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Why do people say the first game was better? This one is way better!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: April 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Personally, I feel the first game was hands down one of the worst video games ever made. Yes, it had a good story that fit in with the series, and decent graphics, but the gameplay of it was horrible. The original had many gripes that eventually made me scream so much that I was hoarse for a week, and left me with a broken XBOX controller. Elixers barely existed in any levels, and defeated enemies rarely dropped health for you to slightly heal. Enemies always blocked your attacks. Stakes could get easily knocked out of your hand, which left your enemies ready to throw cheap combos at you as you tried to pick it back up, and if you knocked them down to pick the stake up, they'd always immediately get back up as you did. It also had a poor hit detection system--- one time I staked a face down vamp about six times, AND HE STILL DIDN'T DIE. I returned the game about a day later after buying it.

The second game thankfully fixes many of these problems. Health packs are now slightly easier to find, and when you kill enemies, they will regenerate health more often. Enemies also block far less, stakes don't get knocked out of your hand, and there's a nice button that lets you quickly pull out a stake to kill a vamp or demon, unlike the original where you had to take the time to equip it, which meant that an enemy would get a chance to recover before you could even kill them. When you stake a face down vamp, it actually kills them. Also, about the inventory. People complain that you can only hold 5 healing items, while in the original you could hold up to 9. I think that they're forgetting that if you did, this meant you could not have any support weapons--- in other words, no hellfire or holy water. In this, you can max out your medpaks while still carrying plenty of hellfire and holy water(for a total of 15). Also nice is the ability to use multiple melee combat weapons, since in the original, you could only use one at a time.

Character wise, Buffy and Faith have their usual Slayer skills. Willow uses magic. Xander, although you will also have him in combat, relies mainly on weapons. Spike's main aspect is his strength, and Sid's small size makes him hard to hit. One cool thing is that sometimes another character may fight with you--- for example, in the first level Buffy and Willow team up to battle a group of vampires, or in the second features Buffy and Spike fighting it out with zombies. Bosses also feature some actual puzzles to get to their weak spots this time around, which thankfully aren't incredibly frustrating and easy to figure, as opposed to the first game's bosses which were just more fighting, which mostly had each one of them relying on this incredibly cheap tackle attack that always knocked you down.

Yes, there's still a cheap camera, and you do have to search through inventory midgame, but overall, Vivendi Universal has created a much better Buffy game than EA did(now here's hoping that there will be an Angel game with Angel, Spike, Illyria, Gunn, and Wesley). I suggest if you have a choice between Buffy 1 and Buffy 2, get Chaos Bleeds and pretend the shoddy original never existed.

Oh My God

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: August 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love all things Buffy, and I love this too. The game is great and the fact that you can play multi-player is wonderful. I love the fact that you brought in the idea of a "missing" episode for the game. It makes it work for the true Buffy fan. If I have objection, it is that you can't be what ever character you want to be for the whole game, and the don't let you be Tara. Other than that it is a wonderful game.

NOT WHAT BUFFY GAMING USED TO BE

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first game (OUTSTANDING) this game (NOT) I had read a few
so-so review about this game and even though my wife and I really wanted to buy it. I decided to rent it first and just check it out, so glade I did. Terrible camera angles, can't look up, can't turn if anything is near me. Buffys voice is also Anya's (No diffence at all, very pathetic voice casting on this part) Willow's voice is HERRIBLE!! Man-o-Man is it ever. Vampires are much harder. Charaters you play much slower. Graphics are much less impressive then the first. RENT IT FIRST

