Videodrome
NGG Irregular
BloodRayne review. (XBox)
While far from a perfect game, BloodRayne does have some of the coolest, bloodiest melee combat I've seen in a videogame. The game itself can be summed up as a mixture of Blood Omen 2 and Max Payne with WW2 Nazis as the main enemy and including some of the same positives and negatives. The plot is that zee nazis are looking for supernatural artifacts to use as weapons for world conquest and it is Rayne's job to stop them as an agent of The Brimstone Society who's job it is to destroy supernatural threats. Everybody got that? Good!
The Pros: Like May Payne this game has a large arsenal of weapons that Rayne can pick from fallen enemies as well as earning Time Dilation(same as Bullet Time) wich is her vampiric ability to slow down time. Unlike Max Payne however, this is a natural ability for Rayne and has unlimited use. While helpful in gun battles, this can also make for some amazing and bloody slow motion melee combat combos using the blades mounted on Rayne's arms. Also completing combos can add to Rayne's "Rage" meter wich when full allows you to go into Blood Rage mode wich basically enhances her melee attack combos allowing her to dismember a group of enemy soldiers with a fair amount of ease leaving behind a very impressive blood bath. As in Blood Omen 2 agent Rayne can regenerate her health by drinking blood, however in this game it is used as a means to kill rather than after the enemy is already dead. This can be done by pressing X next to enemies causing Rayne to leap onto the poor bastard, latch onto their neck, and drain the life out of them. Another method is Rayne's chain-harpoon that looks like a Hellraiser inspired weapon. It lashes out, hooks into the enemy, and yanks them forward to their doom as Rayne pins them down on the floor and sucks thier blood out.
The Cons: Unfortunatly you can't save anywhere you want to in the game so when you die you back to the beginning of the level. Luckily this game comes with quite a few cheat codes if you get stuck in the game and get sick of redoing the same level(I have done this quite a few times). IMO the game is really fun and shines for killing zee nazis but for some reason it seems tedius when fighting through the underground levels filled with mostly supernatural forces wich is mostly composed of flying leech things. Perhaps its because killing "daemites" instead of soldiers results in not having any guns to pick up.
Overall I'd say this game is addicting for me because of Rayne's impressive slow-motion acrobatics in combat(who would have thought playing in slow-motion could be so fun?) in the mostly Nazi levels(some featuring rogue Revanant?/Vampires) but is kind of ho-hum fighting the Daemites in the underground cave levels. In some cases the cheat codes do come in handy if I'm being overwhelmed. I've decided to use Restore Health quite a bit simply because I don't want to have to start over from the beginning of the level. However I have still been killed a few times from missing a jump and once from a surprise double uppercut from two rogue vampires. Again the game started off mildy interesting killing zombies in Louisiana in the first part but after that I was hooked after earning Time Dilation and battling human opponents.
While far from a perfect game, BloodRayne does have some of the coolest, bloodiest melee combat I've seen in a videogame. The game itself can be summed up as a mixture of Blood Omen 2 and Max Payne with WW2 Nazis as the main enemy and including some of the same positives and negatives. The plot is that zee nazis are looking for supernatural artifacts to use as weapons for world conquest and it is Rayne's job to stop them as an agent of The Brimstone Society who's job it is to destroy supernatural threats. Everybody got that? Good!
The Pros: Like May Payne this game has a large arsenal of weapons that Rayne can pick from fallen enemies as well as earning Time Dilation(same as Bullet Time) wich is her vampiric ability to slow down time. Unlike Max Payne however, this is a natural ability for Rayne and has unlimited use. While helpful in gun battles, this can also make for some amazing and bloody slow motion melee combat combos using the blades mounted on Rayne's arms. Also completing combos can add to Rayne's "Rage" meter wich when full allows you to go into Blood Rage mode wich basically enhances her melee attack combos allowing her to dismember a group of enemy soldiers with a fair amount of ease leaving behind a very impressive blood bath. As in Blood Omen 2 agent Rayne can regenerate her health by drinking blood, however in this game it is used as a means to kill rather than after the enemy is already dead. This can be done by pressing X next to enemies causing Rayne to leap onto the poor bastard, latch onto their neck, and drain the life out of them. Another method is Rayne's chain-harpoon that looks like a Hellraiser inspired weapon. It lashes out, hooks into the enemy, and yanks them forward to their doom as Rayne pins them down on the floor and sucks thier blood out.
The Cons: Unfortunatly you can't save anywhere you want to in the game so when you die you back to the beginning of the level. Luckily this game comes with quite a few cheat codes if you get stuck in the game and get sick of redoing the same level(I have done this quite a few times). IMO the game is really fun and shines for killing zee nazis but for some reason it seems tedius when fighting through the underground levels filled with mostly supernatural forces wich is mostly composed of flying leech things. Perhaps its because killing "daemites" instead of soldiers results in not having any guns to pick up.
Overall I'd say this game is addicting for me because of Rayne's impressive slow-motion acrobatics in combat(who would have thought playing in slow-motion could be so fun?) in the mostly Nazi levels(some featuring rogue Revanant?/Vampires) but is kind of ho-hum fighting the Daemites in the underground cave levels. In some cases the cheat codes do come in handy if I'm being overwhelmed. I've decided to use Restore Health quite a bit simply because I don't want to have to start over from the beginning of the level. However I have still been killed a few times from missing a jump and once from a surprise double uppercut from two rogue vampires. Again the game started off mildy interesting killing zombies in Louisiana in the first part but after that I was hooked after earning Time Dilation and battling human opponents.
