Vampire: Bloodlines - Review

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...dlines-med.jpg

This is a game I have waited a long time to come out and I'm pleased to say I was disappointed with the end product. After the travesty that was the first game based on White Wolf's Vampire RPG it's great to see a game that truly respects the source material.

Bloodlines is a first-person RPG game set in the L.A. area, you play a newly created Vampire caught in the political intrigues of the Vampire elders and Anarchs.

Creating your character is simple enough, you can either answer some pyschological type questions to create one or build one up from scratch. The seven vampire clans (or races) of the Camarilla are all represented so you can build yourself a mean ass-kicking Brujah fighter or a super stealthy Nosferatu or whatever you want.

There are a lot of skills to sink your points into, from computer hacking to firearms. Throughout the game you will be rewarded experience points which can be used to build up your ultimate character.

The major Disciplines (vampire powers) are all here as well, celerity for lightning speed, potence for enhanced strength, obfuscate for stealth. Each clan has three Disciplines to spend points on, giving each a distinct difference from the others. Gangrel for instance have the unique power of Protean which allows them to take on animal form, very handy for dealing out death in combat situations.

Then it's onto the game, after a cut-scene you'll be led through a simple tutorial which should more than help you get to grips with using your new vampire powers and introduce you to the political climate of the Vampire setting (players of the RPG game will be more than familiar with this setting).

The game itself is of standard fare when it comes to missions, you want something from vampire A but first he wants you to do something for him/her. Depending on what type of charcter you are playing will dictate how you complete a mission. If you're a crazed Brujah anarch you'll be going in guns blazing and laying waste to anyone in your way, if you're playing the stealthy Nosferatu then you'll be sneaking your way through with some sneak kills along the way.

However, you will be needing some basic combat skills no matter what character you play as most missions will involve some combat with some missions featuring "bosses" of some sort. Unless you are playing a stealthy character then some missions will turn into the more traditional "dungeon crawls".

The storyline itself is very engaging, as you would expect from any game now all the NPC interaction is done with voice-actors and it is very well done. There are enough side-quests to keep the replay value up as well.

In fact the way you play the game has a significant effect on what happens. You can play an Angel-esque vampire protecting the good and trying to retain your humanity or you can play as a bloodthirsty monster doing nothing but for yourself. For instance a group of vampires you meet early on all have sidequest missions but if you approach them in a hostile manner you can just kill them all and not bother with their missions.

Being too inhumane comes with its price though, the Masquerade (how the vampires conceal themselves from humans) must be maintained at all times. If you are spotted feeding on a human or using your powers in public then you'll lose a Masquerade point. Lose five and it's game over.

Feeding is very important in the game, you pay for using your powers from your "blood-pool" which must be filled up. There are various ways to achieve this from feeding on rats in the sewers, chatting up the ladies in clubs or just popping into the local blood bank and buying some.

The game uses Half-Life 2's game engine, none of the physics of HL2 but the beautiful facial animations of HL2 are pretty evident. The in game graphics are very good coupled with the sound and the atmosphere is spot on. Each place has it's own distinct feel, to the creepy haunted mansion to the rock-club of the anarchs.

The most telling bad point of this game is the bugs. There are a lot of bugs in this game and it just screams out for a patch. NPC's will seem to float instead of walk, the frame-rate can be atrocious even on the best of graphics cards, you'll sometimes find yourself stuck in objects or looped conversations. But such is the quality of the story and game presentation that these become mild annoyances, it's just a shame I'll have completed this game many times before a patch does become available.

All in all it's a great game, one to sink your teeth into.

uhhh hes 27...and I will be on here when Im 27, if its still around.

Nice review Withcheese! I downloaded this game and was one of the unlucky ones who couldnt even get it started. Some frraamerate issue or sosmething, it would try and refresh at a couple of thousand times a second when my screen can only handle 110:(. However im sure when a patch is released they will fix this problem. I had heard a few good things abou i but more about the bugs to be honest. Many people got stuck half way through the game becuase of another bug. But as soon as a patch is released i'll re-ry with it.

Cheers Peerzy.

