Blade II

Pros • Interesting, if imperfect controls • Cool assortment of vampire-slaying weapons • Smashing servers and other stuff in the game is lots of fun • Using the sword is mmm-mmm sweet	Cons • Why does kicking and punching kill vampires? • Controls not really ideal for bringing Blade to life • Not the game's fault, but isn't Blade the most unimaginative name ever?
Bottom Line An okay third-person action game and decent presentation of the Blade concept, but nothing to shout about from the rooftops. Blade was born as his mother lay dying from a vampire bite. He has the strength of a vampire and a lust for blood--which is quelled by a special serum--but he has none of a vampire's weaknesses, and can walk in daylight without harm. Blade has a raging hatred for the Vampire Nation, a vast underground society of bloodsuckers, and has been trained by a man named Whistler to fight them with knives, swords, silver-tipped bullets, explosives... Blade strives to slaughter them by the busload while still looking as cool as possible.

Here's a timely release--the Blade II game hit the shelves at about the same time the movie came to DVD/VHS. Despite the name though, the game is pretty much separate from the movie. It's a third-person action game presenting three episodes where Blade fights against the many, many vampires of the Nation, their human goons, the occasional zombie-like creature, and Reapers, the super-vampire breed that was introduced in the movie.

As third person games go, it's pretty traditional. One might even say "Old School" if one was not sick of that phrase, like I am. Beat on lots of foes, collect the appropriate objects, bash lots of things, get to the exit. Occasionally the game will throw in a curve ball, like a mission with a time limit or one where you have to protect someone.

What is not so traditional is the approach to its controls. The left stick is used to move both Blade and the camera, while the right stick is used for hand-to-hand combat, a little like the sword system in the Xbox game Obi-Wan. If you want to clock someone, you move the stick in the relevant direction and Blade will punch or kick. If you do multiple hits slowly and methodically enough, Blade will perform combos. For some strange reason vampires can be beaten to death, something I find inconsistent with the whole vampire-slaying mythology, but there it is. Each hit builds Blade's bloodlust, and when it peaks he can whip out his sword for some quick kills, often very cinematic ones. And since the game has no problem with throwing lots and lots of enemies at you, Blade can be a regular meatgrinder in sunglasses when he gets going.

This control scheme is a little tricky to get used to at first, and even when you do, there are still shortcomings. I found it was difficult to move and fight, and since you face a lot of vampires at once, getting surrounding is very easy and very dangerous. Your only hope really is to keep pumping up the bloodlust and using the sword, which can clear out a crowd fast. Furthermore, since the camera and movement are on one stick, fine movement can be tricky. You'll need to stop, swing the camera around, and then move. I didn't really need fine movement that often though, just when picking up an item. Still, it should be mentioned that I didn't feel as agile or quick as the Blade I saw in the movies, and that the controls aren't as smoothly integrated as they are in Obi-Wan.

Blade has other weapons, my favorite being the glaive. It's a double-bladed boomerang-like thing that can be used to decapitate multiple opponents if you're good enough. You also get guns and UV bombs, the vampire-slayer's portable nuclear bomb. Weapons can be purchased by earning points during a mission. Slay a vampire or collect special glyphs and you'll get points. You also get points for completing secondary mission goals (destroy 10 special foes, 10 particular objects, etc).

Graphics are all right, though I must say I don't think the model of Blade really resembles Wesley Snipes. Actually, I thought the model looked like Officer Bird from Judge Judy. Mind you, that guy isn't much less intimidating. Great, now I've got visions of a vampire Judge Judy in my head. I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight.

I digress.

The graphics are decent, though nothing spectacular. I like the effect of the vampires dying too. They burn up like people spontaneously combusting. I also like the animation on some of the taunt kills. For example, Blade will grab a vampire, get him in a headlock, and jab a knife in a place that would cause a furious migraine. The taunt kills with the sword are particularly impressive.

Sounds are also decent, though repetitive. Blade has two taunts from the movie which are used over and over again, though thankfully not as often as the ones in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't think the actor playing Blade sounds much like Wesley Snipes in the movie either, though the guy that does Whistler's voice does sound pretty close to Kris Kristofferson. Music is very upbeat and techno-ish, very much like the movie.

Level design isn't particularly inspired, and there are spots where backtracking is necessary. Repetitive architecture and no kind of map can make navigating them a little tricky. However, props for all the smashable stuff included. Some glass items will crack on the first hit, then shatter on the second. I find there's no feeling quite as satisying as smashing a server tower until it's nothing buy a sparking, smouldering ruin. Oh, and doing that is fun in the game too.

Although Blade II is not a horrible title hoping to con the dough out of people that like the movies and comics, it could be better. I think they shot themselves in the foot when they made the sword something you have to power-up to--that should be something you have continual access to. Blade II can't top other monster/vampire slaying titles like Devil May Cry or Buffy, but it's an okay timewaster. I don't think it will have much lasting value, even with greater difficulty modes to unlock. You'll probably play through it once and shelve it.

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