Customer Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

After many months of on-and-off playing, I've finally just finished "Buffy: Chaos Bleeds". It's a melee-oriented game of about 15 levels set in the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" universe, and throughout the game you are placed in the role of different characters from the show -- primarily Buffy herself, but also Spike, Willow, Xander, Faith, and Sid. Almost all of the fighting is of the hand-to-hand variety, except for Willow's spellcasting (which is fun) and a few ranged attacks: crossbows (which are rare but good) and "holy water" and "hell fire" potions which you can throw at advancing enemies.

My girlfriend (the Buffy fan in the family) bought the game originally, but some of the game's quirks drove her away from playing it (so I had to play it while she watched). First, the floating third-person camera is controllable with the right analog stick, but in confined spaces it will not fully rotate around your character, or will offer too cramped a view to be useful. Second, vampires have a way of spawning right behind your character in a previously empty area and attacking you from behind -- this is quite startling until you get used to it.

Third, combat is the essence of the game, but has an unpolished feel to it. It's quite easy to get out of position so that you're punching air while a vampire attacks you from behind. I guess that's part of the challenge, but it happens often enough to be annoying (and I'm no newbie to fighting games). And I would usually just jam the kick button, which sometimes would do little damage, and other times would result in a spinning roundhouse kick which would knock the enemy to the ground -- it was never clear to me why I'd get one result or the other. There is a "Slayer Handbook" page which shows you the available combos for the active character, but aside from using Willow's spells, I would just use the FBM technique (Frantic Button Mashing) because trying to perform specific combos seemed to get my butt kicked. Throws (which are executed by pressing the A and X keys simultaneously) are effective and well-implemented though -- you're pretty much guaranteed a victory over an enemy once you've thrown them to the ground, but you need to be at the right distance from a not-blocking enemy to pull it off, and you're vulnerable to a counter if you miss.

Another annoying thing as that you can't save freely within a level. In each level you have to fight your way to certain areas where a "Continue Point" is activated. If you die, you can either restart from the beginning of the level or from your last Continue Point. However, unlike in Halo you cannot save the Continue Points and turn the machine off -- you have to keep playing the level until you finish it, or else lose your progress in that level. Now I might be excessively slow and methodical, but some of the levels took me a couple of hours to finish and I didn't enjoy knowing that my xbox would be tied up for such a long time. That's why it took me so long to complete the game -- knowing that I'd have to allocate most of an evening to finishing a level was a deterrent to playing.

I shamefully admit that I had to use a walkthrough to get through a couple of the trickier levels. Usually this was because I just didn't recognize things that I was able to do; e.g. you should note that you can sometimes punch the locks on gates to break through. Other tips for when you're stuck: you should try jumping and holding on to any available ledges, and while pick-up-able objects are highlighted with a shimmery glow, some actionable objects in the environment are not so easy to recognize. Walk around hitting the Y button in front of everything to make sure you're not missing any keyholes or levers.

As you progress through the game, finding secret areas and completing the levels unlocks some of the hidden content. There are short interviews with Joss Whedon and some of the cast members, as well as footage of some of the voice recordings, which is amusing to watch after playing the game. There are also some multiplayer minigames that let you play as different characters and fight against your friends; as you progress through the single-player game you unlock more playable multiplayer characters, including Joss Whedon himself at the very end.

My girlfriend did enjoy the Buffy-ness of the story, and the voice work was good and Buffy-fied in both execution and sense of humor. I did like that the game spanned many different environments, including the Magic Box, a mall, a zoo, and a medieval castle. I had a lot of fun playing Willow and using her different spells -- it would have been nice if the other characters had more specialization to add variety to the combat. And while the boss at the end of each level was often frustrating to beat, once I discovered the necessary pattern, it was a pleasing relief to finally defeat each one, complete the level, and be able to save the game. If you're just looking for a fighty-type game, I'd recommend "Ninja Gaiden" for sweet combat, or "Jade Empire" for cool graphics and an epic storyline, but if you've got a passion for Buffy then this game will help slake your vampire-lust.

