they do spot you, you might as well get your death sequence over with so you can go through the level again. Vampires come at you like a freight train and when the catch up to you, one to two hits and you are dead. Want to take one of these Nightwalkers down – you will have to pump 15-30 rounds into them at times to get them to drop. And since most weapons will have to be reloaded at least once while shooting at one, you normally end up dead. Occasionally, you get a sniper rifle, which will take down a Vampire in one shot, but the weapons disappear at the end of each level, which seems to make no sense.
The sound in the game is fairly good. The main characters seem to do a decent job at times, although they never seem to put too much emotion into their voices. At one point, your commander has to kill someone that he finds close to him. When they are killed, he says that he is sorry and then moves on to the next objective. Not even a whimper or a moment to reflect. The rain and lightening all sound great and help give the game some atmosphere that the visuals end up forgetting about. Weapon shots are all silenced for the most part, with the exception of the shotgun. It has a nice sound, but nothing that stands out.
Multiplayer is present but does not add much value to the game. You have your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, etc. One kind of game that had some potential was the Death or Nightwalkers. It plays out like Deathmatch, except that once you die, you turn into a Vampire. Sounds good until you remember how powerful the Vampires are, so you end up decimating the competition once you become a Vampire. Also, most of the achievements for the game are multiplayer related, so if you are an achievement whore, you will have to get quite familiar with the multiplayer mode of the game.
The game has a lot of promise, but just seems to fall on its face at every chance it gets. The story starts to get all convoluted and you lose focus on it once you have to repeat a level for the 10th time, because the game is unforgiving in its difficulty. There is no in-level save or checkpoint system, so you have to finish a level or be forced to repeat it. Simple animations like climbing seem awkward, and unfinished. Small detail, but it just takes you out of the game. Why do the Vampires kill everyone in the city without prejudice, but let others go for no reason. Why does my knife require ammunition that is found sparsely throughout any level? And when you get to the boss levels, get ready for more disappointment, because they are patterned, so once you learn their pattern of attack, they are quick to be defeated. Bosses should never be far easier than their minions. The worst thing of all is how the comparison of Splinter Cell to this game is used by everyone. That does Splinter Cell a disservice, because that is a good game that does stealth right.
Vampire Rain tries to recreate a stealth action game, while getting neither piece right. If you want to get some good stealth or action, continue your search past this game. All you will get from playing this game is a severe migraine that continues to plague me every time I think of this game. The biggest downfall for this game started with the marketing that made it look like a solid shooter, but in the end, it is a horrible stealth game. Save your money and look elsewhere.