Based on the popular White Wolf role playing (and live action roleplaying) games, Bloodlines is the PC's second foray into the World of Darkness. The previous game Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption was a landmark title at the time, setting new standards in graphics and story telling. Question is, in a time where Mr Freeman weilds his crowbar virtually unopposed, can Bloodlines carry on the tradition Redemption started? The first game to license Half-Life 2's source technology is going to draw obviously comparisions to the "gamer's choice", unfortunately it's bugged....and how. The game straight from the box is a little wasteful with system resources and doesn't run smoothly even on a fairly high end machine, but the one bug that is simply inexcusable is one that will not let you finish the game. You get to a certain point and the games crashes. Ker-plooey. The only way around it is to "cheat" using the console and simply skip to the next area. Thankfully there is a patch now available which fixes this issue, but for a game that was sat completed and waiting for release far before HL2's appearance it's ridiculous. You have to ask, was it play tested at all?!? These issues are a shame, as the game is excellent, these blights keep it from being superb though. It's big far bigger than the original. The graphics are good if not quite outstanding. This game in many ways is a nearly man. Most of it's ideas are good but executed with little flair. You start the game as a newly sired Vamp, belonging to one of Vampire's clans. You can choose a clan, or answer questions in a Morrowind style to have the game pick one for you. These range from the anarchic thugs, the Brujah clan to the sensual and shallow Toreadors. Spend a few points upgrading your character and you're away. You have the option of going through a tutorial first, like much of the game the tutorial has it's good and bad moments. In certain places you have to do things exactly one way or you'll not progress, and sometimes you don't know which way that is! The bulk of the game is played from a 3rd person perspective, this is used for general movement and hand to hand combat. When you use a gun it's switches to a 1st person mode. This mode doesn't play like Half-Life, being a RPG I guess it's a little unfair to expect it to, but seeing what HL2 accomplished with the same engine it is a little disappointing, with most of the guns being high inaccurate, even with your firearms skill maxed. They also do comparitively little damage compared to your melee arsenal, you'll soon find yourself eschewing guns altogether for swords, or even just running up to bad guys and sinking your teeth in. The game also allows you to sneak and perform stealth kills similar to Manhunt although nowhere near as gruesome (so Mommy and Daddy put those placards down, little Tristram isn't going to scarred for life) these work well enough and add a nice little alternative. One of the games strengths is that it allows you to play how you want. Little low on blood? If you're a brutish thug with the charisma of a head injury wait til someone's alone and grab them! On the other hand if your a handsome chap or chapette with a tongue like teflon, hit a bar pull out your best lines and seduce a club goer into donating to your blood drive. Having read this far, if you've checked the score at the bottom, you're going to be confused. Why is it scored so high, when so far there is little to recommend. This is a RPG with elements of other genres in, so I'm going to judge it predominantly on it's RPG aspects, now this my chums is where the real fun starts. Role playing games are just that, a game in which you play a role. This is what RPGs are all about, once you sit down infront of your keyboard you're immersed, completely. Early in the game you have to retreive an object from a haunted mansion and I kind you not it is the creepiest thing I've ever played in my life. Clive Barkers Undying come in, your time is up! When you figure out what to do I'll guarantee you'll be tempted to switch you speakers off and just hare through it as quickly as possible! It really is that unnerving! Secondly what Bloodlines has in abbundance, a storyline that is interesting full of twists and turns with a cast of characters both interesting and varied. From the psychotically sexy Jeanette to the stalwart Nines Rodriguez, everyone you meet, you'll want to listen to every word they say, the voice acting is superb, with a big shout going out to the actress that voice the vampire sisters Jeanette and Therese. This is a superb RPG with mediocre first person shooter and stealth elements bolted on, they are integrated seamlessly though so it never interferes with your gaming experience and it's rarely neccesary to do either if you're not inclined to. What does let it down is the bugs. I would not be able to give the unpatched version more than 10% as who wants a game you can't play half of without buggering about with the console commands? However once patched it's a different story. It comes so close to being the Deus Ex of it's time, so close, but just short! It's frustrating that while it was waiting around on a shelf for Half-Life 2's release (so as not to steal HL2's source thunder) that the developers didn't iron out the bugs.
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