Customer Reviews

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There's something uniquely satisfying about being evil. Evil gets to play with the best toys, listen to the best music, wear the best clothes and generally be sinister, introspective and cool. In game terms, being evil also means that you get to do all the things that make the good guys wince, like bursting people with blood-magic or biting them in the face. Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines is the latest excuse to be deliciously evil. From developer Troika the game takes advantage of both the rich heritage of White Wolf's role-playing game, and Valve's spanking new Source engine, which powers Half-Life 2; an undeniably exciting concept.

In practice the game is a thrilling merger of RPG sensibilities and frenetic, brutal action...with just a dash of stealth and lateral thinking thrown in for good measure. The player takes command of a fledgling vampire in the dangerous employ of Prince Le Croix - the vampire overlord of Los Angeles. Like any good RPG, Vampire allows you to choose an avatar for your character from a number of different models, both male and female. The species of vampire you choose will, to some extent, dictate what sort of player you'll be in the game. Action fans will probably be at home with the more physically powerful vampires such as the Brujhar, whose natural instincts for combat will confer increased power and accuracy. More conservative or cerebral players may prefer to outsmart or out-magic their opponents - there's even a chance to play as the sanity-challenged Malkavians, which leads to some unique conversations and scenarios.

You can choose to play from either the first-person, like a traditional shooter, or to view your character in the third-person, which is useful for melee combat or to judge jumps. There's no great emphasis on any one aspect of play - combat or puzzle solving - and the fact that experience points are rewarded for completing missions rather than killing enemies means that players are invited to explore as they see fit, and solve problems in a manner of their choosing. Skillful players are able to sneak past sentries, or talk their way past an opponent. Or they could just choose to pull his head off. There is a huge variety of weapons, both ranged and melee to experiment with, as well as a great implementation of `Thermaturgy' - vampire blood magic.

Like other games such as Morrowind, or semi-RPG action games like Grand Theft Auto, there are central plot missions that need to be completed in order to really progress through the game. However, the giant sandbox world that Troika has crafted means that there's seldom a dull moment in between times, and sub-missions are often just as fun and rewarding to undertake.

Visually, the game is a treat, with the Source technology really shining through. There is a realistic physics engine that allows in-game objects to react to the players' (and other characters') actions - gun fire may dislodge boxes, doors and walls can be smashed apart...in a more gruesome touch blood and viscera has a tendency to splatter and stain the environment. Aurally, the effects are crisp and detailed. There is a huge amount of spoken dialogue, with multiple variations depending on who you `are' and what you say - coupled with multiple endings this game has oodles of replay value.

System-wise, you'll need a decent rig to play this game. I've recently upgraded my system to cope with Half-Life 2, and this game runs smoothly on what I would consider mid to high settings - 32bit color depth, 1280x960 resolution, mid-range sound etc. My system is a P4 2.6 with a gig of ram and a 9600 pro graphics card. If Doom 3 proved completely unplayable on your system then you'll find this over your head as well, but the game seems a little more scaleable than Doom, with more allowance for the average machine. One thing you will need is plenty of free hard drive space - a gig+ if you like to have as much as possible on the drive.

In the spirit of great games like Deus Ex, this game is going to appeal to both straight up action and RPG gamers, as well as any fans of the 'Vampire' series, who'll flip for the great attention to detail and the immersive visuals. It's difficult to suppress a smile when you're slinking through alleys, vaulting over high walls and slitting the throats of your vampire and supernatural foes, or going in gun's blazing with your Uzi and katana combo! This is certainly not a game for either kids, or the faint hearted; but for anyone who thinks having a taste for claret and no pulse sounds cool, this is the game for you.

Ok, finally an RPG that is an RPG.

Built as a first/third person shooter, and based on the Half Life engine, this game delivers a great story in a non linear fashion.

At the beginning of the game you can choose between 7 classes of vampires. Each class has a distinct demeanor and different powers. For example, you can choose to be a noble and aristrocratic Ventrue and use mental power to dominate foes. Or you can choose to be a Gangrel, in communion with the animals and with the ability to transform into a beast and shred your enemies to pieces while moving 5 times faster than them.

Believe me, in Bloodlines (as in the original White Wolf RPG) there is a Vampire that will just fit your needs and desires.

All missions can be completed in various different ways and using different sets of vampiric powers.

Game Breakdown:

Graphics 8/10: Downtown LA is absolutely awesome and well done. People walk around the roads, talk on their cell phones, chat with each other while smoking a cigarette. Lighting is good, but not even close to Doom 3.

