Overall: 4/5
Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead? or the living or the undead for that matter? Her name is Rayne and she is the star of Terminal Reality’s gory and sexy game Bloodrayne. One look at the cover of the game and I was immediately transfixed. Who was this gorgeous vampire? Was she good or evil? I had to know. What I found was a game that is kind of simplistic but a wild ride. Come with me on a journey into the seductively dark game that is Bloodrayne...
The game opens with a short CG intro that introduces you to Rayne, the half-vampire seductress star of the game. After watching the intro, you can jump directly into the action or take a short tutorial that explains the basics of the game movement, combat, etc. I liked the fact that the tutorial was presented as part of the storyline and not just a “press this to do this” format.
Controlling Rayne is fairly easy. You can both move and look independently or go with a standard over-the-shoulder control system where you automatically look where you turn. There are various controller setups using both views that add some nice variety to the game.
Your game starts in the swamps of Louisiana with a mysterious illness that has befallen a small village. After you successfully finish your swamp adventure, the game fast forwards a few years to World War II and you get to take on what seems like the entire Nazi army and let’s face it, killing Nazis is a lot more fun that killing swamp mutants any day Smile Your ultimate goal is to stop the Nazis from collecting occult relics and ruling the world. Fortunately, you are more than up to the task with twin silver blades on your arms (Rayne’s primary source of death dealing) and you are able to pick up and use any weapons your enemies drop. Because she is half-vampire, Rayne has the strength to wield a weapon in each hand, which comes in handy when you have to clear an entire room of opposition. In addition, Rayne will automatically target her closest enemies, making for very quick kills. You do not need to worry with reloading guns because Rayne will automatically discard a gun when it is empty, allowing you to pick up another. While killing things with guns is definitely faster, you want to use your blades as well, because using your blades will fill up your Bloodlust meter, which when activated, slows down time and gives you access to much more devastating attacks. Also, the farther you progress in the game, you acquire more powerful regular and Bloodlust attacks. In addition, Rayne is equipped with a chain that you can throw out to do low damage, or pull enemies to you so you can either take them out with your blades or feed on them.
Ahhh, feeding...both the best and worst feature of the game. On the one hand, it does take the place of finding health-replenishing items in the game (there are none) and you can feed on everything except nonhumanoid enemies for a quick health boost. Also you are able to shoot and use your enemies as human (or unhuman) shields while you feed. Besides that, it just sounds...erotic. Terminal Reality went to great lengths to emphasize Rayne’s sexuality, mostly through gratuitous jiggle shots (I had to laugh at some of them, they were so obvious) and the sounds she makes when she feeds. It’s really sounds like she...enjoys...feeding on things and if you’re like me, you’ll find yourself feeding on almost everything you can, whether you need it or not. Suffice to say, every person you drain will...err...shall we say, stiffen your resolve to finish the game. The only drawback to this is that it almost makes the game too easy. Yes, the game does try to compensate by throwing insane amounts of enemies at you, but when you can feed on almost all of them and get health back, it seems almost unfair.
In addition to your various combat abilities, Rayne also has other skills that will help you defeat the Germans. You start out with Aura Sight, which will show your immediate objective with a glowing blue dot, as well as highlights enemies in a red haze, which comes in very handy in low-light environments. Through the course of the game, you acquire Dilated Perception, which slows down time, kind of like Matrix bullet-time, and Extruded Vision, which enables you to zoom in on distant targets (great for sniping enemies).
One thing I would like to say is that this game is not, Not, NOT for minors. The game has a VERY high gore content and is extremely bloody. Combine that with the erotic nature of Rayne’s feeding and you have a game that is for adults only.
I guess to sum it all up, Terminal Reality has taken the time-worn idea of a half-vampire hero, added some nice innovations and combined them with solid gameplay to make a fairly good, if somewhat easy action game.
