Shellhead
01-26-2005, 07:44 PM
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is an excellent game.
The game is set in the original gothic-punk World of Darkness created by White Wolf Games… specifically modern-day Los Angeles. The game is based on the Half-Life 2 engine, which means good graphics and an FPS perspective. There’s also an optional third person perspective. Either way, the graphics are very good, and the overall look of the setting is impressive, ranging from classy to filthy depending on the exact location. The voice work is high quality, and the background music in various situations was done by some great bands, especially Ministry. Besides providing a great game for World of Darkness fans, this is also very nearly a great cyperpunk rpg, given the style of the game and the amount of hacking.
If you’re unfamiliar with the World of Darkness, that’s not a problem. One of the two character generation methods is a series of questions about hypothetical situations, designed to steer you towards the clan that you will be most comfortable playing, while assigning you skills that match your answers. You can make adjustments to the resulting character stats after the questionnaire and before the game starts. Your character is a new vampire, and various npc’s will give you some information about different aspects of the World of Darkness and the vampiric condition during the game.
The tutorial is outstanding. Jack the Anarch (Smiling Jack for you White Wolf fans) walks you through the basics, and he has an amazing personality... you can't help but like the guy. Early on, the tutorial takes on a real sense of urgency, sucking you into a dramatic situation with bullets flying and enemies all around you. The game forces you to repeat each section of the tutorial until you get it right, but the only tough parts involve sneaking.
Bloodlines is linear in some respects… there are certain tasks that you will need to accomplish to finish the game, but there are multiple outcomes at the finish, depending on choices made earlier in the game. The dialogue is similar, sometimes your choices have a major impact on how a situation plays out, while at other times, no matter what you say, a certain outcome will take place. Still, as certain social skills improve, you will sometimes get special dialogue options that are generally very helpful. The dialogue choices are often witty.
Bloodlines is a nice mixture of combat, problem-solving and sneaking around, although you will not always have choices about which approach is required to complete an objective. While it is sometimes frustrating to get stuck on a mission, so far the game has been fair in that there is always a way to get the job done, even if that way seems really difficult to discover.
The game is rated “Mature”, and with good reason. Combat is a little intense, with lots of spraying blood. There is a plenty of profanity in the game, and at one point, all of my dialogue choices were offensive… which I enjoyed, but some might not. More than that, there are some very adult themes addressed, including rape, incest, STDs, prostitution, and more. Some scenes are extremely creepy, and I found the hotel scene scarier than anything that I’ve seen since The Ring. From what I’ve seen so far (I’m less than halfway through the game), this game was partly inspired by Fight Club, Seven, and The Shining. If you liked those movies and you want to play a vampire, you will probably enjoy Bloodlines immensely.
The game isn’t perfect. Bloodlines has some pretty high system requirements, and immediately after installation, you should download the 1.2 patch from the game website. Even then, there is a memory leak issue that degrades game performance after about two hours of continuous play. The game is not a completely faithful reproduction of the Vampire setting, as considerable liberty was taken with the interpretation of the vampiric disciplines. You will advance in ability at a blinding pace compared to the tabletop rpg. Finally, there are penalties built into the game for unnecessary killing, but the only way to defeat most opponents is with lethal force.
Despite the flaws, I have enjoyed this game immensely. Take a look at the online previews and walk-through, and if you like what you see, give it a try.
The game is set in the original gothic-punk World of Darkness created by White Wolf Games… specifically modern-day Los Angeles. The game is based on the Half-Life 2 engine, which means good graphics and an FPS perspective. There’s also an optional third person perspective. Either way, the graphics are very good, and the overall look of the setting is impressive, ranging from classy to filthy depending on the exact location. The voice work is high quality, and the background music in various situations was done by some great bands, especially Ministry. Besides providing a great game for World of Darkness fans, this is also very nearly a great cyperpunk rpg, given the style of the game and the amount of hacking.
If you’re unfamiliar with the World of Darkness, that’s not a problem. One of the two character generation methods is a series of questions about hypothetical situations, designed to steer you towards the clan that you will be most comfortable playing, while assigning you skills that match your answers. You can make adjustments to the resulting character stats after the questionnaire and before the game starts. Your character is a new vampire, and various npc’s will give you some information about different aspects of the World of Darkness and the vampiric condition during the game.
The tutorial is outstanding. Jack the Anarch (Smiling Jack for you White Wolf fans) walks you through the basics, and he has an amazing personality... you can't help but like the guy. Early on, the tutorial takes on a real sense of urgency, sucking you into a dramatic situation with bullets flying and enemies all around you. The game forces you to repeat each section of the tutorial until you get it right, but the only tough parts involve sneaking.
Bloodlines is linear in some respects… there are certain tasks that you will need to accomplish to finish the game, but there are multiple outcomes at the finish, depending on choices made earlier in the game. The dialogue is similar, sometimes your choices have a major impact on how a situation plays out, while at other times, no matter what you say, a certain outcome will take place. Still, as certain social skills improve, you will sometimes get special dialogue options that are generally very helpful. The dialogue choices are often witty.
Bloodlines is a nice mixture of combat, problem-solving and sneaking around, although you will not always have choices about which approach is required to complete an objective. While it is sometimes frustrating to get stuck on a mission, so far the game has been fair in that there is always a way to get the job done, even if that way seems really difficult to discover.
The game is rated “Mature”, and with good reason. Combat is a little intense, with lots of spraying blood. There is a plenty of profanity in the game, and at one point, all of my dialogue choices were offensive… which I enjoyed, but some might not. More than that, there are some very adult themes addressed, including rape, incest, STDs, prostitution, and more. Some scenes are extremely creepy, and I found the hotel scene scarier than anything that I’ve seen since The Ring. From what I’ve seen so far (I’m less than halfway through the game), this game was partly inspired by Fight Club, Seven, and The Shining. If you liked those movies and you want to play a vampire, you will probably enjoy Bloodlines immensely.
The game isn’t perfect. Bloodlines has some pretty high system requirements, and immediately after installation, you should download the 1.2 patch from the game website. Even then, there is a memory leak issue that degrades game performance after about two hours of continuous play. The game is not a completely faithful reproduction of the Vampire setting, as considerable liberty was taken with the interpretation of the vampiric disciplines. You will advance in ability at a blinding pace compared to the tabletop rpg. Finally, there are penalties built into the game for unnecessary killing, but the only way to defeat most opponents is with lethal force.
Despite the flaws, I have enjoyed this game immensely. Take a look at the online previews and walk-through, and if you like what you see, give it a try.