2008 Woodie Awards
Scary Games
Justin Reid
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Sci/Tech
- Page 1 of 1
Well, it's about Halloween time, so I thought I'd do a review on a scary game. That is, a game that has ties to the horror genre, but is really scary because it's a horrible game.
This game takes place near the end of the Buffy series. You get to play as Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, or a crime-fighting dummy named Sid. Now, my first thought was "Wow, what a diverse set of characters! A slayer, a witch, a comedian, a vampire, and a…dummy? Well, I bet they all play really differently!"
No such luck. Each character plays pretty much the same. This was a real disappointment, because in the show all of the characters had different strengths and weakness, so they complemented each other really well. Buffy doesn't get any fast-healing ability or super-strength, Willow only has a handful of spells (and most of them are useless), and you wouldn't even know Spike was a vampire unless you watched the show. Shouldn't he be, at the very least, drinking blood to regain health?
Another real pain is that, with the exception of Willow's sunlight spell, you always need a weapon in order to kill the monsters. Yep, even if you have super-strength or razor-sharp teeth. This is further complicated by the fact that the weapons are scattered throughout the level- you never start with one in hand. Uh…sorry, doesn't Buffy carry a morningstar in her bookbag? Yes, she does!
To be fair, the fighting system is pretty decent. Still, it's nothing exceptional. I mean you can perform two types of attacks with most weapons and can block incoming attacks. I guess the big thing is that if you stake a vampire or decapitate it you can kill it in one hit.
The graphics were pretty good- although not exceptional. I guess the part I was really pleased about was that the voice actors did a real good job and seemed to understand their characters, so I could think "wow, Willow would say something like that!"
Overall, Buffy: Chaos Bleeds scores two and a half out of five stars.
This game takes place near the end of the Buffy series. You get to play as Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, or a crime-fighting dummy named Sid. Now, my first thought was "Wow, what a diverse set of characters! A slayer, a witch, a comedian, a vampire, and a…dummy? Well, I bet they all play really differently!"
No such luck. Each character plays pretty much the same. This was a real disappointment, because in the show all of the characters had different strengths and weakness, so they complemented each other really well. Buffy doesn't get any fast-healing ability or super-strength, Willow only has a handful of spells (and most of them are useless), and you wouldn't even know Spike was a vampire unless you watched the show. Shouldn't he be, at the very least, drinking blood to regain health?
Another real pain is that, with the exception of Willow's sunlight spell, you always need a weapon in order to kill the monsters. Yep, even if you have super-strength or razor-sharp teeth. This is further complicated by the fact that the weapons are scattered throughout the level- you never start with one in hand. Uh…sorry, doesn't Buffy carry a morningstar in her bookbag? Yes, she does!
To be fair, the fighting system is pretty decent. Still, it's nothing exceptional. I mean you can perform two types of attacks with most weapons and can block incoming attacks. I guess the big thing is that if you stake a vampire or decapitate it you can kill it in one hit.
The graphics were pretty good- although not exceptional. I guess the part I was really pleased about was that the voice actors did a real good job and seemed to understand their characters, so I could think "wow, Willow would say something like that!"
Overall, Buffy: Chaos Bleeds scores two and a half out of five stars.
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