Sound 9/10: The soundtrack is awesome and you will find its CD in the game. Voiceovers are good, but not exceptional.

Story 9/10: well written and fun. You will be in for a few surprises. Moreover, it has a high degree of non linearity. It modifies based on your gender, your vampire clan and your decisions. This brings awesome replayability.

Gameplay 8/10: I think combat in this game is very good, however weapons need to be equilibrated (your plain fists seem to deal more damage than a knife). Spells work awesome, and if you choose certain clans (like the Tremere) you will be able to see how powers and spells are more effective than hand to hand combat.
Moreover, you have a good set of skills that enhances your interactions with non playing characters. You will be able to seduce, manipulate, convince, threaten... these options are many times better than just killing somebody to get what you want.

I take a star off of what would be a 5 star product for 1 reason:
THE GAME IS BUGGY!!!
1. Doors are messed up, they open and close really bad.
2. Movies and cinematics seem slapped together and the soundtrack doesn't work very well in them.
3. You will get stuck in wierd places sometimes and have to reload. Save often!

A patch will surely fix all this.

Bottom line:
I LOVE THIS GAME! And I suggest it as a must buy to any Vampire or White Wolf fan. For all the others, I suggest this game to:
1) RPGers who like FPS games.
2) People in search for a non linear RPG in a non fantasy setting.
3) For big time fans of RPG, this game is nice.

First let me state that to play this game and enjoy the benefits, you must meet certain "eligibility" requirements.

First, You need premium hardware to play this game. Second, You are not expecting a fast-paced action intensive game where you go around mindlessly shooting baddies.

The environment and story line is intense. I'm about 60% through the game and have enjoyed every moment of the intricate story line, different quests, and amazingly detailed characters and personalities. The game, apparently, has four endings depending on what choices you make, and NPC's react differently to you whether you are male/female, what clan association, and how your stat pool is allocated. I can't wait to play this game again as a different character and see what new surprises await.

The most enjoyable aspect of this game is NOT combat - the combat engine, to be honest, is sub-par. You must understand that this game is about RPG and interacting with the environment. For example, as you complete different quests, you can watch the television and see the news "spin" the mass media takes on reporting your activities. It's quite hilarious.

I have read about the glitches in the audio/video in the cutscenes and other aspects of the game and would wholeheartedly agree that this game is not bug-free. Be prepared to deal with that until (hopefully) Troika/Activision release patches to address these issues.

FYI- I have a 3.2 Gig dual processor Intel Pentium 4 system with 512 megs ram and 256 mb video card and I have to play the game on lowest resolution to enjoy relatively stable game play.

Before I start my review on Bloodlines I have to start with a confession. . . I disliked the game before I took it out of the box, and purchased it in the hopes that I could tell all of my friends how horrible it was. I think I love it when I'm wrong.
The main reasons for loving this game (also titled why I recommend it to my friends)
1. It will make you want to replay it, not just once but as two or three different clan types.
2. There are a few sections of the game where you will feel chills rolling up your spine, or feel your heart race as you try to get by unnoticed for the tenth time.
3. Real humor, regardless of your taste you will laugh at this game.
4. If it wasn't for the little fact that your playing a vampire the majority of the situations, buildings, prices, and people are pretty realistic.
5. Haven't you always wanted to bite someone on the neck at a nightclub?

Now I've given this a fun rating of 5 stars but an overall of four for a few simple reasons.
1. Some of the cutscene animations are blocky at best, and the voices are often times out of sinc with the bodies. Not to mention the characters themselves don't walk like they are or where human.
2. You have little control over what your character looks like, it would be nice if they had of crammed in a few choices for how your character looked. i.e. hair color, skin color, tattoo's etc... Who wouldn't want a malkav with lime green hair wearing a pair of pants made out of old teddy bears?
3. There are a ton of bugs that go from annoying (doors just not opening the way they should), to anger inducing (crashs when you try to load a game in progress that is different from the one you are playing), to toss the computer outside and step on it (camera flipping around to stare at a blank wall while heads with feet are eating you).
4. A person with a seduction skill of 9 would not say "Give mama some sugar". Some of the dialog strings where weak to say the least and at times there just wasn't enough of a choice to give the character the edge I wanted.

All in all this is an adult oriented KOTOR, if you enjoyed that game and happen to have a thing for vampires check this one out. Make sure your computer has some life to it and I promise you that you will not be sorry. It's something that should be on all of your vampies yule lists.

I should note that I have not finished the game as yet, but I have spent several hours on it.

