2008 Woodie Awards
Scary Gameplay
Justin Reid
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Sci/Tech
- Page 1 of 1
Here we go, with another game that was scary in a way the developers didn't intend it to be. This time, the horror comes from Vampire Rain on the Xbox 360.
Initially, I thought it looked pretty good. It was supposed to be Splinter Cell with a horror twist- instead of taking out terrorists, you took out vampires. Seeing that most vampire games are horrible, I was hoping that this one would actually pass muster.
Like in Splinter Cell, Vampire Night is intended to be a stealth-based game. You try and tackle a bunch of baddies head-on, you get your butt kicked. You have to settle for sneaking up on the enemy and taking him out quickly.
A nice idea, but hopelessly flawed in presentation. First of all, it's exponentially harder to try and sneak up on vampires than humans- simply because vampires can see in pitch darkness. Second, and harder to overlook, is that Vampire Rain left out a key component of any good stealth game- a stealth meter. In Hitman and Splinter Cell, a gauge near the top of the screen lets you know how close you are to being detected. No such thing in this game. At certain times you'll have vampires seem to pop out of thin air and shred you to pieces in a second. The only way around this is to memorize the locations of every vampire.
Another big problem is the weaponry. You start out with some really crappy pistol that takes about twenty hits to kill a vampire, so you really need to creep around and just avoid the baddies at first. That in itself is not a problem, like most games you can pick up better weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns. The problem comes in that you lose all the weapons you've acquired when you complete the level! This means you have to find them all over again. This is a real pain in the neck- pun intended.
Vampire Rain rates two stars out of five.
Initially, I thought it looked pretty good. It was supposed to be Splinter Cell with a horror twist- instead of taking out terrorists, you took out vampires. Seeing that most vampire games are horrible, I was hoping that this one would actually pass muster.
Like in Splinter Cell, Vampire Night is intended to be a stealth-based game. You try and tackle a bunch of baddies head-on, you get your butt kicked. You have to settle for sneaking up on the enemy and taking him out quickly.
A nice idea, but hopelessly flawed in presentation. First of all, it's exponentially harder to try and sneak up on vampires than humans- simply because vampires can see in pitch darkness. Second, and harder to overlook, is that Vampire Rain left out a key component of any good stealth game- a stealth meter. In Hitman and Splinter Cell, a gauge near the top of the screen lets you know how close you are to being detected. No such thing in this game. At certain times you'll have vampires seem to pop out of thin air and shred you to pieces in a second. The only way around this is to memorize the locations of every vampire.
Another big problem is the weaponry. You start out with some really crappy pistol that takes about twenty hits to kill a vampire, so you really need to creep around and just avoid the baddies at first. That in itself is not a problem, like most games you can pick up better weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns. The problem comes in that you lose all the weapons you've acquired when you complete the level! This means you have to find them all over again. This is a real pain in the neck- pun intended.
Vampire Rain rates two stars out of five.
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