The ingredients are in here, but unfortunately fail to produce that just-one-more-go factor.

User Rating: 7 | Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption PC
After recently finishing this game I find my sentiments summed up more or less by the GS review. Redemption is a great achievement in creating a beautiful and competent game that oozes with atmosphere and personality. Much of the environments remain esthetically pleasing to this day, and the often haunting soundtrack sets the mood perfectly. The development team cannot take credit for inventing the Vampire universe of course, but have done a great job in transforming a lot of the concepts into the game.

Alas, all is not well in the World of Darkness. In spite of a suitably long campaign that spans a good thousand years the gameplay remains frustratingly so-so. Unlike addictive clickfests such as Diablo, too many of Vampire's locales feel like uninspired dragged out trawls through mazelike factories, sewers and castles. The actual combat itself feels lackluster at best, since your party will spread out in chaos and there is little time to juggle the many special abilities they have. I found myself going back to melee weapons most of the time since they offered the least hassles. Moreover, your characters will get stuck in doorways, behind trashcans, in stairwells, behind pillars and any other potential chokepoint.

Combat is the make or break factor of this game, and if you are easily frustrated when your micromanaging skills fail to produce the desired effect you may want to think twice before going in; it's going to get messy...