One thing I do like about the game is that you get to decide which clan your vampire will belong to (if you can't decide, you can answer a series of questions to find your rightful clan), your character's sex and name. However, other than providing you with particular talents, it don't seem to make too much difference in how you interact with other characters. At least at first. You may belong to a clan that likes to beat people over the head with a tire iron first and ask questions later, but you'll (usually) fair better with cooperation than brute force.

The characters you meet range from the bizarre to well, more bizarre, but I haven't found them as engrossing as in the first game, Vampire Masquerade: Redemption. Like in most role-playing games, you spend most of your time on various missions to accomplish a smaller goal in order to succeed at the larger task on your list.

In Redemption, you were a knight who's overall goal was to rescue your true love. However, in Bloodlines, one seems to be wandering from one task to the next, trying to stay alive, gain skills and not break any sacred vampire rules, without knowledge of an ultimate end goal. You can do some neat things like pick locks and hack computers (more or less, depending on your skills). The music on some of the menus, like the character log, can be annoying, but overall the music during game play is good. Sometimes it is hard to understand what a character said, so I suggest turning on captions. Graphics are good, although after playing Doom 3, it's hard to get excited about any other game's graphics. One thing that's interesting is being able to turn on a TV or radio to catch the news report (or really dumb commercial! ;-) or other information. You can also pick up cans or other objects to throw--usually to distract someone away from his post when you're sneaking around. Atmosphere is well done. One trip into a haunted hotel almost made me jump out of my skin! (Hey wait a minute--I'm supposed to be a vampire!)

You can talk to other characters, but only in a limited way...choosing from various responses which can either be more or less or not at all successful depending on your choice. There is a short tutorial--but if you already know about role playing character sheets, how to sneak in the shadows and other general gaming moves, then you'll probably be bored as your vampire trainer gives you very little in way of background. He shows up after the opening cut scene (long) when you're basically kicked out into the alley. You're approached by a biker looking type vampire. If you agree to let him help you, that starts the tutorial.

If you enjoy the vampire/monster genre, then this is probably the game for you. If you liked TV shows like "Angel" the gritty urban setting is appealing. I would recommend, however for the price to come down from $50 (I should add I RARELY think a PC game is worth $50). And maybe for patch to correct the minor bugs in the game. Try the earlier game, Redemption, if you haven't yet--it's still available.

There's a lot to like in Vampire: Bloodlines, and a few things to love. That there are also moments that had me gritting my teeth, and so many "buts", is what makes this review a tough one.

The graphics, for example, are by and large quite lovely, very atmospheric... But. Half-Life 2, the game engine's parent, made better use of them, from both a hardware and a software perspective. Half-Life 2 ran well on my system with 512 MB of RAM; Vampire stuttered somewhat(when I upgraded to 2 GB, it smoothed out nicely.) Half-Life 2 also just _looks_ better, and doesn't distract with clipping, strands of wavy hair passing through the sides of people's faces, and moments of rough texturing.

The game combines RPG and action elements, which is frequently fun and interesting, but... It expects you to react too quickly for an RPG, and the way numbers are crunched will annoy action gamers. Even with your "natural" stats maxed out in a particular set of combat-based stats, you can easily find yourself gunned down by a larger group, or by some of the more powerful bosses. Some of the "supernatural" abilities may offset this; I can't say for certain, having only played through the game once. What I do know is that my character was pretty combat-centric, and still only won certain battles because of bugs or defects in the AI- enemies unable to hit you from certain positions, or getting stuck on pieces of the scenery.

The game allows a fair amount of flexibility in how you approach problems... But some of the options are either so convoluted or so difficult as to be unworkable, while others are excessively easy. Stealth in particular seems broken; I "stealth killed" any number of people who walked right into me, then turned around a few seconds later.

On the whole, the game feels poorly tested. Some abilities are far, far more useful than others, and unless I'm missing something, a character without at least one area of solid combat focus is simply going to die. You can't carry more than one of a type of gun, though selling all the duplicates one runs across on dead foes would have made it easier to raise money (which is ludicrously available at some times and completely sparse at others.)

Then there's the end game, where... Well, without spoilers, let me just call it kind of unsatisfying. Other endings may be available, but what I saw suggests they're merely variations on a theme, and that theme focuses more on some of the other characters you meet than on your own. After some of the ridiculously hard battles I fought, I'd like to know how _my_ character ultimately fared, maybe a spot of congratulations. Doesn't seem so much to ask, y'know?