Buffy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you are Buffy fan feel confident about buying this game, you will probably like it. If you are not a buffy fan, I would probably consider another game. I personally liked the game quite a bit. The camera does have an annoying habit of being in an awkward position (only during fighting really), but it is not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I've played games with much worse cameras. As for the enemies sneaking up on you... enemies can and do come from almost any direction. The camera can't be everywhere at once, so the best thing to do is listen for noises (vampires usually taunt before attacking, zombies groan, werewolves and psycho patients make the ground shake). Listen and you don't get sneaked up apon like some people complain about. I found the puzzles to vary in quality from logically put together to cheesy and contrived. (The cheesiest part may be when you have to punch open a locker. In one part a locker looking like many other lockers in the area must me punched opened. If you use the action button your character won't even try to open the locker with the handle. It seems just like part of the background.) Some other puzzles are quite contrived. Like in the first's lair, you have to make gunpowder for a cannon by finding sulfer and charcoal you spend 90% of the level to find these items to blow open one door and find the first. How does Buffy know that that specific door needs to be knocked down????? No clue. However I did enjoy the game and the puzzles for the most part. The thing that actually makes the game worth playing is the extras, the character dialogue and the plot although it's short The fighting isn't so bad, it takes a little finesse, but Im sure that more advanced gamers will find it too easy. the puzzles although sometimes on the chessy or contrived side do challenge you (some of the jumping puzzles are ridiculous because it's rigged so you have to go by a certain route). However, The game flows extremely weel from one event to the next. the buffyverse settings are a nice touch. I enjoyed their twisted looking versions. The voice acting was good. The voice impersonator for Buffy sounded quite a bit like her. The voice actor for Willow sounded more like Willow if she had severe conjestion, but isn't distracting. The voice impersonator for Anya doesn't sound anything like Anya, but at least she doesn't say much. I liked the touch that Joss (the buffy creator) is playable in multiplayer mode and Joss did authentic voice acting for the part. Overall, this game has much to offer Buffy fans and little for other gamers. If I weren't a Buffy fan I would buy another game that has better puzzles and/or fighting. Also I forgot to mention. the graphics are bad. All of the characters come out looking cartoony. The skins for Spike, Xander, and Willow are passable, but Faith and Buffy are not. Buffy has big creepy looking doll eyes. And Faith looks more like Cordelia (Her upper lip isn't nearly wide enough and her [...] are too big). Also everything has a very blocky appearance overall (especially compared to the first game). The only graphic I was able to spot that was exactly like the first game were some chalkboards that said I will not slay. Furthermore stakes when looked at closely appear identical and cartoony, but a least they can't be hit out of your hand like the first game. The inventory mechanism is worse than the first game, but passably easy. The most annoying thing for me in this game is how characters look when they climb ladders (Who seriously bends their legs outward). Anyway Im rabbling. I did have fun playing this game, but I can only recommend it to Buffy fans.

Some problems but an overall excellent game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: September 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

----I'm updating my review because I feel that some reviewers are being way to harsh just because they've played the first Buffy game and aren't giving this one a chance. When I first started playing it I found it difficult to get used to because I was expecting it to be like the last game. Well it's not the first game so get over it. Give this game a chance and you might be surprised at how much you enjoy it! Also, as a comparison, go and check out the reviews of the Playstation 2 and Gamecube versions and you will see that a lot of people really, really like this game and aren't ripping it apart like some of the XBox fans. These people aren't comparing it to the first game because the first game was only released on Xbox. Also keep in mind that the Xbox version is considered far superior than the other two versions. Once you've played a level or two and have gotten used to the controls being different from the first game you can really start to get into it. In my family there are four of us and we all played the first game and loved it. We all had a hard time in the beginning getting used to the differences in this game but all agree that it is a great game. This is coming from a 41, 39, 17 and 14 year old group of people.

Some of the complaints I've read is that the characters move to slow. You can compare this game to Indiana Jones who moves at a much slower rate yet people loved that game. Other complaints are the inventory button, again you can compare this to the Indiana Jones game. Another complaint I read was that the lifeline indicator for a bad guy popped up ahead of time in the first game to give you warning. Well, it doesn't do that in this one but you can hear the enemy growling or talking before he shows up and also the controller vibrates to give you warning. I agree that the voices of Willow and Anya are off but all the other voices are great. Yes, this is not the first game and it's camera isn't as great but there are some very redeeming qualities to this game as well. I just don't think it is fair to rip it apart because it isn't the exact same thing as the first game. Another interesting thing I discovered after playing this game. I went back to play the first one and found a whole bunch of stuff to pick at that I didn't notice at first!! The characters now seemed to move at too fast a speed as did the enemies and it was difficult fighting them!! I also missed the easy "stake" access button that the new game incorporates. My point is, you get used to what your playing and what you know and every game should be given a chance and not be played partly through. I finished the whole game and it was a lot of fun! For those of you who do need some help there's many game websites out there that have walkthroughs and hints from other players. Here's a link to one of them:

[website]

So rent it if you must first but just give it a chance and play enough of it to get used to the different camera and moves and you might be pleasantly surprised at how much you'll like this game!!!---

My original review:

I absolutely loved the first game so I was extremely excited to get this. First thing I noticed was the camera angle and movement are not as good as the first game. That said, I went into options and I changed all the vertical options and turned them all on. This made a big difference but it was still not as good as the first. But after getting into the game, I really didn't notice as much because I just learned to be more creative. Like running further into a room and then turning around so I could see what was coming.

The voice actress who plays Willow is very grating at first. She sounds like Willow on valium and seems to speak way to slow and sounds like an airhead. Also, the voice actress doing Anya sounds nothing like Anya and didn't even seem to try. James Marsters, Nicholas Brendan, Amber Benson and Tony Head do a great job and so does the guy who played Ethan (he is also the actual actor from the show but I just can't think of his name right now).

The game has 12 levels. You start off as Buffy and then it will finish her part and then switch to Willow, and then so on as you go through the characters. The story is fantastic and keeps you interested all through it. There's a lot to offer with this version that the first version did not have. There are bonus games that you can unlock and there are also cast interviews, outtakes and Voice Over recording sessions that are a blast to watch. You have to unlock these as you go through the game. The better you do the more you unlock. Each level has a certain amount of secrets (and some are extremely hard to find - which I still haven't found all of them!). After you finish each level it ranks you and tells you how you did, how many kills you had, how many secrets you found and your ranking such as Slayer, Professional, expert, etc. You also have the option of going back and doing a level again if you weren't able to find all the secrets.

This game needs more save points though. There are continutation points as you go through so if you get killed you can continue from that point. But if you want to just quit it doesn't matter where you were in that level you have to start the whole level all over again. This is extremely frustrating because some of these levels are extremely long especially when playing them for the first time so to then have to lose all that time spent is very frustrating. Also there are many times where you will be confused and not know what to do next (this is just not with me - I've read many a complaint on posting boards regarding this problem) and you will spend an incredible amount of time running all over the place.

I would've loved to have given this game 5 stars but just couldn't do it. The problems with the camera difficulties, the motion of the characters, and the lack of save points made the difference. The story line is fantastic, the different levels are great, the ability to play as different characters and all the unlockable extras are a major addition that the first game didn't have (although the first games story was also very good). This game is more detailed and has a lot more to look at and it will take you a lot longer to finish it. Another minus is the fact that there is only one difficulty level. The first game had Easy, Normal and Hard to chose from. Having mastered Hard on the first one I think I had an easier time adjusting to the difficulties of this one but other people have complained about not being able to.

In closing I do recommend this especially to any Buffy fan.

Buffy...eh...I'l pass

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: September 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has some of the worst controls I've ever experienced. Reaction to hitting a button is delayed within the game, voice acting is pretty damn bad, the graphics are horrible, and the game could have used some more time for refinement. I'm very displeased by this title, it's a total shame. I'm a Buffy fan myself and I feel this game dissapoints completely. Don't buy this game, if your really curious rent it, or just wait 'till it's reduced in price.

I was disappointed in this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I have played the game. I am a huge Buffy fan, and had a lot of fun playing the first game. I have to say I was disappointed with the sequel. Unlike what was said in a previous review, you cannot choose which character to play with in the single player game...the game chooses for you. Sometimes you are Buffy, sometimes spike, sometimes willow, and so on. Who you play depends on what part of the game you are in...each character has certain tasks in the game. I thought the camera and fighting controls were a lot better in the first game, they just seem more awkward now. There also seem to be fewer places to save the game. This forces you to keep playing even when you have gotten sick of one of the puzzles and want to step away for a while, because otherwise you will have to replay a lot of previous stuff when you come back.

