Buffy: Chaos Bleeds Review

Xander torches a vamp.

Seven years is a very respectable length of time for a TV series to be on for, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed that very feat. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (to give it its full title) is the second Buffy game, although the first to appear on PS2. The game allows you to take control of one of six characters at a time through 12 levels, most of which are based on familiar Sunnydale locations. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, Faith and even Sid are all playable at one time or another, although they are automatically selected depending on what part of the game you are playing.

The story is based around The First Evil, a very powerful demonic form that Ethan Raine (whom fans of the show will recognise) is trying to best in a contest by bringing our favourite gang of scoobies into the fight with him. The cast of the show all provide voices for their respective characters except for Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) whose replacement does a very good impersonation and Alysson Hannigan (Willow) whose voice does sound like Alysson Hannigan, but of her doing some bad (not to mention annoyingly slow) acting.

“Stake, a Vampire’s last meal.”

It may be your cliche Graveyard, but those aren't your standard Vampires... They're zombies, you see.

Gameplay takes the format of a third person action adventure whereby you, as the slayer or one of her ‘crew’ take on hordes of Vampires, Werewolves and various Zombie creatures that could be ripped right out of the show. A punch button, a kick button and a jump button basically line up your attacks although L1 functions as a stake button, for finishing off vamps if they’re lying on the ground exposed or just low enough on health to be unable to stop you.

Thankfully, each of the characters behaves and fights very differently with Buffys all out brawling favouring her fast and impressive kicks, while Willow’s simplistic fighting skills are compensated by her magical abilities, and they all do feel very satisfying. Fighting multiple opponents, especially Vampires does pose a bit of a problem when you have worn both enemies down to zero health and are waiting for an opportune moment to stake them both, knowing full well that while you’re recoiling from the stake animation, the other vampire will undoubtedly get a swift attack in on you.

Enter the Buffyverse

Sunnydale's Zoo certainly isn't a fun packed tourist attraction for all of the family.

The humourous world of Buffy is often given a nod with the one-liners given by the characters after killing enemies or picking up certain objects, and although the delivery is more often than not spot on, after playing through the entire game, a touch of repetitiveness was upon me.

Unlockable extras such as cast interviews and the best parts of cast recording sessions become available while playing through the game, and depending on how many secrets you manage to find in each level, a different number of multiplayer maps (of which there are four) and multiplayer characters (twenty four) are made available to you. Perhaps most amusing is the very last one on the list, Joss Whedon, the series creator, who has recorded voice over segments for his taunts etc. while playing as him.

A brain teaser

Wow, I never knew you could kill them by staking them there!

Rather than remaining purely based on action, the game focuses around some quite varied item hunts that allow you to proceed through each level. Tasks range from finding a severed hand to operate a palm scanner to creating an ultraviolet torch to read a hidden code. More interesting puzzles are sparsely scattered around, such as pushing gas cylinders into fires to blow your way out of confined areas, but they do alleviate any boredom wherever they are encountered.

The puzzles never seem out of place because of the locations that are visited throughout the game. The Sunnydale High School and Giles’ magic shop, for example, are recreated very well to give a perfect impression of the places fans know and love from the series. The detail of these levels is set pretty well to create a convincing and interesting locale for the game, and many of them are quite large.

More on visuals

Faith's out of prison and wearing tight clothes again!

While the levels provide a decent backdrop for the events, cinematics aren’t really used to their full potential (including the ending) aside from some nice lip synching. Character models never seem overly detailed, but they convey all they need to for some good likenesses. The range of demons to fight is quite acceptable, with more varieties thrown at you each level.

Thankfully, dusting vampires looks as beautiful and stylish as the show, although when a character’s death taunt speech lasts longer than the death itself, you can’t help but wonder where the voice is coming from when his lips have passed the skeleton stage and the dust has long since dissipated. The attacks and Buffy specific sounds all are very authentic to the show, adding to the whole atmosphere of the game, but they are overwhelmed especially in Multiplayer modes by the very well made music.

This isn’t another musical episode, is it?

What kind of world is it where Vampires can even invade Giles' shop?

Buffy’s theme tune is of course present for the title screen, but throughout the game you are treated to a clearly stylish TV-series like soundtrack. Perhaps frustratingly, it seems that the music used to show there are enemies around is oft repeated to the point where it no longer felt like a soundtrack designed especially for my actions, but like an orchestra with a repertoire of two songs that would be alternated between depending on the hostility of my surroundings.

Rarely were there moments that were hostile enough to kill me outright with one hit, and normally if there were, a checkpoint that I could automatically return to if I died would have been close behind. One frustrating exception was during the mission into the Initiative, a government funded branch of the military to fight demons, where touching a laser beam that had to be vaulted over twice would release Cyborgs that also meant your mission had failed.

An evil parallel dimension

Willow gets all magical...

Aside from the odd frustrating section of a level, there were no truly taxing parts that didn’t simply require learning what to do in the situation. Many of these took place in an evil parallel dimension where some end of level bosses incude a Vampiric version of Tara, Willow’s girlfriend and Ripper, Giles’ evil counterpart. I found boss battles to be very much a pleasurable twist on the normal gameplay experience of moving through a room, clearing out whatever creatures showed their faces and repeating, and none of them are very alike.

Multiplayer modes are also quite varied although they take place in very small representations of four of the levels and understandably the fun depends on how good you and your buddies are in respect to one another. Playing as so many different characters however has a certain charm that most fans of the series will appreciate. Unsurprisingly, this is very much the way of the game; A die hard fan will love all of the in-jokes and references to the series, while a lot of it will go over the head of a newcomer. One thing that is certain though is that the fighting is solid and much fun to learn and develop, if only because of the variety of weapons and styles that can be used).