This game takes off 70 years after the prequel (the manual says 60, but in game says 70) and the basic plot for the original was this: in WWII Rayne’s’ father tried to use the nazi party to rule the world, long story short, he dies, and that’s that game over. In the time since, Rayne has been killing the other children of her father, who, unlike her, are evil. The story picks up with her hunting down her evil siblings, who are beginning to unite for some evil cause.
The graphics are a fairly large step up from the previous game. Higher detail, smoother. There is naturally a lot of blood in this game, as legions of enemies are maimed by Rayne. Movement is smooth and the game basically never lags at all. The sound is haunting as it would be naturally, creepy background music and so forth. The main aspect of this game is the combat. Rayne has a variety of combo’s, but her main attacks can be classified into: The standard sword swipe. Rayne has a giant blade on each arm, she uses these to hack and slash through all the enemies, start unleashing this little number and all of a sudden you’re in a Quentin Tarantino film; limbs are flying all over the place, mindless thugs are screaming, it’s a bloodbath. The blades can cut off peoples heads and send them rolling, slices them up at the torso, or even cut off limbs. There’s nothing like cutting off some guy’s arm, and watch him run away in a random direction yelling like a madman with their bloody stub gushing out blood, because that’s what’ll happen.  Sometimes the enemies will have a melee weapon such as a curtain rod, baseball bat, crowbar. These weapons are quickest dislodged with some kung-fu. Using the kick button at rapid speed will cause Rayne to unleash some serious ass whoopin’ and can disarm enemies, and even knock them unconscious on the floor for a while allowing them to be stabbed on the ground. You can also use the “Bite” button, where Rayne jumps on her prey and feeds off them, refilling her health bar, if the target has a melee weapon, they’ll just block and counter. This makes it a lot harder unless you’ve already disarmed them. Bite also has other functions: when you get the blood guns you can press the fire button while feeding to gain ammo, you can also press other buttons to perform a fatality; an instant death move. If you lock-on to a target and press the bite button, Rayne will throw one of her wrist-mounted blades at them, its still attached to her by a thick chord. The blade stabs the target, gets stuck in, and the you can use the joystick to fling them about: Either off buildings, into spikes, meat grinders, fireplaces, or giant fans. Create real carnage. Carnage is good, since the more brutal you fight the more you rage bar builds. Your rage bar determines how long you can use your vampire powers. You start off with three basic powers: Rage, Aura Vision, Dilated vision. Rage makes you take less damage, and deal out more. Its useful for boss fights and when surrounded by loads of enemies. Aura Shows you the path ahead, highlights the obstacles you need to cross, and objects you need to interact with. Dilated Vision makes everything all “Matrixy” everything is in Bullet Time, and you can see bullets fly allowing you to manoeuvre around them.  There is a lot of Lara Croft Acrobatic skills involved, wall climbing, pole manoeuvring, etc, but you can attack and shoot just as well while on the poles. In fact you can add these to your combo’s. Its virtually impossible to get far in the game without bustin’ out some slick combos in rapid succession.  You’ve got to play around with the idea, try pressing attack buttons in a certain combination, what happens? Now try a different combination, now how is it different if the enemy is on the ground? If you’re latched on the lamp post or using one of your powers? The key to this game is experimentation All in all a real hardcore combat game. Its like Prince of Persia mixed with Tomb Raider and the matrix with a health dose of resident evil. Lots of subtle humour, bringing the gothic genre back into its badass status. 78% - A great game and a must buy, especially if you’re like me and love blood being painted all over the walls.  If you want more BloodRayne 2 screenshots and concept art, please visit our [url=http://ps-central.com/modules/xcgal/thumbnails.php?album=13&page=1]Gallery[/url] |
