Vampire:the Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC CD)

The reasoning is clear, however, Activision's decision to release this right on the back of Half-life 2 will cause folks to think more before purchasing and the only reviews thus far were written months before game release (don't know how that works, but...)

Well so far so very, very good. The game has proved to be so much more than it's predecessor (VtM: redemption). One would expect it to have moved on graphically (after all it uses the source engine) but the real move is in gameplay. This is truly an rpg, you can choose your clan and the choice has real impact. Choice can also be made by answering a series of questions, rather than picking. This device has been used before but, if you answer honestly, you should get something that resonates with your gaming style.

Another improvement is in the ability to feed. Try to feed of a peasant girl in VtM:R and, no matter how hidden away, a guard would come and humanity would be lost as you battled your way out. In Bloodlines you can truly go and feed, so long as you do not break the masquerade. In fact, as a toreador (for example) go and seduce a couple of likely looking kine in a nightclub and you can feed publicly to your heart's content (or so far as their hearts holds up!)

The game has a definite atmosphere, there is - early on - a haunted hotel that has some genuine jump moments and is superbly designed, even if this part of the game is "on-a-rail", linear areas are fine if there is a reason.

So is there anything wrong with this game. Well a few things. The city hubs are small, this is understandable, but because the hubs do not link up (yet) it looses some of the immersion. Not all npc's can be talked to either, a little odd as it wouldn't have taken much to have some throw away dialogue added. These are minor design things, however.

Lack of a map could have been annoying if it wasn't for the smallness of the hub area. The much discussed (in previews) physics engine can also throw up minor issues (walking over a sheet of metal that you've knocked over does not end up like walking through taffy in real life).

These issues are, so far, minor and I hope they remain so.

One thing to note, however, is that this is an 18, not one for the kiddies I'm afraid. There are adult references all over, not necessarily blatant so far, but there, plus you play a bloodsucking creature of the night.

So, as the title says, so far... wow. I hope it continues but on what I've played so far I have no qualms in recommending this game.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's get onto the game itself. As you most probably already know the game is based on the RPG company White Wolf's now ended Vampire: The Masquerade franchise (the games plot takes place just at the beginning of the Gehenna storyline which ends the franchise). As you begin you can either generate a character manually, allocating gender and vampire clan(of which there are 7 represented in the game as potential Player Characters) then add dots onto a character sheet in a system very similar to the pen and paper version of the game, or if you don't want to do that, simply answer some questions and let the computer generate a character it thinks will suit your playing style based on your answers.

Right, after all that and a brief introduction which takes your character from mortal to undead bloodsucker, your sent to Santa Monica to deal with some 'trouble' there and you get to see the game's first 'hub' section. And it looks nice, its night, and the streets are populated with people going about their business pretty much oblivious to you as they would be to anyone else on the street. The graphics are not as good as Doom 3 or Half Life 2, but better than those of Deus Ex 2 or Thief 3. But who plays RPG's for the graphics? Plus, it does not suffer from the sort of problem which plagued Thief 3 where people would collapse in really unrealistic poses, doubled over with their back turning the wrong way in a painful looking fashion or similar.

Gameplay follows the usual standard of computer RPG's, doing small quests to help you complete the big quest that's your main objective in this section, something Troika send themselves up for in the game(listen out for the advert for their 'new game' Frankenstein: Breadlust). But the quests are varied enough and nearly all have different ways to complete them and there are some excellent places to visit, like the haunted hotel you have to go through early on which can actually make you jump sometimes. The game also has a similar sense of humour as the other games developed by Troika, something that's quite welcome in the often po-faced World of Darkness. Characterisation and voice acting in the game is spot on, each character seems to have the 'right' voice and personality.

Finally a special mention must go to the music in the game. Though the music on the title page and character generation is forgettable, the in-game music manages to be scene setting without intruding too much and when you go into a nightclub, actual songs from bands such as Ministry, Lacuna Coil and similar bands are playing. All this means the in-game music adds greatly to the atmosphere of the game.

In conclusion, I liked this game. It engrossed me like no game has since KOTOR, but is it as good? In all honesty, no. KOTOR is still the better game, but Bloodlines comes close. With the proviso that you need a *good* PC to run it and that it currently suffers from some bugs, both of which may make you want to hold off buying for a short while until patches are released or you upgrade your PC.