BloodRayne 2 E3 2004 Hands-On

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," as the old saying goes. So imagine just what kind of fury would be unleashed after incurring the wrath of a woman who also happens to be part vampire. If Majesco and Terminal Reality's interpretation in BloodRayne 2 is any indication, it generally involves a lot of severed body parts, brutal stabbings, and a whole lot of blood splattered just about everywhere. As the follow-up to 2002's original BloodRayne, BloodRayne 2 appears to be ramping up to be a solid sequel. More gore, more abilities and again, more blood seem to be the name of the game. If what we saw during our experience with the game at E3 2004 holds true, fans of the original should not be disappointed.

In BloodRayne 2, the game's story takes place a full 50 years after the first game's Nazi-themed plotline. It seems that Rayne, the half-human, half-vampire heroine of the first game, is on the hunt for her vampire father and his numerous offspring who are plotting to unleash a vampire apocalypse of sorts on the world using a substance called "The Shroud." The Shroud prevents vampires from being burned up upon contact with UV rays. We'll be perfectly frank when we say that we didn't really get a good sense of how the game's plot progresses during our time with the game, primarily because we were too busy gawking at how utterly insane the game's violence is.

In the level we played, we had to get Rayne through a series of back alleyways and otherwise cramped, urban areas. As we proceeded, numerous thugs would present themselves and try to hinder our progress. Of course, this didn't last long once we unsheathed our wrist blades and began hacking away. While you will have the ability to perform simple slash moves that merely cause your opponent to bleed out, you will also be able to, among other things, sever multiple limbs, torsos, heads, and even split enemies right down the middle, a la Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat 2.

Rayne can, in addition to her blades, wield a few different types of guns; but simply running around and shooting isn't really the way to get the full benefit of your armament. You see, Rayne now has a few new acrobatic abilities that let her climb up poles and similar types of objects, and when doing so, she can lean back or out and let loose a barrage of gunfire from a position where it is nearly impossible for her to be taken out. You can also take advantage of these moves with your blades. For example, while sliding down a narrow pipe, we simply held out our blades and decapitated a pair of enemies who stood near the end of the pipe on a platform. Not only are these moves effective, they look very cool.

Since Rayne is a vampire, she can also feed on her enemies, and often this is a good way to regenerate health and your ammo. Yes, even your guns will require blood from time to time, and this effectively allows you to reload your gun instead of picking up traditional clips or ammo boxes. When feeding on opponents, Rayne will also be able to perform specialized fatality moves. She can behead her opponents with style by ramming both her blades into opposite ends of an enemy's torso and tossing him headfirst into a brick wall, and so on and so forth.

The game also features a number of unique environmental kills. You'll have the chance to impale enemies on poles or forklift blades, send them flying off of rooftops, cause billboards and other large, heavy objects to come tumbling down on them, and a few more level-specific ones. There was one instance where we sent a guy flying off of a roof and onto a set of train tracks where he was promptly hit by a massive passenger train which finished him off. Some of the game's puzzles will also require kills, such as when we had to feed a number of enemies into the back of a garbage truck. Each time we did this, there would be a big splash of blood, and eventually, the truck exploded, revealing the entrance that would lead us to the next section of the level.

BloodRayne 2, seems like it's poised to deliver a bloody good time when it hits stores this October. We took perhaps a bit too much pleasure in the sheer number of ways to slice and dice enemies found in the game, and we can only hope the finished product can produce just as enjoyable an experience that lasts for a full game. We will have more coverage of BloodRayne 2 in the coming weeks.