It's Slaying Time! (Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Chaos Bleeds (PS2))

Member Name: loulou22

Product:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Chaos Bleeds (PS2)
Date:	06/03/06 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Addictive. I get to be Buffy! Holds My attention. Multiplayer Modes.

Disadvantages: Multiplayer modes need improving!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer is well known for the film and the extremely popular TV series set in Sunnydale (the hellmouth), USA, however in recent years Buffy has also been released and the X Box and the Playstation 2 as games. The first game was called “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” … simple enough! The second game, which is the one I am going to review for you know is called “Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Chaos Bleeds” This game was released on both X Box and Playstation 2. I will be reviewing the Playstation 2 version.


*** Chaos Bleeds ***

Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Chaos Bleeds was originally written as an episode of Buffy for season 5, however some very clever person out there in Buffy/gaming world decided to turn this episode into a game so the fans themselves could be Buffy and get involved in the action.

In this game Buffy has discovered that her past enemy Ethan Rayne is working with ‘The First’ The First is the first evil that the world has ever know and if Buffy and her friends cannot stop Ethan then the apocalypse will come and the world will be gone forever. It is up to you to take control of Buffy and her friends to defeat the vampires, zombies and general bad guys and save the world!


*** Intro ***

Upon inserting the game disc into the Playstation 2 you are greeted with the usual manufacturers logos, then a Buffy screen will appear playing the Buffy theme tune, at this point you just need to press start to get into the main menu which consists of:

New Game
Load Game
Multiplayer
Options
Extras


** New Game **

Upon selecting to play a new game you will be shown some animated video clips to tell you the story so far and lead you into the beginning of the game set in the Magic Box magic shop, from this point you must rescue Tara and Anya who have been kidnapped by vampires. At this point you will be playing as Buffy, your powers will be kicking and punching vampires and demons until they are weak enough for you to stake them and turn them to dust. After dusting a few vamps as Buffy you will then play as Willow (Buffy’s friend) while playing as willow you will learn how to cast various spells to kill the vampires more easily, then main spell being the sun spell which will immediately turn the vamps to dust! Once you are successful as Willow you will move onto Xander who is in the training room, this is where you will learn how to pick up, select and use weapons. Once you have completed this you will move onto the next room where you are Spike (the vampire with a chip in his head meaning he cant hurt a human) With spike you will learn how to move from room to room by opening doors and slaying other vampires as you go, at the end of slaying with Spike you must find the key to free Tara (Willows girlfriend) and Anya (Xanders girlfriend) from the cage they have been locked in by the vampires. Once they are free you have completed your training and the level.

This level is more of a training level than anything else and as you play you will see various hints appear at the bottom of the screen to remind you what buttons you need to press to do certain moves or spells or swap weapons (if you have any)


From this point in the game you are out of training and into the graveyard… literally! The first stage is set in Sunnydale cemetery, where you are playing as Buffy and you must slay any vampires who come at you, as well as finding various relics and keys and even some secret entrances to work your way through the level and progress to the next.

Upon completing a level you will be shown your stats for that level, these include:

Time taken to complete
Monsters killed
Secrets found
Continues used
Slayer Rating
Any Extras that have been unlocked

After these facts you are given an options screen where you can save, continue, restart level or quit game.

Once past this screen you will continue with the game until you eventually complete all the levels or until you get bored of playing!



*** Loading and Saving a Game ***

Loading and saving your game is very easy. To save your game you must first have a Playstation 2 memory card inserted, then when you finish a level simply select save off the menu and your game will save to you memory card. To load a game you already have saved, simply select Load Game off the main menu.



*** Multiplayer Games ***

Unlike the first Buffy game, Chaos Bleeds has a multiplayer option so you can play your mates in a variety of mini games.

Survivor: In this game you must select your character wisely as you must fight both friends and enemies to the death, the fight will go on until only one person is left standing! I found this game fun, but it did get a bit boring and repetitive after a few games.

Bunny Catcher: This is my personal fave out of the multiplayer games. You must have a race against your friends to see who can catch the most bunnies before the timer runs out, you need to be careful though, don’t just go catching any old bunny as different coloured bunnies can help you or hinder you in different ways! My advice is catch them and see what happens! Heehee… I’m not giving anything away!

Slayer Challenge: In this game one player is the slayer and the other players are the vampires, monsters and zombies. As the slayer you must score as much as you can be turning your friends monster into dust, however as the monsters you must score as much as you can by defeating the slayer! Good Luck!

Domination: In this game you must get hold of the magical pentagrams, then keep hold of them for as long as possible, the longer you have them in your possession the more points you will get and as usual it’s the player with the highest score who wins.


** Improvement Point **

The multiplayer mode is the only part of the game I feel could do with a little improvement, although the mini games are good fun to play, they can get boring and repetitive after a few games. I think the game would really benefit from a multiplayer mode where you can have 2 players playing the full game mode as 2 of the characters helping each other, or even a split screen mode of the full game where you play against each other. I think these would be quite addictive, lots of fun and very competitive!


*** Options Screen ***

The options screen of the game is pretty much like on any other game where you can change the controls, sound and screen positioning.


*** Extras ***

Those of you who read my Stuntman review will already know I am not a big fan of the extras section, however the extras in this game are actually quite good.

They include:

Cast highlights from recording sessions… it is the actual voices of the characters doing the voiceovers in the game, however they still sound nothing like the character! This section just shows you fun stuff like the mistakes made and outtakes from the game.

Cast Photo Gallery: This section is simply as it sounds, a selection of photos of the cast of Buffy.

Interviews With Cast and The Creator of Buffy: Also as it sounds, this section is a selection of various interviews with cast members and people involved in making Buffy. However not all of these interviews are available to view straight away, only 2 of the are, the other 4 must be unlocked by playing the game successfully.

Trailer of Season Six DVD Collection: This is the trailer that was used to advertise Season Six of the TV series being released onto DVD.


My overall opinion of the extras section is good, as I have already said I am not really a fan of extras, especially when they are boring or not relevant to the game, however the ones are and they are quite interesting too!


*** Instructions ***

The game comes with a written instruction booklet, however you will also find instructions being given to you as you go through the game.


*** Age Limit ***

This game does have an age limit of 15 on it; this is probably due to all the fighting and scenes of violence involved in the game. There is also some very mild swearing in parts, so mild I never noticed until my friend pointed it out!


*** The Price ***

If you would like a copy of this game you can expect to pay around £20 brand new or around £10 - £15 for a pre-owned copy, and as always you can probably find it on ebay from 99p!



*** The Game Overall ***

My opinion of this game overall is that this game is fantastic. The game is well presented; it has both excellent graphics and sound, which just add to a great gaming experience. This game is great value for money. I have had it for about 2 weeks now and I still find it very addictive, usually I have a habit of playing for a few days then getting bored.

I would defiantly recommend this game to anyone (over 15 of course!) It is fun and very action packed. It has this great way of making you feel like you are actually Buffy or which ever character you are playing. It is really easy to get sucked into Buffy-land and feel like you are really there and you are the one doing all the fighting and slaying! I’m just glad I don’t feel the bruises too!

Thanks for reading!

Summary: A Great Action packed Game!