Easily the best RPG of the year, and makes a large use of the Source engine.
User Rating: 9.1 | Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines PC
WARNING: There are possible spoilers within this review. Read at your own risk. I'm not an RPG fan just to let you know. However, when I stumbled over Bloodlines on a cheap price, I remember looking at some of the screenshots I saw last year. I was glad I didn't pass it up. Without hyping it at all, or wanting it, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines just blew me away. The game starts off with you choosing the 12 different Vampire clans in the LA world. I choose the Tremere Clan, which are the creators of Blood Magic. The setting is in modern Los Angeles, but the city seems much smaller, and the atmosphere is outstanding. People act as though is they're real, and their emotions are simply outstanding, and very easy to read on their faces. Immersion and style is very high in Bloodlines, and you'll think you played for only 15 minutes when 4 hours have gone by. It's that immersive. You have multiple quests to do throughout Bloodlines, which encourages replay value. Some range from blowing up warehouses, slashing paintings, retrieving a ghost's personal locket, and so on. There's so much to do in Bloodlines, that you'll believe it's a second life! The game takes a heavy advantage of the Source engine. Real-time shadows are great, but the lengths aren't correct. Level spans range from small to large, and loading times aren't that long. However, there are some FPS bugs, which cause the game to lag. But, because they're very minor, I don't mind them at all. The game isn't that difficult, but when enemies are in large numbers, and you only have a knife to deal with them, things can get complicated. So, that's the time you engage Blood Buff, and watch the bodies start flying! The combat is so fast and smooth, that it looks like a rip-off from the Matrix. That's only during Blood Buff however. The combat system is *somewhat* clunky, but it's not as bad as Morrowind's. You can fully control your character (What I would want in ALL RPGs), and perform all the tricks you want. However, there is some slight lag when you click the left mouse button to attack, but it's barely noticeable. Sound is WOW material. Voice acting is superb, and emotions can be expressed through their very voice! The voice acting is THAT good. Music in The Asylum is outstanding dance music, which got my feet tapping. When your in the Ocean House Hotel, the wife ghost's voice is spine-chilling, like saying "He's near", in a horror movie-style voice. In the Ocean House Hotel, it shows off the audio part of the Source engine, and it's put to great use. So, basically, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines is a must-buy action RPG for any Vampire lover who has a mid-range PC. I encountered very few glitches, including the FPS lag. Bloodlines was run on: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 768 DDR RAM ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB 
