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BloodRayne may suck, but it doesn't SUCK...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 25 / 25
Date: November 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

So, in case you don't know, BloodRayne casts you as a Blade-like half-vampire superhero with a tendency toward Nazi-dismemberment and a Tomb Raider bounce in her, um... STEP. Add a "bullet time" effect into BloodRayne's list of death-dealing attributes and you have a sort of Tomb Raider, Max Payne, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein combo... and with a combo like that, you can imagine that things taste pretty good. Unfortunately, some pretty glaring flaws keep BloodRayne from achieving greatness. First, though, here's what the game does well...

· As a violent, gore-driven action game, BloodRayne is a real winner thanks to its huge array of weapons, melee attacks, and vampyric super-powers. You can literally leap onto a screaming Nazi, drive your fangs into his throat and simultaneously use him as a human shield while you shoot one of his comrades over his shoulder. Slaying your enemies is rarely boring.
· The graphics aren't the best you've ever seen, but they're attractive nonetheless. The character animations are fluid - especially where Rayne is concerned. She moves with an inhuman grace that is particularly striking.
· Although Rayne can use a variety of guns, or hack through foes with her wrist-blades, her super-powers bring the most to the table. Bullet time was a real winner in Max Payne, and the same is true here. On top of that, Rayne's ability to see through walls never leaves her destination (or destinations) clouded with doubt. For players who just want to PLAY and put their brains on hold, that is a very helpful feature.
· The game's auto-aiming feature makes gun-slinging a real breeze. Rayne can literally shoot two enemies at once if she has a gun in each hand. On top of that, you could play through most of the game without ever touching a gun - after all, that's why you've got those super-powers and your very handy wrist-blades.
· BloodRayne has some of the best rendered cut-scenes in the business - and man are they gory!

All is not perfect in BloodRayne's realm, though. Here are some of the game's biggest failings...

· There isn't much of a story to speak of, despite the winning premise. Really, all you ever truly know is that there's this Nazi named Wulf, and he's unearthing supernatural oddities for Hitler's campaign against the world (yes, just like those Indiana Jones villains)... Oh, and he must be stopped. Did I miss anything? Nope, that pretty much covers it. Along the way you'll find yourself fighting vampires, zombies, and mutant spiders, but you rarely know why.
· Dialogue is pretty badly written, and the voice-acting could use some polish. BloodRayne's one-liners are nothing to write home about either, and she repeats them too often. The best of the bunch would probably be "Quiet, baby! What will the neighbors think?" But that gets pretty annoying the billionth time you've heard it.
· Despite the 1940s ambiance, it all feels a little too gothic, and at times even futuristic. Even BloodRayne herself fails to fit into the setting - nothing about her speaks of the 40s. Wouldn't it have been much cooler if the game had felt like Medal of Honor with vampires? Instead, it feels pretty much like every sci-fi setting out there. Still, you DO get to kill Nazis...
· Why must the same techno tune play over and over and over again? The game's soundtrack is severely limited - and why techno in the first place? It just further serves to make the game's setting feel contrived, despite the potential coolness it might have enjoyed.
· There are some graphical glitches that can make entire walls vanish for a couple of seconds.
· The game's missions are never very inspiring or original. Add to this some generally bland level design and you've got a game that gets by on its carnage and its carnage alone.

Despite the fact that the game never truly makes the most out of its setting, it's still a bloody romp that action fans should enjoy - just don't expect to use your head very often.

Final Score: B (or 4 stars)

Wicked fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: November 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was looking for a cool game to pass the time, and stumbled upon this little gem. Although the opening of the description on the back made me worry a little ("Half human. Half vampire. All woman." Ah, it's *that* type of game...), I decided to give it a shot anyway.

Boy, am I glad I did! Sure, the main character's got sex appeal, and they're not gonna let you forget that, but even if you took that away, you'd have a solid game left over. The action sequences (and there are a lot of action sequences) are top notch. The levels look good and are pretty large. If you like gore and terror, you'll enjoy what Rayne can do to her enemies. And there's just something kinda cool about dropping down out of the shadows, grabbing a Nazi, sucking his blood while using him to block bullets, and shooting enemies over his shoulders.

I do have a few complaints--I'd actually like to give this 4.5 stars--but nothing major. The sound could use some work (as noted by the previous reviewer), although it's pretty good. Sometimes it's a little tough to figure out what exactly you're supposed to do. I would've appreciated a higher degree of customizability for the controls. And the play balance is a little off: regular enemies are very easy, but the bosses can be ridiculously hard.

As was noted, this is not a game for children or conservatives. There's a lot of blood, and some sensual elements. But if those won't bother you, and you're looking for a good challenge, try this out.