Oh, one more word about those battles. The final boss or bosses are so ridiculously over-powered that I felt no shame at all in using any exploit available. One of them can repeatedly teleport and hit you from behind before you can react. The only way to avoid this is very precise timing and repeating a pattern over and over again. Said foe requires more than ten times as many hits to defeat as he does to defeat you. This kind of fight really makes you go: "Guys? What were you _thinking_?" When _succeeding_ isn't even any fun...!

Despite bugs and combat, I must give some significant praise: The dialogue is terrific, both in the writing and in the performance. I especially appreciated some of the humorous moments, much needed in the grim setting. The atmosphere is great, from the haunted hotel you encounter early in the game to the lairs of twisted, unholy creatures. The game generally feels _adult_, not in the sense in which the term is often used (where it could as easily be termed 'juvenile') but in a willingness to recognize shades of gray and handle uncomfortable topics without flinching.

Though I would hardly call the game an unqualified success, I enjoyed it, and I mourn for Troika, the now-deceased company that created it. Hardly anyone makes role-playing games combining character depth, plot depth and flexiblility to different player approaches the way they did. If only they had done a little more testing... If only they had settled the combat system more firmly in the RPG or action arena... If only...

P.S. Looking over this review, it occured to me that some might take my comment about "using any exploit available" to mean using a third-party hacking program or cheat codes; I used neither to complete the game. But if, say, a boss character got "hung up" on a corner, unable to move... I took no particular shame in whaling the tar out of them while they were unable to reciprocate. I occasionally used the game's own flaws against it, in other words.

I'll make this short and sweet. Most of the bad reviews here were from game issues and low computer specs. Since the bugginess was addressed in the 1.2 patch and the rig I have it running on easily does 1600 x 1200, all I can say is what an amazing RPG. Uzis, blood sucking, sex, katanas... all in L.A. Sweet game. If you like edgy RPGs and have a hefty computer to run it, dowload the 1.2 patch and have a blast.

Like Nihilistic's Vampire the Masquerade - Redemption from four years ago, this game from Troika is loosely based on the p&p Vampire game. From the well-orchestrated previews and interviews, however, it's obviously a much slicker operation. And for fans of vampire lore, much deeper. Players will, this time, be able to choose their character from a number of the clans (including Malkavians!), and this choice will affect dialogue options and game play. The other interesting features are a decision to award xp not on the basis of killing enemies, but completing quests, so those who wish to play stealthy or peaceful (!) characters are not forced to blast everything in sight to go up levels. Plus, the unbalanced skills (feral claws and prison of ice) in the previous game have been reviewed and corrected. Expect witty storyline, and visuals that reach out to a base of players that is much wider than fans of vampire literature. It looks set to be outstanding: so bite me!

Statistics
Played: April-May 2006.
System: AMD 2600+, 1 GB memory, geforce 5200 fx 256 MB card.
History:
First Version: 24 April 2006
Revised: 30 May 2006(added summary, history and statistics, removed some reptitive text, made it more personal(using I more)

Summary
I liked this fun game which captures the mood of being a vampire well and is fun to roleplay. I got the feeling the game somewhat adapts to the character you play. It's a pity it is still combat heavy and with combat fireweapons and brawling is to weak. The game has it's bug so patching is advisable.

Introduction
It's a funny thing that most RPG's I liked I bought years after their release. I just overlook them. This also the case with Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which I will call Bloodlines for short in this review. Bloodlines was released in 2004 and I bought it last April(2006). I was late in buying it because the game didn't appeal me at first. I haven't got anything special with vampires, the front cover of the box I found ugly and the screenshots on the backside don't entice me. I got the impression it was a sort of mindless action game like diablo II. How wrong I was. Bloodlines is a genuine roleplay game build around an action game engine(if I am correct it is the half-life 2 engine) and in this it has but a few companions.

The right stuff
Let's have a look at the rpg part first. When the game starts you create a fledgling vampire who's is a member of a vampire clan. This clan membership should be viewed in a loose way: it determines certain aspects of your character, specifically the kinds of magic used and the way your character looks, but it doesn't determine you final loyalty. A nosferatu, for instance, is an ugly vampire, who needs to stay away from the public, but who is a good fighter. A toreador is a stylish vampire easily able to blend in with human society who more relies on social skills then on slugging it out. Each of the seven clans has it's own characteristics and during game play your clan membership plays a role, albeit not a crucial one. Skill selecting is up to you, because once the game has started you are allowed the spent earned experience points in any way you like. There are social skills, fighting skills, thieving skills and magic skills to choose from and, of course, never enough points to get them all.

