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Buffy: Chaos Bleeds Review - Xbox

29th December 2003 by
70%
It would seem that the release of a lot of sequels is happening around the holiday season, recently we've seen such titles as Jak II, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, Project Gotham Racing 2 and Amped 2. These titles mentioned have all been overall fairly successful with both the original and sequel's earning praise; one sequel that shouldn't escape the attention of gamers is the sequel to Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds. With the original surprising many with its qualities many now anticipate the same again from the second installment of the series, can they repeat the sensation or does it get a stake in the heart?

Gameplay

You go around searching for vampires and bad guys to slay with your sharp wooden stakes and then live happily ever after right? Not the case, in Chaos Bleeds not only do you control the character of Sarah Michelle Gellar aka Buffy but also the rest of the gang including Willow, Xander, Spike, Faith and even Sid the Dummy, whoever that is! Unlike many 3rd person action/hack and slash games, Chaos Bleeds has a storyline to it, a dreaded enemy from Buffy's past has returned from the dead and now Buffy and friends must attempt to defeat the evil forces before Sunnydale is condemned to permanent darkness, riveting to say the least!

The ability to play as multiple characters has to work in the advantage of the true Buffy fans that unlike many can see past just the heroine Buffy, settle down boys there only skin tight jeans! So now you can play as the girlie man Xander, poor British accented Spike and the weird and whacky Willow! You'd be surprised how much a little variety in characters can do for a game, instead of sticking to the single one player. The way this is done is something different, whilst you're using one character and you pass the stern tests of the vampires, did I say stern? You then move on to the next character that is in a different area waiting to be controlled by you. The way you change from controlling characters is by doing the small objective tasks that you are asked to do with each player.

Using the weapons that you find along the path of the game can be fun, from your casual wooden stake that is a very popular item among all characters to the more extremist weapons of a crossbow and even machetes! You also have the ability to use fire against your enemies, this is obtained by finding objects through exploring the environments, and you can find more stakes, health and useful items like keys and pieces to puzzles. For most the fists and swift kicks of your characters will be enough to endure the threat of the vampires with ease.

By no means is the AI strong in Chaos Bleeds, many could say it is quite weak making the game easy and uninspiring at completion. The only real resistance they offer (continued next page)

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