Intro
It's absolutely pathetic how much I love all things Buffy: The Vampire
Slayer. As I look around my room, I can count at least 20 different items
all licensed under the flag of Buffy. A calendar, a coffee mug, rows of Buffy
and Angel DVDs, books, and now a second video game are just some of the
items in my collection (yes, I'm a bonefied corporate whore). Buffy: The Vampire
Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is the follow-up to 2001's aptly titled Buffy: The
Vampire Slayer. Developed by Collective Studios (who has nothing to do with
Chaos Bleeds), the original Buffy was a fun, if not overly complex, romp through
the town of Sunnydale boasting full cast support (with the exception of Sarah
Michelle Gellar) and a plot authored by one of the show's regular writers.¹
This year's Chaos Bleeds follows in much the same path, but with some extras
that, in theory, should make the game better, but somewhere, somehow, something
went wrong along the way.
Gameplay:
7/10
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is no more. Last season, its seventh,
was Buffy's last foray into the world of Sunnydale, California as the city was
destroyed in the climactic last battle with The First Evil. But thanks to the
miracle of licensing, Buffy can live on in a blitzkrieg of licensing efforts including
Chaos Bleeds. Set somewhere in the midst of the fifth season, Buffy finds
herself facing The First across a variety of Sunnydale venues including The Magic
Box, Sunnydale High School (post Mayor), Sunnydale downtown, the hospital, and
even the depths of the Initiative.
Based
on the original Buffy game engine, Chaos Bleeds plays much in the
same way -- a 3rd person action/adventure, with all the cons that that label usually
carries with it. But what sets Chaos Bleeds apart from the original title
is the ability to play as several Buffy-verse characters. In addition to Buffy,
Xander, Faith, Willow, Spike, and the obscure Sid the Dummy are all playable characters
with their own sets of abilities and attacks. While Buffy's attacks are stronger
than the rest (except of course Faith), Willow is able to use magic, Sid uses
diversionary low attacks, Spike uses dirty pit fighting moves, and Xander just
falls down a lot. Chaos Bleeds insures more than 150 combination attacks
for each character using fists, shovels, pitchforks, swords, and a variety of
other crazy hoo-doo weapons. Unfortunately,
the fighting, even with all the weapons and the diverse characters, just grows
tiresome. Fights all pan out in similar ways -- run around, wait for the enemy
to swing and miss, counter attack, then stake. What's worse is that later levels
send around 100 enemies at you, 2 at a time, making for a very, very monotonous
jaunt in Sunnydale. Luckily, there's
another portion of the game -- the puzzles, ho boy. Puzzles in 3rd person action/adventure
games have a nasty habit of being a bit...annoying. The problem with Chaos
Bleeds is, much like its 3rd person brethren, that the puzzles are a bit...annoying.
They're just a bit esoteric. For example, in the mall level, there's a certain
elevator that just won't work. Well after some investigating, it turns out that
the cables are rusted together and just won't turn. Well if you were in a mall
with a malfunctioning elevator, what would you do to fix it? If you said find
cooking oil from a cooking cart at the other side of the level, you were right.
The game does put little blue halos around any item that can be had, BUT the game
doesn't put a little blue halo around items that can be interacted with, making
some puzzles downright frustrating. Oh, I have to turn the nondescript little
handle that blends into the background texture? Great. Additionally, there's no
hints around that spell out or even allude to what needs to be done. It's frustrating,
just frustrating. But not all the puzzles
are bad. Boss battles in Chaos Bleeds combine the fighting elements with
the puzzles a la Soul Reaver. One later boss is encased in a shield, repelling
all attacks. Once bunnies (sorry fans, I just gave it away) are placed in certain
places in the room, she becomes vulnerable to an attack. Hit her once and the
process starts all over, all while dodging additional attacks from the boss and
her helpers. Boss battles like these are spread all through the later levels making
for several challenging, intense situations. And
then there's the little problems. Fights can be downright cheap. Say, for instance,
that Buffy has the misfortune of getting hit and falling down. Well with two enemies
on the screen, they can each take a turn stomping her for two hits, and then after
she stands up, but before she has a chance to react, they can hit her again, knocking
her down and repeating the process. Getting stuck in one of these situations,
will all but insure a controller sized hole in the nearest dry wall. Good thing
that the enemy AI has problems with maneuvering through doors. Say a room spawns
the commonplace enemies and they rush Buffy. Well rather than fight them, all
Buffy has to do is skip on through the closest door. For some reason, the enemies
won't follow, they won't even get within 3 feet of the door threshold. Amazing.