I played with the console open so as to be able to turn off clipping or whatever it is if I got stuck in an object. Not that it happened that often if at all really. I think there's a workaround for a few problems like framerate on other forums.

http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/

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Originally Posted by bigdawgfoxx

uhhh hes 27...and I will be on here when Im 27, if its still around.

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Yup, 27 cheers bigdawgfoxx.:D

I somehow doubt the forum will be here in 11 years...though I expect I shall be playing on the internet myself still.

Cheers for the mod who removed the pointless posts from this thread.

On topic: As I'm reading another thread about computer game violence I should probably point out that this game is rated 18 here, and is only suitable for adults. Very strong adult themes throughout, as you'd expect.

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Originally Posted by bigdawgfoxx

uhhh hes 27...and I will be on here when Im 27, if its still around.

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This post is useless to I think u mods should delete it cause all the other pointless ones got deleted. :dry: Neways just to keep on topic I personally don't think this game looks too good but thats just my opinion. :ermm:

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Originally Posted by Gam3Guy

This post is useless to I think u mods should delete it cause all the other pointless ones got deleted. :dry: Neways just to keep on topic I personally don't think this game looks too good but thats just my opinion. :ermm:

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It's hardly a big deal is it? Insulting someone and then putting "j/k" at the end as some kind of disclaimer is a bit lame. So your post got deleted. Capt Azad got deleted presumably for posting just smilies.

You should try the game, much more varied storyline than some of the major releases I could name but RPG games aren't for everyone.

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

It's hardly a big deal is it? Insulting someone and then putting "j/k" at the end as some kind of disclaimer is a bit lame. So your post got deleted. Capt Azad got deleted presumably for posting just smilies.

You should try the game, much more varied storyline than some of the major releases I could name but RPG games aren't for everyone.

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Well I personally like pretty much all genres including RPG games but this one doesnt look very good to me. ;) Is there a chance I might like it? :unsure: O yea and I put j/k at the end so if u flamed me I would have some evidence against u. :whistling

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Originally Posted by Gam3Guy

Well I personally like pretty much all genres including RPG games but this one doesnt look very good to me. ;) Is there a chance I might like it? :unsure: O yea and I put j/k at the end so if u flamed me I would have some evidence against u. :whistling

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It's worth a try, and I presume you're going to download it so there's not much to lose.

If I had to say what games it was similar to I would say Dues Ex 1 and 2, though with better graphics and much more involved storyline. It's a bit buggy as I said but still pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

It's worth a try, and I presume you're going to download it so there's not much to lose.

If I had to say what games it was similar to I would say Dues Ex 1 and 2, though with better graphics and much more involved storyline. It's a bit buggy as I said but still pretty cool.

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Sounds good then. Plus the patch could always fix those bugs. I think I'll dl this when it comes out.

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Originally Posted by Gam3Guy

Sounds good then. Plus the patch could always fix those bugs. I think I'll dl this when it comes out.

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It is out. You missed it on TB but it's still on Suprnova with 100+ seeds.

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

It is out. You missed it on TB but it's still on Suprnova with 100+ seeds.

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Oh damn. Ok I'll get it off suprnova.org. Hopefully I have enough hdd space. :rolleyes:

downloading it right now, just wanna give it a shot b4 i cant find the file anymore

This game rawks :01:

There's a new version on Torrentbits that comes with the no-cd patch. Getting top speeds right now (I'm mainly getting it so I can seed it like a mofo).

Is it the Hoodlum version? :unsure:

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Originally Posted by DanB

Is it the Hoodlum version? :unsure:

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Aye.

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

(I'm mainly getting it so I can seed it like a mofo).

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Justdownload say CD1 (because the no cd crack is in there) and then the BT cleint will seed just cd 1, meaning you will only need to upload 700mb to break even and start earning yourself a good ratio.

Seeding porn work wonders for the ol' ratio as well.

Hell, watching my new ratio should be even better than masturbating off it in the first place.

I just received a 50% increase to my upload speed for free so my ratio is starting to edge back toward 1.05 from 0.93...

If the publishers hadn't wanted to toss this onto the production line so fast it probably wouldn't have had half as many bugs.

There is a certain bug in the end that makes the game unfinishable unless you use console commands. Its sad, but its a very good game nonetheless.