The odd thing about the camera, is it gets stuck a lot. You are supposed to be able to move it with the right thumbstick...but that does not always work. If you are in a tight room it gets stuck and will not move. You can sometimes manually move it around and get it where you want...but not always.

The inventory is also done poorly. Instead of having the inventory screen that the previous game had, it seems to only use the "quick inventory" where you select what you want by pressing over on the directional pad. This makes using medkits during battle nearly impossible. Enemies also don't have to do finishing moves on you to kill you anymore. I was shocked when I died after a zombie just punched me to take away the last of my life. I thought the finishing move from the last game was a good touch.

The phrases get even older in this game than in the last. For example in the second level you are in a cemetery with a lot of locked doors...hearing the locked door phrases she spits out at you 30 times gets very old.

There are a few positives. I think the graphics have gotten better...though perhaps not as good as other games that are out now...they still do look good. The fight scenes do seem to flow rather well, so that is another positive. There are also some cool things you can do with the camera. It looks cool to jump in the air and turn...then tell the camera to center behind you. It rotates around with her in the air, giving off a sort of matrix like affect. It does not have any bearing on the game, but it does look interesting. Finally, there are interviews and extra characters you can unlock for multiplayer mode.

In all I am disappointed in this game. If best buy let me return open video games I would return it. For gameplay I would give it a 1, I only gave it two stars because of the unlockable characters and interviews. I also gave it some credit for having you play with different characters in single player (even if you can't choose who to play with).

Not Great but Not Horrible Either

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As a big fan of the first Buffy game, I was a little disappointed with Chaos Bleeds. The biggest concern I have with the game is the shifty camera-work. In the first BtVS game, either the Health bar or a vampire's one-liner would alert you to an enemy's presence. Even the zombies are clearly audible. However, in Chaos Bleeds, I've found that there really isn't sufficient warning. Now, this wouldn't necessarily be important if the camera was easier to move around to locate the enemy.

Next, let me say how terrible Willow's voice is. She sounds like a ten-year old on helium (no offense to the actress). The writing is deplorable here since the writers packed every bit of "Willowisms" they could into her lines.

The puzzles can become annoying if you've cleared the area of baddies but you still have to roam around, looking for a way out. Add to that, many of them seem pointless in terms of furthering enjoyment of the game.

Also, I sincerely miss the Inventory screen. Having to flip through everything to reach my Medi Pak in times of duress is quite the bitca.

Despite my problems with the game, I enjoy it immensely. I miss having the show to look forward to and this is like revisiting Sunnydale. The graphics are excellent and much improved from the previous game. Everything from the facial expressions to the scenery is worth seeing. I recommend it for the Buffy fan going through withdrawal.

Or just buy the DVDs.

Entertaining..But doesn't live up to the first Buffy game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ok...Vivendi commited the cardinal sin...They messed with a previously perfect gameplay engine...Player control was wonderful in the first game, frustrating in this installment...
-Graphics are not as crisp as they were in the first game but this is because this is a multi-platform game and had to be "dumbed-down" for the other consoles that cannot displays graphics as well as the X-Box.
-The camera is terrible...don't try to mess with it..You'll only get more frustrated...
-Multiplayer is fun but not as great as Vevendi hyped it up to be...
-If you like the first one, you'll probably be dissapointed...But still an enjoyable game!

kinda lame

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The camera angles are problematic. It's too long between opportunities to save. Sometimes items you need to pick up are impossible to see unless you are right on top of them. The quips get very repetitive very fast. The plot isn't horrible and the fighting can be fun when the controls work and you can see your opponent. There are also extras like cast interviews that are cool.

I agree with the reviewer who said buy it on sale.

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