Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines review

Written by walTer, edited by Qui and tweaked by Marcin.



It was whispered about - 2 years ago at E3…”There, look!! WHAT? Over there, the chick in the schoolgirl outfit and blood on her chin…that’s the new vampire game that is using the Half Life 2 engine….Really? Whoa, I bet it is gonna look sweet…SHE sure does.”



And yes, Troika made it with the schoolgirl chick... However the price we paid were crash bugs, endless loops, and unfinished areas. As Troika was going out of business, the money didn't exist to adequately patch the title, but such was the strength of the player base that fan patches have went some way to addressing these issues. Lest ye doubt the beauty of this game, it has continued to garner both accolades and even snag several RPG awards along the way.



Please note that this review is using the 1.2 official patch and the 1.5 unofficial patch. Other than some minor graphical issues- odd NPC behavior, floating rats after feeding, and one major borkage issue, I am tooling along with great and unabashed joy.



I am the monster that breathing men would kill!



The first item on your agenda is character creation. Standard RPG fare here folks, and familiar to those with pen and paper background. For the casual gamer, there is a small personality test that will assign you the clan type that fits you most. Choose wisely, as the clan powers are very distinct, ranging from open warfare, through psychological mind games, to skulking in sewers and feeding on the rats. Of course there's a range of variety within each clan (they each have three power sets to mix and match from) but you won't be able to make a stealthy killer from a purely offensive clan.



You may wonder why there are so many powers and stats. Well folks, that’s the reason why the game kept picking up awards. The RPG element is exceptional, and I would expect no less from members of the team that brought us Fallout. Missions can be carried out in a variety of ways, and dialogue choices have enough scope for you to play consistently as a gruff scrapper, or as a smooth talking Lugosi. Providing, of course, you put points into charisma.



An ancestor of yours? I see a resemblance...



Bloodlines has the distinction of being the first Source game to go gold; it was actually finished before Half-Life 2. It is painfully beautiful, and really captures the concept of the World of Darkness. It doesn't belong to the Buffy generation, instead tipping its hat to Blade, Vampires, and From Dusk Til Dawn. As with all Source games, you will need to be running a decent rig if you want to appreciate this. Normally I don't rave over graphics, but RPGs are a special case. It was easy to engross myself, and that's the trick to roleplay. The voice acting is top notch and the facial expressions, while slightly over-done, look good. The game packs atmosphere in spades, enough to make you mentally gloss over the imperfections until you meet the showstopper variety. There are 4 main areas that cover the standard gamut of locations - Santa Monica, Downtown, Hollywood and Chinatown. Locales include strip clubs, vampiric lairs, haunted mansions, and a modest sewer network. Naturally in some areas you cannot use your abilities, other areas allow unrestrained use, but for the most part you will be restricted from being flagrant with your vampiric traits. Fairly cookie cutter stuff for an RPG, but beautifully executed.



We are dealing with forces beyond all human experience, and enormous power!



Play itself is split between character interactions and pure combat. Some clans are best suited to one approach, although middle-of-the-road clans will have a lot more freedom in terms of mission execution. I personally see this as contributing to the replayability, ensuring that you can't simply sleepwalk through successive plays. On my second run, using a different character setup, I found the main difference to be play style and side quests. You can’t play a charismatic vampire in the same way as a barely restrained beast. When it does come down to cracking skulls, clans can utilise natural brute force, blood based spells, sheer speed, or a more conventional yet no less effective mix of melee and ranged weaponry. Character interaction will of course determine the outcome of your game. You may side with the rebels, remain loyal to the local Prince, or play both sides against the other. I have to say that I liked the ending...you are faced with choices and those choices might surprise you. You don't have total freedom, mind you, as some missions are a necessity before later ones open up. With this in mind, choose wisely when you have the option to tell your overlord to go fornicate himself. You'll have to go grovelling back, and he has a loooong memory....



Side quests are optional, as befits their nature, but most weave back into the main plot. A nice touch, as most games tend to have side quests run entirely peripheral to the main story. It's a small difference, but ensures you don't feel like you've wasted considerable time chasing a dead end. This is also of great benefit to the more interesting clans, since more missions means more points to spend on your abilities. This way you don’t feel like you’re just running a side mission for the sake of leveling up – the side mission will reveal more of the story, so you’ll actually enjoy the grind.



Your vampiric nature creates the necessity of feeding. This involves an interactive element, seducing some young thing in a club perhaps, or for those of a Louis or Angel persuasion you can always feed on rats or pay a visit to the blood bank. I really appreciated this approach as opposed to the conventional approach, most notably the Blood Omen method of "convenient npc guard with his back to you". It's great to see the roleplay element being all-pervasive.



It is finished.... give me peace...



I am enjoying the heck out of the game. Sure, there are some spots where the game was clearly unfinished and I've encountered some showstopper bugs, but a quick restart to a prior save tends to solve the problem....... which reminds me. Save often. You can save at any point, so don't be shy. Other niggles involve side missions that you may not be able to complete without certain skills - something you only discover when you take on the quest. But all in all, the missions are fun and varied.



One other point is that the game is not really all that hard for some clans. My fighting skill is very high, as are my abilities. Blood is plentiful and easy to come by, so other than a few fights that took me by sheer numbers, the difficulty is somewhat lacking. On the other hand, the sheer atmosphere and roleplay element of the game easily surpass any challenging RPG that comes to mind – and to be honest, you’re buying this game for the RPG element, not for the gore.



Good fun with a few buts thrown in? I still say buy it. If you loved Blade Runner, Fallout, or the World of Darkness itself, then you can overlook the bugs to see the game underneath. Personally I can do this, but if you can’t then I really suggest you rent or wait for it to hit the budget bin. If the genre is one you like, you won't be disappointed. A bit frustrated and annoyed at times, but not disappointed.



For the sake of 3 more months in development and a bit more cash to keep the patches going… it would have been, well, bloody perfect. (Three more weeks of editing this would have helped too...) Damn voices.



A story driven gothic RPG…yeah, that’s what it is. And a pretty darn good one to boot.