BloodRayne 2 Review

Miss Rayne is back in another game, this time set in modern times. She’s out to stop a devious vampire plot from succeeding. Released almost a year ago on the consoles, it now finds its way to the PC

Miss Rayne is back in another game, this time set in modern times. She’s out to stop a devious vampire plot from succeeding. Released almost a year ago on the consoles, it now finds its way to the PC.

The game's environments are very detailed and have a gothic touch.		Rayne has quite a bit of acrobatic skill. She'll perform all kinds of tricks throughout the game.

The premise of Bloodrayne 2 is rather simple. Bloodrayne is a half-vampire, half-human. She has some special powers that her pedigree grants her. In spite of these powers, she’s also handy with all sorts of weapons, including the two blades fastened on her hands. The first Bloodrayne game centered on our heroine trying to stop a devious Nazi plot to resurrect a demon, while the sequel takes the game into present time and has Bloodrayne taking on hordes of other vampires.

While the first Bloodrayne had given you a handful of intriguing ways to take out your enemies, the sequel nearly bursts off the screen with all the sexy, stylish moves that make up Rayne’s arsenal.

Anyway, the game begins with the scantily clad Rayne looking for her relatives, namely brothers and sisters. When she does find them, she learns that they are plotting to make vampires the dominant race on the planet, turning all humans into livestock. Naturally, our heroine has to take them on and stop this devious plot from unfolding. Along the way, she has to beat down hordes of vampire thugs and take on devious boss vampires.

Luckily, she’ll be able to do it while being gloriously well animated. Rayne and all the other vampires that populate the game clearly demonstrate an intricate amount of detail being put into their making. Cutscenes, especially the pre-rendered ones, look quite good. Thanks to the PC’s processing power, you can crank up the resolution and make the game look several times better than it did on consoles.

Grinding down rails is really fun.		The combat is fast and flashy.

After an especially intense fight, it is extremely satisfying to see blood plastered all over the floor. The enemies Rayne encounters seem to be moving bags of blood at times, which makes it extremely satisfying to engage them in combat. It all helps to add to the atmosphere and mood.

The audio component also does a fine job of setting the mood. The sound effects are of clashing weapons make you hear the combat, but I can’t help feeling that they’re a bit exaggerated. The voice acting is usually spot-on what you would expect in a vampire flick at the movies—sometimes corny, but usually what you would expect a vampire to sound like. Rayne has a wealth of one-liners she likes to throw out after combat, and most of them are really well done, and don’t get annoying.
The gameplay is unquestionably simplistic, in the sense that you could just mash buttons and win, usually. But that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining. As mentioned earlier, Rayne has a lot of moves at her disposal. One of the most important ones is called ‘feed’. This is where Rayne jumps up on her enemy and sticks her fangs in their neck. This is useful for replenishing health and acquiring blood for dual guns that—you guessed it, are powered by blood. When she’s done feeding, Rayne can do a gruesome execution of her poor victim. These are very entertaining, but unfortunately there aren’t all that many of them. 

Rayne is well modeled and a veritable babe.		One of the many special skills that help you progress in the game.

Besides those moves, there are lots of other stylish moves that Rayne has access to. These include sticking out her blades as she’s sliding to a rail, cutting off the heads of unlucky enemies. She can also toss enemies into all sorts of hazardous objects. In addition, she also has a collection of special abilities that her vampiric heritage gives her access to. These include slowing down time (bullet-time) and significantly increasing her damage potential.

Besides killing hordes of enemies, you’ll also be doing your fair share of puzzles. Some of these are intuitive enough to put a smile on your face, but the larger portion is rather mundane. The jumping puzzles are probably the most annoying, because the controls on the PC version aren’t quite as precise as their console counterparts.

The game itself is a fun ride, if not a bit simplistic. It should take the average player roughly 10 hours to complete. There is no multiplayer, or any other real replay value. However, considering that it’s retailing at a reduced price tag, it may be worth your time.

Slicing off the heads of your enemies as you do a stylish grind down a rail.

Overall, Bloodrayne 2 is a fun game if you’re a fan of the genre and enjoy playing a seductive vampire heroine. Although it’s not groundbreaking, it does provide solid, entertaining gameplay with slick visuals. Fans of the subject material should definitely check it out.

TOP GAME MOMENT

Slicing off the heads of your enemies as you do a stylish grind down a rail.