Intro
Ah, Blade, how I am so proud of thee. With a simple nightclub and katana,
you helped to herald in the Golden Age of comic book cinema. Sure, your sequel
wasn't as good as the original, but it had spunk, and that goes a long way. Now,
it's finally time for your video game incarnation to make its licensed way throughout
the hands of console gamers everywhere. It's just a shame that Mucky Foot wasn't
able to capitalize on what they did right to give gamers the definitive vampire
hunting experience.
Gameplay: 4.5/10
The
premise of hunting vampires is an old tradition in gaming, but it's one that's
always welcomed by me. If there's one thing I hate more than the shambling zombies,
it's blood-sucking vampires, and getting the chance to step in Snipes' shoes should
have been a joy from beginning to end, but Blade II falters right when it matters.
It isn't that Mucky Foot didn't capture
Blade in all his nonchalant glory, aside from the fact that his face looks only
vaguely like Snipes and/or Blade; actually, they managed to capture his characteristics
extremely well. There's his acrobatic maneuvers, not to mention the quick grasp
of his swinging blade; whenever the game does come together, which is infrequent,
it comes off as a doppelganger to the movie quite well. The levels are also true
to the movie, complete with a nightclub full of hipster vampires who would care
nothing more than to party the night away and kill your kids -- that is, until
you step through the crowd and blow them all away with your glorious modified
pistol. The vampires themselves could use some variety, though, as they tend to
come in only a few flavors and are quite numerous. As a result, even new vampires
are shown so often that they seem old before the end of the level. What
is one of the most interesting aspects of the title is how Blade controls. Instead
of a standard button-combat layout, Mucky Foot opted to use the second analog
pad as a means of fighting. Pressing forward will make him punch, but moving them
in rhythmic motions will cause him to do combos. This is an interesting approach,
especially when a sideways kick manages to hit a vampire that's trying to sneak
up, and when going back to the first vampire, Blade performs one of his special
maneuvers. Special moves cause the screen to zoom up on the two fighters, and
as the resolution gets a little grainy, Blade performs a finishing maneuver and
offers up a quip. This is interesting but wasn't fleshed out enough, and really
causes combat to be far more frustrating than it should have been. Aside
from the poor variety in your enemies, it initially sounds like Blade II
is a solid action title and worthy of the name, so what's wrong with it? Blade
II suffers from a large number of small problems and an absence of cohesion.
Some of the smaller problems include Blade only being able to use his sword when
he is in a rage, despite the fact that it is always on his back, just begging
to be taken out, and he needs to collect chips within levels to purchase weapons
afterwards. I know that this is a game and there have to be some objectives, but
he has a warehouse full of this stuff in the movie, so unlocking what he should
already have just didn't make sense. I can chalk that up to an attempt at adding
something to the game's longevity, but the A.I. is another problem altogether,
whether it's the absent-minded vampires that die in droves as they stand right
next to Blade and never bother to turn their head an inch to spot him, or the
fact that their horde-style attacks throw Blade off his rhythm and that formerly
devastating combo turns into a few punches, causing him to get slung across a
room.
The absence of cohesion that
was previously mentioned becomes obvious while Blade gets thrown off his combo
when attacked by another enemy. There's cool ideas at work here - a new, innovative
control system and being able to dispatch large numbers of vampires at a time
- but there's just something that comes up to cause the whole experience to go
from fun to frustrating. There also isn't much of a reason to continue, because
after a while it just feels very repetitive, and earning those new weapons just
isn't enough of an incentive to keep going. It's a shame seeing such a great idea
get so close to being represented correctly, but having it fall to pieces right
when it matters.
Graphics:
5/10
As stated, Blade's face is only remotely close to resembling Snipes,
or even the comic version of Blade, but everything else about him was carried
over well. His side jump is especially cool, especially when timed to move out
of the way of an oncoming object. His leather jacket always makes a moment look
much cooler than it would normally be, and watching the vampires burn away as
they do in the movie is always a treat. However, with the redundant vampire designs,
and the fact that the game stops to load whenever a large group appears, the overall
experience is tainted. With the Xbox, there's no excuse to have the game actually
stop to load the enemies and then have residual slowdown as an aftermath. The
levels are also fairly bland and while they look like their movie versions, they
aren't anywhere near as flamboyant or exciting. With Blade and a few effects being
the only visually impressive aspects of the entire game, it doesn't even come
close to representing the degree of style that the movies exhibit. Sound:
4/10
Why, oh why, was the movie soundtrack not used? I know that this has
been echoed by many others, but it has to be mentioned, as the music is either
a watered-down variation of the soundtrack, or just not all that exciting. The
effects aren't bad and the voice-overs are decent, despite the fact that neither
Snipes nor Kristofferson were recorded for the game, but it's their constantly
repeated catch phrases that get annoying. While Whistler comes off as a developer
trying desperately to capture his gruffness, Blade just shoots up on the annoying-meter
as his, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" soundbite
was heard constantly and at inappropriate times. Lines from the movie that are
appropriate aren't used nearly enough and those that make little to no sense are
used in abundance.
Control:
3.5/10
It's tough when innovation doesn't pay off, and the combat style in
Blade II certainly proves this. I would love to see this kind of approach
polished up a bit and used again, but unfortunately it only served as a glimpse
of something cool in Blade II. When it does work, it's awesome, as getting
in a rhythm with the game and taking care of a group of baddies is an enjoyable
experience, though this is a rarity. One aspect that was weird was that, because
the second analog is used for fighting, something else had to control the camera
- which can get stuck in places, making things incredibly frustrating - and that
is left to the movement button. While that doesn't sound too bad, it makes turning
a pain as the camera pans first and then Blade turns, or if you are in combat
and trying to hurry, the camera will pan, leaving the player seeing the front
of Blade and not being able to fight off the vampires that are now wearing down
his lifebar. Weapons use a targeting system that's a bit awkward: some games like
Zombie Revenge feature a bar that changes colors to indicate a better shot,
and while Blade II does this as well, it occasionally changes back, so
it's difficult to tell if the shot will kill the enemy or merely wound them. Overall,
though, the weapons are handled well, except for his returning blade as it seems
to get stuck in any and every object that's in the room. Overall:
4/10
Blade II would have served well as fodder for a sarcastic review,
but I see where Mucky Foot was going and I know they got very close to achieving
a solid comic-to-movie-to-game port. They took initiative and used some quirky
and sometimes refreshing approaches to the standard action title, but they ended
up with something that would serve best as a quick rental, as opposed to a must-own.
They get an 'A' for effort, but the result is something best left to chalk up
to experience, or to a girl named Buffy. [
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