Bocce Ball @ MindSay

I suppose that should be expected when it comes to Bloodrayne.

I remember picking up my first issue of "Play" Magazine.  The periodical seemed to try their hand at high-art game journalism.  It also had the price tag to prove it being way more expensive then the regular "in-your-face" gaming news that everyone is used to.  So I picked up my first issue in hopes of something good...

"Play" gave Wario World for the Gamecube one of their highest ratings... the rest of the world did not.

So while I don't take "Play" seriously as game reviewing mag, It is one beautiful book to look at.  I noticed that right away with my first issue and especially on one page that featured a sexy red-head with blood dripping from her mouth.  Nazi bodies were littered on the floor behind her.  It was at this moment, I fell in love with Bloodrayne.

Can you blame me though?  Hot girl, Half Vampire and Dead Nazis... It was like the gaming gods had read my mind and were creating the perfect game out of it.  Wolfenstein is a classic because of it's setting, Vampires powers are cool and being married to Nomad  shows that I love hot girls!

So I waited and waited for this new intellectual property to be released...

In the end, Bloodrayne 1 was pretty good.  There was a lot to love, but it also felt like a second tier game.  The actual gameplay didn't deliver the amazing experience it could have.  To be honest, the only reason I think I still love the game is because of Hot girl, Half Vampire and Dead Nazis... the gameplay was just the means to get me to all those things.

Fast-forward years later and Allaroundpsycho  finally borrows my copy of Bloodrayne and becomes hooked on this woman and 'verse as well.  He also got hooked right about the time that Bloodrayne 2 came out.  He buys it and I planned on borrowing his copy.  Problem was, I never got to borrow it.  He would have let me, but the fact that I could borrow it at anytime almost meant that I wouldn't.  I had other things to play and BR2 never got into my Xbox.

My previous blog entry talked about the game Infected, a zombie slaughter that I hope is as awesome as it sounds. I just found out that Bloodrayne will be an unlockable character.  Once I read that, I started reading up on Bloodrayne again and the fever kicked in full force again.

I wanted to borrow AAP's copy of Bloodrayne 2, but he wasn't going to be visiting for awhile.  I tried to tell myself I could wait, but that was a losing battle.  Tuesday night I held a copy of the game in my hand and it was good.  Once I get in a certain mindset, nothing will break that until I've accomplished what it is I need (well, think I need.)  The only real downfall of this is that it doesn't work on dishes, laundry or chores in general.  Hm?

I admit the text above is very long. Doesn't leave me too much time to talk about Bloodrayne 2 as a game.  Here is a quick impression.

Like the first one, I love the girl and world... but the gameplay isn't completely there for me.  Fighting is a lot more fun in this one and the amount of ways to dispatch an enemy keeps me smiling, but I don't get to do it as often as I like.  These bad guys are nothing more then something for me to harvest.  Every gauge I use is filled by the blood of my victims.  Health: feed from enemies. Rage: feed from enemies, but press X or B (Rage allows me to do the cool vampire moves.) Bullets: feed from enemies and press R.   You read that right, Bloodrayne stops using conventional weapons and gets a set of Dragon-something guns.  These guns turn blood into projectiles to be fired.  Fill up with the blood of your victims, but if you run out... it takes your blood.  In other words, DON'T USE THE GUNS WHEN YOUR OUT OF AMMO!

Why give me hundreds of way to maim and destroy when it seems that I always need to harvest some gauge that is low.  There is my biggest complaint so far of the game.

Other then that (and a nasty case of glitching during a boss fight), I'm having a good time.  The 'verse of Bloodrayne never looked so good.