And then there are the extras. First,
there's are several nice, fleshed out multiplayer modes that do add a bit of fun
and a change of pace, but the engine isn't exactly suited for an intense deathmatch
experience. What is cool are the DVD style extras included on the disc,
unlocked as the game progresses and secrets are discovered. Included are voiceovers,
commentary, and out-takes from the cast and creators of Buffy: The Vampire
Slayer.
Graphics: 8/10
For a PS2 game with a reasonably far draw distance, Chaos Bleeds does
surprisingly well. The reproductions of all Sunnydale locations are spot on. Every
location lends a very similar feel to those in the actual show. The library bookcases,
the Initiative pits, every placement of every object was done right down to nerdy
accuracy. On top of that, the characters all look fairly spot-on, from Ethan Rayne's
bracelets to Willow's quirky shirt designs. Even "dusting" is reproduced
to Mutant Enemy precision. Of course, there are the clipping issues that have
come to be expected in 3d games, as well as some spotty collision issues that
keep Chaos Bleeds from being great.
Sound: 8.5/10
The
first Buffy game featured all of the cast except for Sarah Michelle Gellar (no
doubt to busy filming Scooby Doo 2, see you on Hollywood Squares
Gellar); however, this time around Gellar, Allison Hannigan (Willow), and Emma
Caulfield (Anya) all decided that the game wasn't worth their time. Gellar's replacement
is serviceable, but the Willow and Anya substitutes just sound seem like they're
trying to hard. It's a good thing that the rest of the supporting cast decided
to etch out time in their busy schedules of appearing in conventions and cameos
on Angel -- the fans appreciate it. The Nerf Herder authored theme is played
at suitable times, but what's more impressive is the ambient music. I was amazed
when I realized that it's the same ambient music as the TV show. The music
picks us for fights, and dies back down accordingly for the trite puzzle solving.
It's too bad that the individual little witty bytes get replayed and replayed
and replayed and, well you know. It's annoying and the dark spot in the otherwise
bright audio work. Control: 6/10
No matter how much they try, 3rd person action/adventure games can never
seem to come up with a control scheme that is easy, intuitive, and not a huge
pain in the ass to use in every way. It's like game designers got together in
the early days of the PSX, and decided on the most unwieldy configuration ever.
Like most games in the genre, the left stick controls movement, the right maneuvers
the camera, the d-pad manages inventory, while the face buttons and shoulder buttons
handle the attacks, jumping, and targeting. The problem with this configuration
is trying, and I mean trying, to position the camera, select an inventory item,
and fighting at the same time. It's just not possible, and it will cause gamers
to mess up on more than one occasion, guaranteed. It practically makes the secondary
inventory items like holy water and hellfires worthless, it's just too hard to
select them, aim, and then switch back to a different weapon. But I did like one
thing -- the stake button. Seeing as how killing vampires reliably requires a
good stake through the heart, having a stake button is great. No matter what Buffy
is holding, one tap of the R1 button will bring an insta-stake into Buffy's hand,
and if the enemy is grounded, make the killing strike. Overall:
7/10
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is another vampire-slaughtering
romp into the world of Sunnydale, pitting Buffy and her pals versus the first
in yet another apocalypse. Featuring six playable characters across 12 unique
Buffy locations, Chaos Bleeds tells an untold Buffy story with the flair
and style that only Buffy can pull off. With a great story, an awesome cast, and
lively graphics, Chaos Bleeds should be a great game. Unfortunately, tedious
fighting, esoteric puzzles, and the usual suspects of 3rd person control problems
will promise to keep gamers frustrated, and do little to make Chaos Bleeds
stand out from the pack of 3rd person action/adventure titles available for the
PS2. In the end, these faults bring the game down too much for a universal recommendation;
only die-hard fans of the series should look into this game, and even then, maybe
just for a rental.
¹ Correction regarding the engine
was made. 10/01/03 [
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