This game was definitely enjoyable. Being able to explore Sunnydale and royally kick some good ol' vampire ass as six different characters is just a brilliant idea. You get to use so many different fighting styles from Faith's powerful punches to Willow's sunlight spells of bright, sunny doom. The multiplayer arenas are also great. The settings of the game were accurate and very realistic. I think I noticed a few times graffiti on the dumpsters and small cuts in the bricks.

I have a few complaints about the game, however. First, Spike looked like my great aunt Ollie. Many of the other characters looked very inacurate, as well. For instance, Anya almost looked annorexic. Her cheeks were so...mushed in. And Willow...yeah, she looks high. And sounds like it, too. I think Xander was the most accurate of all the characters, in my opinion. The phrases that the characters said, as well, annoyed me. I mean, "Just what every girl needs. A nice, long shaft. Wait, that didn't come out right." How long did it take the producers to come up with that? Three minutes? And Willow's were just plain annoying. There was one time when my friend and I were playing it, and something must have glitched in the game because every time she killed something, she'd say the same line: "Now that was just creepy." Also, Willow's little, "Ooh! A medi-kit! Now I can be Nurse Willow! Tara's gonna love this..." ...No, nein, nicht. Don't think so. Though, I must say that some of the lines were quite amusing. For example, Buffy's little "BUFFY SMASH! GRRR!" just made my cousin and I burst into laughter. And the artificial intelligence was amazing. Though very very frustrating at the time, but eh, I got over it.

So, to sum up: good levels, AI, plot, characters, and multiplayer arenas, bad graphics and lines.

You should definitely play this game, though, despite the characters' flaws that will drive you to the point of pondering your sanity, it is a wonderful game that makes you think hard and will make you laugh, whether you're laughing with the game or at it. Play...this...game.

This game has two of the worst flaws any game can possibley have : Horrible controls AND Horrible Camera angles. If the controls suck and the cameras suck then guess what? You cant play the game! Even if you are a diehard Buffy fan you will not enjoy this game. A game can have cool graphics, concepts, etc. but if you don't have fun playing it who cares? To top it off this game doesn't have good graphics, original concepts or even decent voice acting. Half the characters voices are not even provided by the original actors and with the exception of the girl who voices Buffy they are all absolutely horrible!
Another reviewer actually defended this game by saying players should stop comparing it to the previous Buffy game because it is not the same game. That is ridiculous because what people loved about the first game were the super tight controls, responsive fight system and awesome camera control!!! Qualities gamers want in EVERY game! Thats why they are saying the first game is so much better. You will honestly spend half your time getting beat in the back of the head by an enemy who you never saw coming even if you were trying to swing your camera around to check around you while you swing and kick at the empty air in front of you and connect with nothing, even if you are an experienced gamer! Another reason that it is perfectly fair to compare this to the previous Buffy game is because they rely on so many of the conventions from the first game with no innovation. Same vampires, same zombies, same sewers, except instead of improving they have actually taken a step back! The inventory system sucks (it was awesome in the first game) and the blocking button has been moved from the easily accessible shoulder button to the impossible to reach white button! AAARRGGG! Before you could easily grab an enemy and throw them in any direction you wanted. Not anymore! You will probably actually be able to grab your enemy one out of every ten times, the rest you will either grab air (even if your enemy is right in front of you) or do nothing while you are beaten to a pulp. And if on the off chance you do grab you enemy only god knows where he'll go flying, but it probably wont be on the spike your trying to throw him on. This game is an embarrassment and everyone who worked on it should never be allowed to work on another game again. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm. I must admit I was SO excited when I first read there would be a follow up to the BTVS xbox game. Having played the 1st a 1000 times and loved every minute of it I was psyched. I literally was counting down for the release date, only slightly concerned with the change in developers from Fox Interactive to Vivendi. The game came out and although I do like it, I dont love it and have not touched it since I finished it- I would rather play the 1st game. I know making comparisons may not be completely fair- but in truth we DO have the original game to compare it too. In Chaos Bleeds- the first thing I noticed and hated was the camera- I got stuck a million times because of it. I also did not like the larger resized characters- too cartoonish in appearance in my opinion. The lighting in the game I also didnt not care for- the characters were very iluminated even in dark sequence game play- where in the 1st Buffy game- the characters darkened with the room lighting. Also these characters do NO lip synching while in play as in the 1st game (when in the first game and playing as Buffy when ever she made a comment- when picking up hell fire and says "it must be my birthday" the Buffy model actually moves her lips in sequence to the words- EXCELLENT) which I thought added a strong dose of reality to the characters. My game also froze and locked up a million times especially on the Faith level. I also did not at all like the fighting arena- now instead of the characters being oversized, they are shrunken down and SO small you cant even see the faces clearly. There are NO weapons in multiplayer and it is repetetive in the sense you keep fighting the same group of baddies over and over again. But in the 1st Buffy- use the cheat code and you have free realm of the areas you are in to run, jump and fight as Normal sized Buffy- and add in the other cheat code and a friend can possess the baddies and you have a real- Mortal Kombat fighting arena- especially the first one where you run around this huge arena- now in Chaos Bleeds they lock you into a small area - and shrunk your character down... I am very dissapointed in this and I really HOPE IF there is a 3rd game- Fox interactive will pick it back up- maybe re-throw in Faith as a on again/off again playable and re-release a real kick ass Buffy game like the first one. I doubt there will be anymore after the sales of this game though..One more complaint- when you used your slayer power in the 1st game it REALLY felt like it packed a punch during game play- and in Chaos Bleeds you completely lose the feel of it- there is no OOOMPH in the fight......

