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Hey, kids! Do you like games created using the Source engine? Do you like the labyrinthine, layered, multi-option and fatally bug-ridden games of the now-defunct Troika development studio? Then why not try Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines?
I gave up on Arcanum, primarily because the Fallout-style control system made it so increddibly slow to achieve anything as to make the whole thing unplayable, combined with the knowledge that, as has been mentioned before, you're basically playing D&D, which made combat incredibly repetitive. VTM:B seemed am interesting combo of the open-ended, quest-based play of the aforementioned and some Half Lifey goodness.
It's an interesting game, although it crashes ever 20 minutes or so, which is a little wearing. _Insanely_ ambitious - it seeks to be a full-on RPG, with quests, experience points and so on, and an FPS, _and_ a third-person platformer.Pretty much inevitably, it fails. I'm not that far in, but the combat system is already showing itself, although far more interactive than Fallout or Arcanum, unwieldy and arbitrary - ultimately, you're reduced to button-mashing while trying to keep your opponent in your field of vision. I'm not sure how much freedom the game ultimately gives you, either - it looks like you can suceed or fail at quests in various different ways, but once you get to a certain waypoint you can close off a section and be given an entrance to another section...
It looks quite fabby, though- not a patch on Half Life 2 for background prettiness, and the animations and character models are significantly less good (clipping is also a problem - extremities stick through doors and walls with far too much regularity), but the facial modelling during the many and involved conversations are really very impressive - in terms of interacting with synthetic humans, this is as impressive as HL2, although the added versatility does mean less focus on individual lines and a far less cinematic feel. It's hella goth, too. Sometimes that works, sometimes you want to clean the streets of every bit of stupid hair going.
Plus, I have beaten somebody to death with a severed arm. You can't fight that feeling. |
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loving the atmosphere it creates with a 'total-recall / welcome-to-the-offworld-colonies / soft-american-voiceover' kinda vibe ... that, and the fabulous shotgun ... mmmmmmmmm, take a bite a' peach - apologies to any fellow spaced fans 