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BloodRayne
2 has finally arrived. As any fan of the first game will know,
this sequel has been talked of since a few months after the original
game. First it was out in months, then in a few more months, then
maybe when the film was released, then the film disappeared into the
undergrowth and now almost three years after the first title, we
have Majesco Entertainment’s sequel to the scantily-clad lady
bloodsucker’s adventure. But now, in this high-end environment
where every console is being pushed to it’s very limits, is it all
too little too late?
BloodRayne 2 doesn’t stop for breath after the first
rendition; this one kicks off almost as the other stops, just a
century later. Rayne got the man that killed all of her family and
is now on the rampage to destroy all of his. You start with a man
who looks like his twin brother, living in a very big mansion. This
is the Tutorial-based intro-Level of the game, letting you take it
easy and get used to the controls. You will be taught how to attack,
how to Lock-On, how to dodge and how to harpoon people. You also get
to use the three different visions accessible through the D-Pad,
consisting of; Bullet-Time (or Increased Perception as it’s
called), Aura Perception,  a mode that allows you to see enemies in
red, Mission Objectives in green and Vampire Gates (portals only
vampires can walk through, and you can only walk through in this
mode), and Blood Rage, a mode where both your attack and defence
increases. Later on in the game you learn enhanced versions of these
visions, usable by double tapping the specified action. You also
obtain a gun, a legendary Vampire Gun by the looks of it, which
needs blood to shoot and if it doesn’t have any it will drain your
life to shoot – similar to Majesco’s insightful PSP release, Infected.
Enemies can be utilised for health or ammo upon being
vanquished, eradicating the need to put Health or Ammo Packs
throughout the game, as they run towards you screaming and shouting.
This does put a very different twist on the game, however, as you
have to find enemies when your health and ammo is low - the one time
you want to be running away from them - especially as there are no
Checkpoints.
Each of the Missions played throughout the game increases the
difficulty bit-by-bit, and by the second Level we have many people
with weapons - which have to be disarmed before sucking them of
their life giving blood - and any mistakes in dim lit areas or with
bad camera angles will see you thrown to the ground and beaten with
their weapon of choice; not particularly useful when the reason you
jumped for them was because you had very little of what they have
just taken the last of. There’s also people with guns, some with
little pistols others with massive Siege Weapon-esque Assault guns
and Rifles - none of which you can use, all of which you need to run
through to get to your prey. There’s another enemy that comes in
later through the game, seemingly to come into every part of our
lives now,  almost like it’s acceptable; the suicide bomber. Now
you don’t want to mistake these as your average prey as you will
last literally seconds. The only way to deal with them is to listen
for their constant beep noise, wait till they stop next to you to
press their explosion-button, then leg it. Though this isn’t very
useful when already occupied with three other people beating you
with sticks, another way is to target them with the Lock-On and
harpoon them away from you.
Which brings me to what seems like a small point until you
get to this stage of the game, the Lock-On System is awful. When
activated, your position is locked around your target, every move
you do pivots around them, in much the tradition originated from The
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. The Lock-On function is placed
on the L1 Trigger, and the change target button is L2 – a little
awkward for those not used to using both their index and middle
fingers in addition to thumbs when gaming - there’s no cycle-back
button and each time you change target you seem to go to another
random object or person to target, with very little in the way of
constructive categorising of enemies. You will find yourself with
rapidly changing camera angles: jumping, dodging and attacking
random objects and people, hearing a beeping noise and desperately
trying to focus on it in the low-light whilst avoiding the attacks
of the people, generally armed, surrounding you.
Though this is a big annoyance in the game it doesn’t
destroy it, there are many other puzzle and fighting sections that
try to enhance the game. There are parts where you’ll be required
to use your harpoon to pull-down various bits of scenery, much like
that seen in the latest instalment in the Tomb Raider
franchise; Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend, and use your
harpoon to throw people into things like switches and dustcarts, but
after just a few hours of playing these too become a little stale.
There are new additions to this series release: you can grind down
rails, drink from people from afar, and upgrade your gun to give it
Machine-Gun, Shotgun, Rocket Launcher and other similar
capabilities.
The graphics featured in the title are an improvement on the
original game, but, having been three years since release, it’s
expected. Unfortunately, BloodRayne 2 hasn’t been brought
to the standard of many other games released on the PlayStation2,
with the likes of God Of War and Shadow Of The Colossus
causing a distinctive  contrast between development circles. The
walls and general environment look very solid and Rayne looks great
as usual, but there just isn’t the flare that games like Destroy
All Humans! and Driver: Parallel
Lines seem to be putting
in right now. Even the sound is a little bland and non-engaging; for
instance the game starts with what can only be described as a little
know dance track from the early nineties.
What we were all looking forward to from this game and what
it delivered are at very different ends of the spectrum, maybe
it’s that we just expected too much from a game that has been
anticipated for so long, or maybe the games of the moment really
take-away what BloodRayne could be if it wasn’t so
overshadowed. But whatever the answer maybe, the fact still remains
that BloodRayne 2 is just not what it should have, could have
or really needed to be.
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