Let's get this right out of the way...there is nothing truly groundbreaking in this game, in terms of graphics, sound, or general gameplay. That said, it's still a solid action/puzzle title that captures much of the postmodern spirit of the fabulous series on which it was based. I'd rate it about an 8.3 out of 10.

I'll get to the gameplay, etc., in a moment, but will first comment on the story. It does have more of a comic-book feel than the series generally does, but by videogame standards, it's well above-average, and really quite entertaining, mostly in the comedic sense (self-referential humour fully intact). Given that the villain is essentially Ethan Rayne, though, don't expect much in the way of emotional resonance...it's BtVS-lite in that regard. Now, onto the gameplay...

The fighting engine is remarkably deep, at least for the Buffy and Faith characters, which you play 65% of the time. The various combos available to you seem endless, though you'll probably do reasonably well with mindless button-mashing, so it's equally suitable for novices and more advanced gamers who like to mix it up. The staking effect is extremely satisfying, especially for fans of the series. Willow's more enjoyable to use later in the game (the Mall stage), with all of her spells firmly intact (though you'll likely fall back on the homing missle most of the time), Xander's relies more on weapons (of which there are an abundance), Spike inflicts the most damage, and Sid (used only in half of the hospital stage) is a riot to behold, with his rapid fists of fury.

Character models are good but not exceptional, and the voice work is generally solid (Anya's voice double being the only one totally off-the mark, and Willow's, though well-intentioned, sounding too much like an affectation). The backgrounds capture the series' set design nicely, and the music, though somewhat repetitious (but in a quiet, subtle way), feels entirely appropriate and quite cinematic. Yes, the one-liners (usually about three-to-four for each function, such as commenting on a locked door) grow tiresome, but once you've familiarized yourself with the stages, you'll be able to keep them to a bare minimum.

As per usual with third-person fighting games, the camera is somewhat unwieldly (the only game with a near-perfect camera, IMO, is "Zelda: The Wind Waker"), and the inventory (weapons, health meds) scroll (using the control pad) will be difficult for some players to manage in the heat of battle (there's no perfect way for programmers to deal with this, really). Some puzzles in the game will frustrate upon the initial play-through (you may find yourself wandering around aimlessly on more than a few occasions), but most follow a straightforward logic and usually have precedent earlier in the game (such as in the Zoo reptile area, where you much grab the top of an escalating cage door on TWO occasions). The latter stages of the game are something of a fetch-fest, but a limited number of unlocked doors (hint: in the high school, only the doors with signs beside them and main passageways open) generally give you an indication as to where to proceed...pick up everything in sight before leaving any room.

The Multiplayer mode is well-presented, with 26 characters available (if you can unlock them all, in Story Mode), most notably series creator Joss Whedon himself. There's a definite insane randomness to the pickups in this mode, but it certainly allows for a lot of variety.

And finally, any BtVS fan is gonna love the extras: a series of candid interviews with Joss and cast members, voice-over sessions, and amusing outtakes.

So if you're a huge BtVS fan, buy it. If you're a fan of action/puzzle fighting games, give it a good long rental, and then decide if you'd like to add it to your collection.

If you loved the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer game offered only on the XBox, then stick with that and dont waste your time playing Chaos Bleeds. I always thought the sequel to a game was supposed to surpass it in every aspect? Nonetheless, you do get the chance to play as Xander, Willow, Spike, Faith and Sid the Dummy...but that doesnt make up for the way that the controler handles and the bad angles that this game offers. The way the game was set up before was much more user friendly. If you were getting low on energy (health), all you had to do was pause the game and go to your inventory, drink an elixer and go back to fighting; not in chaos bleeds, in this game while your getting your azz beat by 3 vampires, you are having to scroll through your inventory of weapons to find a medipak and use it quick before you turn to dust yourself. And you can only carry 5 medipaks at a time, you could carry 9 elixers in the previous buffy game. Also the control handling is so slugish, you start trying to hit a vamp, one show up behind you, dont waste your time trying to turn around to hit him, youll end up going in a different direction swinging at nothing but air and the vamps are now behind, still kicking the crap out of you. If you enter an area and there are 3 vamps there to fight, you wont know it by their energy bar showing up at the top of the screen like the previous buffy game, you get to find out there in the area when they appear out of nowhere and jack slap you a good one. Faith and Buffy fight the exact same way. Spike is somewhat slow but seems to be the strongest, Xander... although his arena is the hardest, i just dont seem him staking 50 vamps and living, and Willow character doesnt have the option to kick, all she can do is slap a vamp away from her and PRAY she is holding a stake or has enough magic to toast them with fireballs, or shes dead meat too. Also in the previous buffy game, as you went through the game, buffy had the chance to boost her slayer power and health giving her the chance to last longer in the game, not in chaos bleeds, what little energy you start off with, thats all you get.... so try not to block those vampire punches with your face.... or you can just hang it up. After playing this game for almost 3 months, i have yet to beat it. It took me almost 3 weeks just to clear Spikes stage. All in all, its a horrible excuse for a game and i wouldnt bother.... youd be better of playing Legend of Zelda on the regular Nintendo.

The camera angles are bad. It's not like in the first game where you had complete control over the camera. No, you can only rotate it 180 degrees this time, and sometimes not even that! Sometimes the camera sticks for no reason!

The controls are bad. Even if you're an experienced gamer, you may have some trouble controlling the character. Sometimes when you're getting attacked, you can't always get she/he to face the proper direction. The inventory sucks. Unlike the first game where you could pause the game to equip a different weapon or heal, you have to fumble through your inventory while being attacked!

While the first "Buffy" game had beautiful graphics, this one looks like a first generation Playstation One game.

Some of the voice acting is terrible, especially Anya and Willow, who were not voiced by Emma Caulfield and Allyson Hannigan.

This game's biggest drawback, though, is the inability to save your progress except at the end of the level. There are continue points throughout each level, so if you die you don't have to start all over; but if you reach a continue point, turn off your Xbox or PS2, then you do have to start the level all over the next time you play the game. Most of the levels are pretty huge -- 45 minutes to 90 minutes in length -- so this gets to be a serious problem, especially in the later levels where the boss fights are A LOT tougher, and you have to keep playing until you beat them, or lose 90 minutes of progress.

But if you're a diehard "Buffy" fan like I am, you'll find the patience to play all the way through this game anyway. Bad camera angles, controls, graphics, and voice acting aside, it's still a video game based on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". After you beat each level, you unlock a video interview with one of the "Buffy" cast members.

If nothing else, the story is better than the first game: Ethan Rayne has escaped from custody, and he has a new ally... The First Evil. Ethan has an arrangement set up with The First where if he can choose six warriors to represent him, and they pass all the tests, then The First will imbue Ethan with godly power. So Ethan forces the Scoobies to be his six warriors, by trapping them in an alternate version of Sunnydale. The only way Buffy and her friends can now get back to their own dimension is to pass all the tests...

Alright, alright. ... what's with all the bad reviews from people? Not only is this game faithful to the show , it's also a very fun game!
Speaking as a 'hardcore' Buffy fan I can say this...and speaking as a video game fan I can also.
There are problems with this game , yes. But, show me a game that is flawless!
It had been a while since I've played the game but I did complete it. Also, I started it up again and thought to myself "Self, this is really a good game!"
The characters have the 'Buffy' feel, the control of the characters is great the voice acting is...for the most part, good. And the over all feel of the game is also good.
You play as many differant characters and they all play a bit differantly, *for the most part* which not only keeps the game from getting boring but, pleases Buffy fans!
It's everything a Buffy fan could want in a video game.
Now, for the negative .
-the graphics while are 'good' could have been better. It seems a little cheaply made.

-/+Willow??? So they didn't get the original actress , I understand but I still don't have to like who they got to play the part, the same goes for Anya.
-/+The writing for the game was pretty good but not quite as good as the show itself *my own personal negative*
-The Camera....pshh whatever...it's not great I'll give you that but it's not too bad. Though, it is worth mentioning.
Overall this is a very fun game on its own, and for Buffy fans it's just shy of the Holy Grail of Buffy games. I do hope they keep making these games since all of them have been real good.
Though, it would be nice to see some improvements.
No serious complaints though, this is a very fun game.
Pee Ess; there's a ton of extras to unlock :-)

Chaos Bleeds is the follow-up to the previous Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The game begins with Buffy and crew having to stave off an onslaught of vampires at the Magic Box (the local magic shop where Buffy's operations are based). As the battle comes to an end, one vampire lets slip a threat of impending destruction. What ensues is a lengthy journey that pits Buffy and company against a number of familiar foes.
Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, Faith, and Sid are all playable in different sections of the game, though you don't get to choose which character to take through each section of a mission. The game simply switches control over to a different character depending on what the plot requires. In some instances characters will pair up in combat situations.
The one aspect of Chaos Bleeds that was really disappointing was the graphics. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a pretty great looking game, but Chaos Bleeds looks awful. Overall, I was pretty happy that I rented this game and didn't purchase it.

I loved the first Buffy game, a superb action game. The second installment in the series is a major dissapointment, which I hope the developer will view as a mistake. The camera is the worse I have ever seen and you'll want to kill your x-box, especially during jumping sequences. They changed a lot of things I liked about the first game, such as the wider camera view and the exciting fighting sequences. Combat in Chaos bleeds is boring in comparison and is apparently made for a younger gamer with its oversized characters and easier fighting. I wanted to like this game because I'm a fan of the show, but, unfortunately, its not very good. I find myself constantly trying to adjust the camera when fighting or exploring new locations. The game feels like it was rushed to the shelves, and the horrible camera takes away from some new cool features, including fighting with a sword.