Vampire Rain: Altered Species
Vampire Rain: Altered Species
When you come out with a vampire game, there’s a certain risk that you take. Not because of the outstanding pedigree that some vampire-themed games have (i.e. Legacy of Kain) but because writers like me can use all sorts of puns and metaphors to describe a truly ghastly vampire video game? So how does Vampire Rain: Altered Species on the PS3 fare? Is this “updated” version of the Xbox’s 360 Vampire Rain a real killer? Or should gamers just put a stake in it and call it a day?
Gameplay
For those of you who think that any video game with undead antagonists is going to be a shoot’em up blitz, then let me make one thing perfectly clear: Vampire Rain is not an action game. Sure, you can get your hands on a handgun, rifles, etc. but the weapons are so painfully ineffective that you might as well be armed with a piece of beef jerky and a jar of mustard. Those looking to go on a psychotic vampire hunt ala John Carpenter’s Vampires will be sorely disappointed. Instead, the game is all about stealth. The whole point is to avoid the undead scum while you complete various objectives for you vampire kill squad (although I use the phrase “kill” quite loosely in their case.) However, when your fundamental game design is more flawed than Britney Spears adoption application, you truly have a crappy game in your hands. The key to a great stealth game is giving the players options: do I hope over the fence? Do I sneak behind this alley? The whole thrill of stealth action is the ability to outsmart your opponent. So what does Vampire Rain do? It gives you singular, trial and error paths that has about as much variety as a prison meal. There is only one specific path for avoiding each enemy and when you even attempt to think outside the box or take a little detour, the game scolds you (via your CPU teammates) to get back to the mission. In one instance, I decided to jump onto a wall and hang on to a ledge. As soon as I shimmied my character over to the right, my commanding officer was giving me a dress down.
Another problem with the all or nothing nature of the game play is the fact that once you are seen by a vampire (the game flashes you a quick image of their eyes when you‘re getting within their visual range – pretty nifty), you are dead. No ifs, ands, or buts. They’ll come running at you and mow you down in two hits. I’m just nitpicking here but it just seems extra cheap that the second hit is unavoidable – couldn’t they have just made it a one-hit kill? Good luck defending yourself against them because as I mentioned earlier, your weapons are essentially incapable of taking out the incoming vamp. You can’t run and hide either as they are simply too fast for your character. What you’re left with is an unforgiving gameplay system that makes you feel very inadequate. You have no weapons to defend yourself and you’re done in two hits? Is this game targeted to masochists or something? Another annoying feature is the constant appearance of your controller legend. Not a huge deal but I’d like to think that I’ve reached a point in my life where I can remember the controls of the game after playing after a few minutes.
Online play is nothing to write home about. You have your standard modes like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. There is also a mode called Death or Nightstalker that lets a few players take on the role of one of the bloodsuckers.
However, getting a game going is darn near impossible as no one is ever on (I like to assume that psychics read my review in advance and then just spread the word.)
Graphics and Sound
Unfortunately, there was no real graphical upgrade when the game made its move from the 360. In fact, the game looks like it came straight from the PS2. The environments are pretty stale: rows of gray buildings and wet pavement…yawn. The character designs are equally as bland as all the characters are right out of central casting: the tough, square-jawed protagonist, the tough-as-nails squad leader, the skittish communications guy, and the sexy female bad ass. The only really positive thing I can say about the graphics is that the night vision mood looks really nice – the light reflections and highlights are a thing of beauty. Considering the ho-hum graphics, I was tempted to play the game completely in night vision mode!
Music is practically non-existent and the sound fx are quite bad. Your weapons sound incredibly weak and really fail to impress – the “pew-pew-pew” of the assault rifle does a great job of making your feel incredibly inadequate. The vampires don’t sound scary in the least (cue the typical heavy exhale!) and the death moan of your character sounds more like a bad time on the john than the cries of someone getting hacked and slashed. The voice acting is pretty stiff and the script is beyond horrible. Check out this text book example of foreshadowing: “You okay?” “Yeah…for now.” Script of the Year baby!
Value
When making the port to the Playstation 3, the developers added an additional “plus” mode that lets you bring all your gear from a finished game to a new save file. Also, you can customize your character with different outfits. Not very spectacular and besides, none of it really matters as the game is not fun and playing through the first time is a chore itself.
Conclusion
This game is dead on arrival: boring and unforgiving gameplay, dated last-gen graphics, horrible script, and stiff voice-acting. Online play is practically a joke as you can’t find anybody to play with.! There are simply no redeeming qualities in this game and it will probably be hitting the bargain bin pretty soon. As far a vampire games go, this one truly sucks.
Pros
+ Nice night vision lighting effects
Cons
- Boring gameplay
- Out-dated graphics
- Poor voice-overs
- Online lobbies are barren
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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