Customer Reviews

Vampire Hunter D

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

INTRO: Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Vampire Hunter D the series, its just I am doing an unbiased review that won't spare any of the flaws with this particular title. To say this game is the best game in history is just foolish, and to say its the worse game in history is also just as foolish. It may be really fun to someone, but the truth of the matter is its got some issues.

FLAWS: Well, the major flaws aren't to be ignored. Jaleco (the company responsible for this game) needs to realize that the pre-rendered backgrounds so famous in the Resident Evil games, just doesn't belong in any other game that can't pull it off just as well. Resident Evil tended to switch camera views when it was most convinient (well, most of the time), but this game will switch camera views well...a lot. And a lot of them aren't very helpful and will get you killed a lot. Also, the fact that drawing your sword takes a minute and you have to do it every time you enter a screen is just annoying. Drawing a gun is much quicker than a sword I know, but when you are being ambushed right when you walk through a door and your only real weapon is sheathed, this can be a big problem. Another thing is the controls...ugh! They aren't horrible, but then again...they aren't anywhere close to perfect. You'll find yourself being stuck on the walls, facing the wrong way to attack enemies, and so on. Its just frustrating and will take a lot of getting use to. As a nitpick, a lot of D's moves could be a little bit faster to keep up with the computer's foes.

GRAPHICS: The graphics are about as good as the Playstation 1 can really manage for this type of game. There isn't a lot of distortion in the character models, and compared to the Japanese version of this game, they actually improved a lot of the monster models. The cutscenes are good use CGI, and you'll find yourself being familiar with a lot of the characters.

AUDIO: The audio is pretty well done. I was skeptical at first because the Bloodlust movie offered some great voice actors, but this game managed to boast some not-so-annoying voices. From as much as I can tell, Meier Link's voice actor in this game is actually the same from the movie...and Leila's voice actor is a dead-ringer as the movie's in some parts.

PLOT/GAME STORY: This game is based (as few people know) on the Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust movie that was released recently as a sequel to the classic movie. This game captures the movie pretty well, but changes a lot of the stuff to get the pace moving faster. If you want full character development though, check the movie out first.

PUZZLES: The puzzles aren't IMPOSSIBLE but a little difficult. The only thing I can say about the puzzles is that they aren't very ...."encouraging". They are about as boring as puzzles come sadly enough. I usually am not inspired to pick up the controller just so I can look through the sewer for a wrench (an actual puzzle).

ABILITIES: The abilities are pretty cool. Your hand (as most fans know already) can absorb enemies after they have been weakened, and their power is added to a small meter at the bottom of the screen. This meter (once increased by a slot - 3 slots total) will allow you to use one of your hands 2 special abilities: "Heal" (full energy plus cure of poison) and "Attack" (a devastating attack that inflicts major damage on bosses and kills basic enemies). This is a cool and unique feature, and also the fact that you can gain an instant resurrection (life) if you fill the meter up to "full" once (you can gain further resurrections if you use the current one and fill the meter up again). Besides this much, you can use a variety of weapons (grenades, throwing darts, flash bombs, etc.) and power-ups (blood pills, potions, cures) which is common for any video game.

OVERALL: Overall, this game is pretty fun once you get used to the annoying flaws and can manage to beat them (you can save anytime in your items menu so there shouldn't be any problems). Other than these annoying problems, this game is a major "have" for any collector of anime games, survival horror games, and rip-offs of the Resident Evil series, since it boasts a lot of each of those categories, and since this game is better than the import version, its both "easier to find" and "better by far".

Vampire Hunter D is very much a creation of Yoshitaka Amano, a visionary designer who, among other things has had a significant influence on the visual effects of game and anime design. He is most famous for his work in the Final Fantasy series, but this game as a derivative of his anime work. As such, it arrived with a built in following, but failed to live up to expectations.

It is a fairly representative plot, based on the 2001 Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust DVD. Rescue a young damsel from the claws of vampire Meier Link, a story with several unexpected twists, which are used here as well. It is a puzzle-solving, watch your vitality sort of game.

The puzzles can be difficult, fighting is simplistic and clumsy, and the interface is awkward. For someone who has adjusted to games on the newer consoles, playing Vampire Hunter D may be an unsatisfying experience. IT is even a bit primitive by PSOne standards. Still it's not a bad game, just one that is very dated.

Its real value today is as a collectors item for D fans, who probably all believe that there isn't enough of the dunpeal vampire killer to go around. The graphics are murky, but it's still the world where half-breed vampires get even with their sires and damsels are there for the rescuing.

Collector, diehard fan, or curious game player, this is worth picking up. Just don't expect Final Fantasy level play and you will avoid disappointment.

