"; if(is_file("header.php")) include "header.php"; else include "../header.php"; ?>

Number of Reviews: I have to admit that I hesitated a good while before buying Bloodlines, because of all of the reviews that mentioned bugs. However, I liked the screenshots and the vampire theme and decided to give it a chance. At least with the patch installed, I really enjoyed the game and found no significant or show-stopping bugs. It looks great, the NPC are very interesting and well developed, and the quests can be funny, dark, and quite elaborate. The game, even with the patch, does have a few technical problems as well as some other flaws. However, if you like vampire stories and role-playing games, then Bloodlines is definitely worth a try. Gameplay: Character creation (you can be 1 of 7 types of vampires) is interesting, allowing you to customize a male or female vampire that has been recently sired. You have several choices of abilities and skills, but character creation is not as deep as in some RPGs like Morrowind. During the game, you earn experience points that you can use to increase certain skills, attributes, or disciplines (your vampiric powers). This system generally works well, but don't expect to max out many of these areas by the end of the game (thus, choose your character-development path wisely). The game is rather linear in progression, although there are a number of side quests and your character is allowed to solve some quests in 2 or 3 different ways. Movement and combat are much like typical first-person shooters, and melee weapons are much more powerful than guns (a good sword will take you through about the whole game--I like the shotgun, though). There are a few good scares in the game (such as a haunted hotel and an encounter at a park), but the developers missed a lot of great opportunities to really scare players. Overall, the story is a very good one, and you'll meet some fascinating characters (like VV, Gary, Jack) who have great dialogue. The quests are well done and often multi-layered, but there are a few areas where things get bogged down, such as when you are trying to reach certain bosses. You often have to go through an hour or two of encounters with their minions in order to reach them. I have only played the game through once as a male Toreador, but I think I did about all of the side quests, in addition to the main quests. There was only one quest in a graveyard that I found too frustrating to complete, but thankfully it was an optional side quest. Graphics: The graphics look realistic (based on the Source engine), but I didn't get good framerates walking around the 4 cities. There are some long load times between levels, which improve drastically depending on how much RAM you have (I would suggest at least 768MB). The four cities are all very well rendered, but a bit small. Character models look good, as do most animations, but many models are repeated. Overall, you'll need a good video card to enjoy the game thoroughly. Sound: There is a lot of good atmosphere in this game, thanks to some good music, great voice acting, and ambient sounds. I am not into heavy metal music, but it just seemed to fit well in this game's gothic scenes. However, even with the patch, there are still some sound issues, especially occasional studdering (increasing my RAM seemed to improve this a bit for me). Also, the game crashed to desktop about 8 times. Replayability/Value: Overall, I am very pleased with this game. The game will last about 40 solid hours the first time through. In my view, there is not much replay value here. While it might be interesting to try another vampire clan or the other gender, there's not much difference in how the story unfolds. There are at least two alternate endings, but the difference is only about twenty seconds of cutscenes. Still, if you like role-playing games, first-person shooters, and vampire stories, then I highly recommend Bloodlines. I hope there's a sequel.