If you are not already a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then this game doesn’t have much to offer you
I have never been a fan of games derived from movies or television shows. On the whole I find that so much effort goes into making these games recognizable that not enough time and effort goes into the fun elements of the game. When Chaos Bleeds came out I didn’t give it a single thought. Then my friend was talking about it, and she mentioned that the actors had given their voice talent to the game. I was intrigued.
So I bought the game based on that knowledge, but with my expectations still low. Immediately watching the first scene you can recognize all the actor’s voices, except 2. Yes indeed Willow, and Buffy herself, were being voiced by other actors. Now I give credit to whoever did the voice of Buffy because she was very close to Sarah Michelle Geller, but I can only assume that whoever did Willow’s voice has never watched the show. So I was a little disappointed from the get go.
I started playing the game, and as I predicted, it was lacking all the little things that make a game great. The fighting moves were very limited, and any available special moves required multiple repetitive button pushes that were difficult to remember, and failed to work half the time. Battles were very repetitive with a punch/kick combination ending with a stab. To break the monotony there are various weapons that can be picked up and used, but these all fall into 2 categories: pole arms and missile weapons. The pole arms, pool cues, rakes, pitchforks, while useful, are all the same and added no variation. The missile weapons, crossbow, flame thrower, hell flames in a bottle, while adding a lot of variety, are all difficult to control and ultimately useless. I found myself going through the game with just my fist and a stake by choice. During the course of the game you will have a chance to playing as several different characters. Unfortunately with the exception of Willow you can’t tell one player from another. Willow can attack with spells, making here stand out from the crowd, but with the same drawbacks as the missile weapons and special moves I found it a hassle using Willow instead of a good thing.
Chaos Bleeds is more than just vampire slaying, it is also about puzzle solving, and this is where the games creativity has come in. Most of the puzzles are variations of the “find key to door” routine, but there are some very imaginative puzzles in the game worthy of Myst. Using water in an underground mine, or computers in Sunnydale high, each has a unique way of solving a problem.
The graphics are so-so, the storyline could be more involved, and the music could have been more present. And yet still, I don’t feel that I wasted time playing the game. I believe that my affinity for Buffy the television series allowed me to overlook the games inherent flaws. I wouldn’t recommend this game to people who don’t already like the Buffy series. Perhaps they should look into Castlevania instead.