OVER THE TOP GORE AND FUN!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: October 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for the PS2 after reading the good reviews on various websites. I am not dissapointed. If you are looking for an action game with a ridiculous amount of gore and violence while retaining quality gameplay, this is your game. The premise for the game is you are a half-vampire,half-human hired by a secret society to go after a Nazi cult that is hell bent on using the supernatural to obtain power. Ha! Sounding pretty over-the-top yet? Well, that action sequences in the game make it even more so. This is definately a game you wanna play with the kiddies asleep. Enemies get shredded and disembowled as your main charachter wreaks havoc. Limbs and heads will roll, blood spewing profously. In addition to the extreme violence, there is also a vast amount cleavage shots from the camera (this game obviously designed by some horny gaming geeks). I laughed most of these sequences off because they are just so blatantly unecessary. As far as gameplay itself, Bloodrayne is right up there with the best of them. Expect TONS of action; sometimes too much action. While the initial missions are slow to enable you to get the controls down, they bring on the heat as soon as the story begins to eveolve. I found myself loading a few times and being a little less gung-ho the next time around. Weapon choices are vast and seem to actually coincide with the time-period (no giant laser cannons in a post WWII setting.) The main charachter also learns combo moves as you progress, keeping the gameplay varied. The game controls themselves were nicely designed. You have a few variations available to you in the options menu. They also give you control of the camera which is very handy though I did find that in tight spaces it had some quirks. The graphics are quite nice. Levels have a great amount of texturing and detail. You may enjoy the dynamics done on the main charachter as they are quite realistic. There is a brightness control in the menu as well but I didn't see a big need for it as there weren't any dark spaces where you could'nt see objects in reasonable lighting. The sound is where the game dropped from a five to a four with me. While the soundtrack is a nice semi-techno beat that is sequenced with the game and the sound effects are fairly realistic, the overall dynamic set-up is kind of weak. It seems they coulda had much more is the way of ambient effects. There were a few scenes with nice surround detailing but they were far and few between. In addition, what's with the lack of 5.1?!? Come on people, get into the 21st century. In closing, it is a great game with few minor flaws. If you are a conservative parent or just a squeamish gamer, I'd stay far away from this one. Otherwise jump right in for an all out gore fest of fun!

Jiggle Jiggle Slash Slash

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: May 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

FINALLY - a female vampire (or "dhampir," whatever) with an adjustable bra size (see "juggy" cheat) and a large artillery of weapons that inflict ridiculous gore (see "gratuitous dismemberment" cheat) on a small variety of Nazis and mutants, whose blood she can also suck to restore health (if necessary - see "god mode" cheat). If you're looking for more than just a one-night-stand, though, she's probably going to disappoint you...unless you're the one that sucks. "Bloodrayne" is a nice idea, and don't get me wrong, it actually is a lot of fun to play. However, there's not a whole lot going on beyond the sexy latex getups and gats gats gats. It's just your conventional 3rd-person action/shooter with a few almost-useless Matrix-style gimmicks thrown in, and graphics that are not quite up to par with the ps2 platform. In fact, it almost looks like another case of a title that was rushed into production. There are lots of ways they could've polished up "Bloodrayne" and made it a richer game. Her catch-phrases (or attempts thereat) are sometimes cute, more often retarded, but by the time the first level is complete you'll have heard them all a billion times and you'll be reaching for your ipod. And if she's a trifle repetitive, the enemies are FAR worse (e.g. the infamous "Get her off me!"). The game in general suffers from a certain lack of variety in enemy models and level construction. Cut-scene dialogue is embarassingly bad, big surprise. STILL - sexy latex getups, gats gats gats. It's nice that they finally pitched a video game at us fellas. Incidently, I hear "Bloodrayne 2" is in the works. Let's hope it's the rare sequel that hammers out the bugs of the original and takes it to the next level, rather than the usual degeneration into crap. If so, I've got my money in.

Bite, chomp, Shoot, and Get Flattened

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 21
Date: August 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Take a half-vampire with a severe case of parental rebellion and add zombies, Nazis, a heap of unpleasant critters and bad news bosses and you have the makings of Bloodrayne (and about a dozen ofther games as well. As Rayne, you fight your way from the bayous to Argentina, in a wild hunt to keep ex-Supreme Commander Jurgen Wulf from reassembling Beliar, a demon even older than Satan himself. If you are thinking running around killing everything that moves, you have pretty well pinpointed the key features of this game.

Rayne has all the requisite weapons and attacks, the artwork is good, and the action is unending. Unfortunately, the game starts out awkwardly and then settles into a predicatble and somewhat tedious pattern. Your first real hint that this game has a real problem is when you hit the first major boss after the initial mission. It's not that you don't have the stuff to kill him, it's that killing him requires a set of motions that are almost impossible to do, and it requires them repeatedly.

This leaves the player with two choices - get killed until you are ready to scream, or cheat. Nor does cheating work wonders, it just reduces the pain. This happens several other times in the progress of the game. There is a lot to play, but much of the play is more frustrating than fun. At first, I thought the problem was my middle-aged reflexes, but I've note the same issue being brought up elsewhere. And this isn't the type of game where there is a payoff for all the controllers thrown against the wall.

You will have to decide for yourself. There is nothing particularily unique about this game, but there certainly is lots of violence and gore for entertainment. But I believe there are too many more interesting shooters to invest hours in this one. The good news is that the price keeps dropping and there are lots of cheat codes. The not-so-good news is that then you have to play it.

better than Underworld (the movie)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I did read the other reviews on this game criticising the poor plot, short game time and the heterogeneity in boss difficulty. I have to admit that I found the plot cartoonish but it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, for example Rayne gives some of her dead enemies (bosses) the finger after she is done with them and flirts with others during battle. So the game is engrossing but doesn't take itself too seriously like the Raziel and Resident Evil series- a little bit like a Rodriguez movie, say Dusk till Dawn. So you are not overburdened by ridiculously convoluted plots- it's more like Blade- a half vampire with cool guns on a bad guy killing spree. I didn't look at any cheats or codes online and I finished the game in about 17 hours. My girlfriend tried it after me, and with the benefit of my hindsight at times it only took her 10 hours (I had to kill the final boss for her- but ended up finding an easier way to do so). So, playtime is not extensive, but there are cool ways to kill your foes to be discovered. But the character is sexy, funny and a pure death machine so can be incredibly fun to play, hacking your way through Nazis whose 'get her off me!" cries of terror can get repetitive at times. Officers can be hard to kill, but "Bloodrage" as a last resort usually works in all situations, except one notable boss. Contrary to other reviews, there is potential for stealth: if you manage to sneak up on enemies you can usually dispatch them in one blow (there is a liquidy sound with this and cool graphics of body parts flying in a fountain of blood): a critical strike essentially where you hack them in half or decapitate them. Having different "vision" effects was also cool, though out of 3 extra visions, only "bullet time" was consistently useful. The other 2 were only useful in a few rare parts of the game (for example heat vision only for finding objectives). Overall, I honestly have to say that this is one of the coolest action games I've played on PSII, a welcome break from all the limp commercialized failures of the year like Lara Croft Dark Angel, Wolverine, Matrix, Spiderman etc. etc. and WELL worth the time and money you will spend on it.

Lots of "adult" fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Blood Rayne (BR) is a wonderful game that you can play for a few minutes or a few hours.

There are many excellent reviews here, so I will not duplicate them, so I'll just say how much fun this game is to play. I've had it for several months and still play it on a regular basis.

The game is sort of a cross between Doom and Tomb Raider.... lots of killing, and a few navigation puzzles.

Lastly, there is "adult" language (i.e. the "F" word).

It's exactly what it is -- a fun sexy action shooter.

Great but short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: November 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Bloodrayne was a cool game. The graphics were cool for the most part and the game was very bloody. It was so bloody that it was funny. Kind of like the movie Evil Dead 2. My only complaint was that it was rather short and the guys at the end of the stages were at times impossible. The codes were cool and Rayne's random comments (insults) were good.

Overall I liked it, it was too short and has little replay value. I have to say that running through a group of Nazis in slow motion while blasting or slicing them to bits was really cool.

Is it worth buying? I finished it in about 10 hours of playtime (one weekend). Even if a game is great, it is hard to buy a game that short. Rent it.

Medal of Honor meets Blade

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game might be lacking in the graphics department but its still a must buy. The game was a blast. You can engage with guns or blades on your forearms. Need health, just feed off the the humans and some of the monsters. Feed enough and get a blood fueled supercharge! Life vision lets you see where the bad guys are but through walls. You have bullet view, which slows the game down Matrix like and helps you better dodge those annoying nazi bullets. As you progress in the game she develops more combat moves and such. The game is a blast. Forget how the graphics neeed work and give the game a chance. You most likely wont be sorry, I wasnt.

blood sucker = good, Nazi bad!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Rayne is a half vampire, half human, ninja...well maybe she's not a ninja but she's got ninja coolness. The fighting in this game (and there is lots of it) is quite entertaining. Rayne has an arsenal of acquired guns, blades, and intricate movements to mess the bad guys up with.

I stumbled across a used copy of this game. I wasn't really looking for this game in particular, but it seemed cool enough. I rarely buy games on the fly like this but the price was so cheap that I didn't have much to loose.

Initially when I began playing, I hated the controls, it was tough keeping the camera in front of Rayne during fighting scenes, and I was getting my butt kicked. Once I got use to the controls I enjoyed the game much more and I began to kick butt, Nazi/zombie/alien butt!

I recommend this game to anyone looking for a good action/adventure game, especially if you can get it for cheap. I'm now looking forward to playing Bloodrayne 2, which I hear is even better.

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