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| Activision |
Mucky Foot |
Action |
1 |
Mature |
Blade 2
Reviewed by: Dakota Grabowski
Half Vampire, Half Human, Blade has become the daywalker who is a threat to the vampire race that runs in the shadows of the world. Blade having already starred in two movies after himself, further expands his universe that started on the comic shleves and is now on the next generation consoles. The game takes place about six months after the sequel. This time around it's an exchange of blood from a mafia group that is from the town to a viscious vampire clan. With Blade, you are able to take control of this unnatural powers he has with incredible strength and amazing agility. Get ready to eliminate even more vampire scum off the face of the planet.
Gameplay: When running through the levels you will notice a variety of vampires are scattered through the environments. The numbers build up when battling quick, since as soon as you start to fight one, a whole group surrounds you and it's now desperate measures to get through the battle quickly. When taking them down one by one, it's really simple since no special effort to stab them with a stake or any kind of silver is needed. All you need is a few swift punches and a kick to send them back to where they belong in the afterlife. Most of the killing is left to be desired by the raging comic and hardcore Blade fans. You will get some pleasure though when your rage meter that is incorporated is full and you pull of special attacks. When you fill up that Rage meter you are allowed your own Blade trademarked sword, super strength and immunity to any vampire attacks. One hit usually and those vampires are evaporated right before your own eyes. But watch out, it's only for a limited time amount so make sure you kill as many enemies as you can before it runs out.
The weapons are very limited to your own use. At first, you'll only have an automatic pistol. As your score increases, you'll unlock new weapons, such as a shotgun, a glaiveand brass knuckles that are coated with silver to get rid of those pesky vampires.. You only have a few weapon slots available for each mission, meaning that even if everything is unlocked, you can only take some of your goodies. A shotgun takes up two slots, but is worth the power. Even bullets take up a slot. This is a nice touch and keeps you from being too overpowering in the later stages, even if everything is unlocked. The weapons are selected through the D-Pad. It may be to our own good they limited the weapons to keep up with the movie selection.
The types of enemies you run into will vary. The basic and simple enemy is the Karkov Punks and gangsters that are from the mafia. It will only take a few seconds to turn them into dust or kill the humans. Though the punks do get a little more frustrating when they gather in numbers, they still are quite weak. Then there are the Karkov Elders who are more skilled than the punks but yet aren't a challenge since you only have to battle one at a time. The levels you run through sometimes have human security with machine guns on the hunt for you. The human security are more of a challenge since they can become a nuisance quickly with their guns and long distance range. The Gaunt Moor medical nurses have drugs and cocktails they throw at you which are very dangerous. You may want to get close to them to kill them. Other various enemies are scattered throughout and some you may not see until the very last levels. Enemies like the kamikaze bomber, zombies, and science drones you may see and have too eliminate before they eliminate you.
Graphics: The visuals aren't really that impressive even though Blade's coat is very shiny and has glimpses of being a pretty graphical game. The characters are done quite well, but most of the game is repetitive with animations and effects. Very few jaggies with animations and the characters. The levels themselves vary from good to bad, to extremely bad. The first couple levels are really bland until you get to the disco rave party that are featured in many of the movies. Mostly though, the levels are dark along with all the character models. The game developers should have put a little more of an effort to put forth better lighting techniques. Framerates of course are just the minimum they could be with the power of the XBox supports. Not much coming from the graphics department.
Controls: The game itself isn't too bad to play. It's controls take a very long time to get used to due to it trys something new with a 360 combat fighting system. You aren't really able to choose enemy that is going to be either punched or kicked. The developers wanted a more sit down and battle than just a button smasher. You have to take your time when battling which allows combos that chain together a couple manuevers. All these manuevers are controlled by your right thumbstick on the controller. While it may not be enjoyable, it's something that can be featured in other games that expand on this fighting style. Patience is needed when going through the levels decapitating many of those vampires one by one.
Replay: You may enjoy this game for half of the time while the other time you're pulling your hair out due to not figuring out the combat system yet. It's has enough to furfill those gamers who are willing to sit down and do the trial and error process. A good 10 hour game that will keep you entertained for half the time.
Sound: Sound is very bland at times with many spots that are just plain without music. It's evident they didn't really put much effort into the music with so many errors on when the dry spots happen after playing so long. Even though the errors consist, it's very upbeat and rave like music that should appeal to the group of players they were targeting for.
Overall Presentation:
Scores:
Gameplay:  7.0
Graphics: 6.8
Controls: 6.9
Replay:  6.4
Sound: 7.1
Total Score: 6.9
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