For fans of White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop rpg, it's been a long wait for another computer rpg based on the franchise. The last one was Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. VtMR was an unbelievably good game that had your character's progression range across centuries from medieval 12th century Europe to modern day USA. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is good step in the right direction for the furthering of the computer franchise. For my liking, the gameplay could have been more immersive. However, those who aren't fans of the tabletop game won't notice. That said, I'm writing this review from the point of view of a fan of the pen & paper Vampire rpg. Gameplay Positives: -Character creation is a big step in the right direction. Where VtMR didn't allow any initial customization at all (You are a male Brujah and that's all there is to it!), Bloodlines allows you to pick from any of the 7 major Vampire clans (Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue), each having their own strengths and unique powers. In addition, you can choose to play either a male or female. -For those who aren't familiar with the ins and outs of character creation in the tabletop version, Troika has instituted a Morrowind-esque series of questions. Your answers will determine the kind of character you play. Nice touch. For those who are familiar, you're given the option of going straight to your character sheet and assigning your dots as you see fit. -Like many computer rpg's today, the plot is advanced through a series of main quests and side quests. The quest system works very well. -The NPC are all extremely well written and well voiced, and in certain instances (i.e. Jeanette and Double-V - rrrrowwwrrr!!!) are extremely well-modeled. The voice acting is phenomenal, though I would have enjoyed it more if they had gone to the trouble of voicing your character as well. Granted, this would be more expensive given that you can choose between 14 basic characters at the start of the game. -Combat is functional, but definitely aimed toward melee weapons than guns. A lot of people complain about this, but in actuality, this is a very loyal port of the pen & paper rules system, and makes perfect sense to me. Guns just don't do much damage against an immortal creature. Ya gotta burn 'em or slice 'em up! In addition, your stats play heavily into how often and well you hit, as well as how much damage you inflict. In the case of firearms, a low skill means your aim is going to be erratic. Swinging your targeting reticle in the vicinity of the enemy don't mean you automatically hit. I love it! In melee combat, holding down a different directional move key and swinging will equate to different kinds of swings. Your enemies will figure out if you're just doing the same attacks over and over and they'll start blocking or dodging. Nice touch. -Another huge plus, in my opinion, is that the game environment is totally interactive. You can pick locks and go into buildings that have nothing to do with your current quest. Loot them and sell the stuff you found. Reminds me quite a bit of the Baldur's Gate games. I love that. It adds depth and dimension to the game-world. One thing I hate in video games are doors and containers that can't be opened. Why put them in the game otherwise?!!? You can also hack computers and check other people's files and email. Brilliant! -I also really enjoy the way they've translated the Vampire Disciplines from the pen and paper game into valid computer applications. Animalism, in particular, stands out as an extremely cool port. Gameplay Negatives: There are two glaring gameplay drawbacks for me, as a fan of the tabletop game. -Firstly, while 7 different clans to choose is great, there are actually 13 vampire clans in the White Wolf universe, and a few of the 6 that were left out would have been incredibly cool additions to the game. Namely the Sabbat clans of Lasombra and Tzimisce. While the Sabbat faction is used as one of the villains in Bloodlines, it is still possible to play "good guy" versions of any of the 13 clans. -Secondly, Troika has decided to restrict you to being to only develop the three disciplines you start the game with. This is a massive mistake in my opinion, as I ended up only using one or two of my disciplines throughout the whole game, while yearning for the ability to learn non-clan disciplines. I don't think it would have been very difficult to include. They'd already put in books that when read will raise a skill for you. Why not a book that when read will give you a new discipline? Ugh. Weak, dudes. -My only other minor gripe is that once you've finished questing for one NPC or another, you really won't have any further interaction with that NPC. I'm not just whining about not getting any more time avec les scantily-clad vampire kittens with the giant hoots, either. Most, if not all, of the NPC's are so well-written that it's a shame to "leave them behind for greener pastures" all the time. -The game had originally been planned to include a Multiplayer component as well. Unfortunately, to many people's huge complaints, they had to scrap it in order to get the game out at a reasonably good release date. I've never been a big fan of multiplayer components anyway, so I'm not docking any points for its omission. (See end of review for further comments related to multiplay) Graphics Positives: Bloodlines is the first game to make use of the graphics engine that was developed for Half-Life 2. In fact, Troika was building Bloodlines with it before the chumps behind Half-Life 2 even began. As a result, the mood, feel and environments in the game are deliciously rendered, as are the NPC's. The player character models are also quite good, but when compared to those of the NPC's, they kind of pale in comparison (no vampiric pun intended) Graphics Negatives: -Graphics this good mean you need a monster system with a beyond-top-of-the-line video card in order to avoid the inevitable skips and stutters in performance. However, as a guy with merely a very excellent system, I rarely took issue with the occasional stuttering cut-scene, which were the only times I experienced any such hiccups. -In addition, when compared to Half-Life 2 (which uses the same engine, like I said earlier), the graphics in the game could have been way better. Looks like the Troika guys rushed it a little. Not that big a deal, though. Sound Positives: The giant stand-out here is the magnificent voice acting. These actors really bring their characters to life. Even the annoying idiots like Knox and Mercurio. The ambient sound effects are also extremely good. Sound Negatives: The music in the game is your standard goth/punk stuff. Nothing really stands out. It's all pretty unimaginative schlock. Each dance club in the game has its own song playing non-stop, and other than that there are two techno kind of tracks, one for combat and one that plays the rest of the time. Yawn. Value Comments: Fans of White Wolf's pen and paper game should find extreme enjoyment from this game. Fans of vampire games should also enjoy this quite a bit. Players new to the genre should get easily hooked and drawn into this fantastic game world. Reviewer's Tilt: I'm extremely frustrated. I love this amazing game, but the excellent game environment and the fantastic quest structure lead me to believe that this would make an unbelievably good MMORPG. Am I right, or what, people?!!?! Think about it - the main game takes place in LA, expansions to the game would take the form of different cities! It's gold, baby, GOLD!! Troika, get on it!!
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