Alright anime fans!! Listen up!! If you love anime or just Vampire Hunter D, then you need to check this game out. Awesome voice acting and storyline. The music is alright. Good in some places and boring in other places. The graphics are decent. Basically, this game is great except for the controls. The controls make the game much harder than it should be, but if you can get used to them and overlook their constant mess ups, then you can like this game and get pretty far in it. The camera angles mess up a lot too. But it is a helluva lot of fun chopping of bad guys and stealing their life energy with D's left hand. You get a few items such as blood potions, wooden stakes, and even grenades to aid you in your quest. A pretty expansive and neat array of monsters. check it out. nice game.

A great game for play station 1. Based roughly on parts from both movies, the original and Bloodlust. If you have a PS2 get this game anyways, it is fun, addictive, and contains a few puzzles. A few bugs, but all in all a great game.

This game is very good, Although some of the bosses were pretty tough to beat on the first try (Like Meier Link for example). I really got a kick out of it, Though for the thirtieth time I got the bad ending (Where everyone died--Even Leila)--But D survived. A couple of hours ago I beat it again--And this time I got the good ending (Where everyone survived--Even Leila). Boy, Is this game a trip or what.

I'm sure that you all have read the other previews and know what the game is about and what happens and all that stuff. So, I'll get right to the point. I would call this game a cross between Resident Evil and Castlevania. Being a fan of both games, and of the Animé movie and graphic novel, I was naturally drawn in by the game, and recieved much enjoyment in playing it. The game challeges the gamer's skill, but not to the point where the game becomes impossible to beat, which is a good thing in this reviewer's standards. The puzzels in the game take some time to think through, but again, do not require a degree in quantum physics to work out. All in all, I give this game five stars. Like I said, gamers who are into the afore mentioned game genres should pick up a copy of this game. You won't be disappointed.

As a fan of the Resident Evil series I found this game to be extremely cool. The story Is sweet to. You take the place as a Dunpeal, half human half vampire,bounty hunter, in the dark times of the year 12090 A.D. The earth has been in chaos for 10000 , after the great vampire&human war. Since then the Vampire's were the ultimate, taking controll of the humans. Now these retched creatures are dying as a species, fleeing to the darkest depts of this world. Few are left now. The humans are now regaining power. Though many fear vampire's brave bounty hunter's have been hired to kill the remaining. The best of them are the Dunpeals. One of them is D. Well anyways D is hired by a man to rescued his Kidnapped daughter from one the last Vamp',Meier Link. The man offer's D $500,000. to show he's desperate, and offers another 2,000,000. when she is rescued. With the help of his Living left hand, some kind of weird growth, he set's out to a Medieval type castle to rescue her. The gameplay is great, exept the screwy camera angles, and I liked the medvieval type BG music. Overall it is a awsome game.

I bought this game used because I liked the movie, and i thought, what the hey, the game will probably be good too. It does deliver on nostalgia, but it is not a fun game to play. I wanted to like this game, but it just has so many flaws.
First, and foremost, the movement system. Pushing up on the arrow pad makes you go forward, no matter which way you're facing. This took me forever to get used to, and even then i never entirely got the hang of it. It makes fighting enemies slow and difficult. Would it have been that hard to make the movement normal and use the analog stick?!
Sigh...another complaint is that the game is short, the puzzles are irritating and boring, and you never leave this one building. That's right, the entire game takes place in the same castle! Which inevitably means that much of the game is comprised of hideous backtracking, over and over again, to find a cardkey and open a door.
I don't know if Im just biased because I'm used to playing turn-based RPGs, but I found this game incredibly unenjoyable. Its only redeeming quality is that Vampire Hunter D is its subject matter.... So, my advice is to only buy this if your a fan of Vampire Hunter D, and if you think you can stand it.

This game is worth checking out, especially if you like anime or resident evil, I don't care for the Resident Evil games but every once in a while there is a clone that I like. This game is more like Dino Crisis 2 and resident evil combined. You kill everything in site like DC2 but the mood is more like Resident Evil.

I did not think the controls were all that bad but the camra angels are the worst of all.The combat suffers a lot because of this. I remember one time when I was fighting some vampires and D wasn't even on the screen. What is that? There was a lot of screw ups but a lot of good stuff like the puzzles are done really good and the opening scene was verry verry good. I think there should have ben some anime in the game, I haven't beat the game yet but I haven't seen any anime yet.

...This game has THE best graphics, and the CG movie graphics are even better than those of the Final Fantasy series. The only real problem with this game is the controlls, but they're easy to learn. Because of people constantly comparing this game to Resident Evil, it doesn't get a fair chance. It's really a great game, and if you like the movie, you'll love this...