The way to play
To me this is the way I like to play a rpg as I want be free in choosing which way to develop the character and follow the route of my own choosing. If I want to sneak, I spent a lot of points on sneaking. If I want to bluff my way through the game, I spent points on social skills. If I want to cut my way through heaps of foes, I want to spent points on melee skills. Bloodlines allows a lot in this respect.

That bloody act
Combat in Bloodlines is well done for a RPG. It's smooth, easy, varied and takes into account things like cover and distance. Fighting skills can be assigned in hand-to-hand, melee or firearms. The AI is adeaquate and the bossbattles are reasonable, although still suffering from the typical it(some tremendous strong monster) and me in a enclosed space; and only one of us will get out alive.
However I think the game favors melee. Melee weapons are the best choice in the game as they don't required you to spent money on ammunition(so you can spent it on something else like armor or blood) and you deal out damage as good as most guns. The only downside is that you need to close with your enemies and some enemies are hard hitters so you need to be carefull. However with a good melee skill and good defense you will hold you own.
Unarmed fighting will quickly become to weak, although from time to time I used it just for the fun of it and it helps in acquiring blood.
But I think it is really a pity firearms come out weak. At the start of the game I was be able to get my hands on a small hand gun, but both my starting skills in firearms and the damage the gun weren't very helpfull. A foe took maybe up to six hits to be killed and guns have a tendency to attrack attention, so you need to outgun several enemies at a time. Even shotguns are weak as it takes maybe up to three upclose blasts to down a common foe. In most games a full face of buckshot upclose is enough the blow someone's head off, but not in this game.
Added to this is the fact that firearms and the ammo difficult to be had. Indeed I found that with the firearms it is always to little and to late. This is a pity as some guns are really fun, like for instance the colt anaconda, which makes a sound like a cannon being fired, but is available only very late in the game and then I didn't use it much because of the lack of ammo. Granted I Was able to buy the ammo, but it was quite expensive considering the fact that I needed a lot of bullets to kill someone and the ammo was so hard to find.

Paint me a story
What makes or breaks a rpg for me is it's storyline and mood. And with Bloodlines I was pleased. The game breath the mood of the vampire as we know it from Stoker (and King and Lovecraft) is for instance full of the anti-theses so common to vampire lore. Vampirism offers beauty, health, longlivity, attractiveness and eloquence but this really hides a ugly sick predatory infliction. The key to this seduction, but this seduction is double layered as it pretents to be aimed at the intercourse but the seduction is really needed to indulge in the drinking of blood: the red nectar is the only god a vampire refers.
The HL-2 engine offers stunning beautiful characters who look livelike and attractive and support much of the mood.
The story line has it's twists and turns and the setting is varied and the mood is fitting. Outstanding examples are a haunted hotel and a house filled with mad people. At one point the game makes you confront your human past and you are facing a difficult choice how to handle this.

The problems
Yet while Bloodlines has much atmosphere it stops short of driving the nail home. The vampires strenghts are in general balanced by some serious weaknesses. The first which springs to mind is the vulnerablility to daylight. Daylight, the cleansing of the sun, doesn't play any role in this game. This might be handy in term of gaming, because you don't want to force a player to sit around for hours waiting for the sun to go down, but somehow this remains a missed point. Another weakness is that the depencency on blood isn't played on more. While attacking a victim openly can be penalised when seen by others, it is easy to avoid because many 'humans' linger in dark alleys. Indeed in the game you can pay a hooker and then feed on her, but why should you do so when a few blocks down the street there is an victim wandering alone in a dark alley? What is more your supply of blood only seems to diminish when used for magic, so in theory a vampire in Bloodlines could live forever on one refill as long as no magic is used.
So you feel yourself quite strong in this game while not burdened by the vulnerabilities common to vampires. It somehow is a weak point to me.

These crawly little things
A last thing I like to mention is that the games has it's bugs. I would strongly recommend to install the official game patch 1.2 and even recommend the unofficial 2.2 version. Save yourself the annoyance boys and girsl.
If you like this game you can download some mod's and reskins made by the gaming community. Some really are beautifull and since you spent most of your time looking at your own character it's nice to have something good to look at.

Evalution
So if you forget about some weak points and overlook the somewhat heavy combat orientation Bloodlines it is a fun game that I would recommend to any role play fan out there who can stand playing vampire. But patch it before you play the game!!!

I highly encourage anyone who loved Vampire: The Masquerade to invest in this game. Despite coming off as a first person shooter, the game is smart and witty and has more focus on interaction with NPCs than many other RPGs do. The disciplines are mostly true enough to the game, although they are generally a bit twisted to be more focused on combat. A great game and fun to replay with different clans.