The crap fighting system have put me off for now.

Instead I'm hooked on roller coaster tycoon 3 :D :lol:

I never was forced to use a console command to finish the game.

As for the glitches and bugs themselves, Troika said many times over that the game was "finished" for a few months and they were simply waiting for HL2 to be put out. I've never seen a Troika game not be a terrible mess upon release. Temple of Elemental Evil and Arcanum are both infested.

:shuriken:

just out of interest, how do you open the console?

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Originally Posted by DanB

just out of interest, how do you open the console?

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Open Properties on the shortcut to the game.

Where it says Target replace the text in there with this:

"E:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire.exe" -console

(You'll need to put in the relevant drive letter if it's different).

Once in the game press ` (top left button on our keyboards).

Iv got Cd 2 and Cd 3 but still searching for CD1...

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Originally Posted by peerzyboy

Iv got Cd 2 and Cd 3 but still searching for CD1...

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mIRC? I see some on IRCspy with slots open...

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

mIRC? I see some on IRCspy with slots open...

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Thanks :D I was oing to leech i from TB but its gone now so :(

Im getting CD1 now although its only the clone. Could one of you guys who has the Crack MSN me it or upload it please :) .

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Originally Posted by peerzyboy

Thanks :D I was oing to leech i from TB but its gone now so :(

Im getting CD1 now although its only the clone. Could one of you guys who has the Crack MSN me it or upload it please :) .

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Sure, I'll send it to you next time you're on MSN. ;)

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

Open Properties on the shortcut to the game.

Where it says Target replace the text in there with this:

"E:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire.exe" -console

(You'll need to put in the relevant drive letter if it's different).

Once in the game press ` (top left button on our keyboards).

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Be careful with the console, since it will freeze up your game at random. Going to the menu (esc) before bringing it up seems to bypass this particular problem.

:shuriken:

Cheers Cheese and MN :D

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Originally Posted by MagicNakor

I never was forced to use a console command to finish the game.

As for the glitches and bugs themselves, Troika said many times over that the game was "finished" for a few months and they were simply waiting for HL2 to be put out. I've never seen a Troika game not be a terrible mess upon release. Temple of Elemental Evil and Arcanum are both infested.

:shuriken:

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Society of Leopold sometimes has a crash, makes it impossible to finish without using console.

And I'd heard publishers had been bastards about making them release?

Yeah, I heard that it sometimes crashes there. The only talked-about crash I had was at the very end of the game, before the final cutscene. I couldn't replicate it though.

Troika couldn't release the game before HL2 because of their deal with Valve. That was the only publishing-related issue. Now that it's out, Activision's said the game is not on their list of "high" priorities, so I wouldn't look for a patch anytime soon... :( There's a fan-made patch, though, which solves a number of issues.

:shuriken:

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You can play an Angel-esque vampire protecting the good and trying to retain your humanity

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Nice review Cheese, I've started downloading the game due to the above, can't wait :)

How deep is character creation? Can you choose clothes? Like say a long black flowing coat? :ph34r:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Mulder

Nice review Cheese, I've started downloading the game due to the above, can't wait :)

How deep is character creation? Can you choose clothes? Like say a long black flowing coat? :ph34r:

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You can't choose clothes. They're determined by your clan/sex.
Later in the game, though, you get different clothing choices. One of which is Light Leather, which I remember being long.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Mulder

Nice review Cheese, I've started downloading the game due to the above, can't wait :)

How deep is character creation? Can you choose clothes? Like say a long black flowing coat? :ph34r:

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Pretty much as Mad Cat says.

Character creation is pretty open with a wide range of skills to choose from. Not sure if you could build a character that looks like Angel but you could defiently build someone with the same sort of skills.

Nice, only 28 minutes left :D

I prefer to play a pre-wimpified Spike type character who just goes around killing everyone, being mean and looking cool.

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Originally Posted by Withcheese

I prefer to play a pre-wimpified Spike type character who just goes around killing everyone, being mean and looking cool.

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That does sound tempting :unsure: Is there any form of reputation in it? can you become the ultimate bad? :unsure:

What do these vampire hunters look like? Are they short and from Yorkshire with sexy voices? :ph34r: