~Bloodnet
2
BLUDNET1.PCX
BLUDNET2.PCX

Reviewed by Martin Keen 


Goodness me! You have to be at least 18 years of age or older to play
this game. I bet its really dark, brooding, and full of adult themes.
And I'm absolutely sure the age rating wasn't slapped onto the box as
a gimmick to try to sell a few more copies of the game.

Actually I've played Bloodnet enough to know that if this game was a 
film it would be a PG. The graphics are too small to be in the least
bit frightening, the language is almost completely inoffensive, and 
the atmosphere is so-so. But maybe the age classification was 
appropriate in one respect - young children shouldn't be exposed to 
yet another tedious cyberpunk plot. They may fall asleep.

But lets not get too negative about Bloodnet. A review is supposed to
represent an opinion and my opinion is I quite like it. Forget about
the shameless age gimmick and do your best to ignore the cyberpunk 
plot. Theres a decent game here just DYING to get out (ho, ho!).

Bloodnet is about a guy who is bitten by a vampire (the extremely 
lenghty intro sequence lets you know all about that). Immortality is
not enough for our hero Stark though, he wants to be normal again. 
The microchip behind his ear can keep him alive as a human for a
couple of days (hmmm... very believable) but Stark is still in  
need of human blood to keep him alive. 

Ok, here's what I don't understand. To keep Stark alive he must 
occasionally find a victim and suck the blood out of his/her body. 
Because Stark is still half-human he doesn't like doing this. There's
an easy solution here. Why doesn't he just pop down to his local
hospital and visit the blood clinic where he could suck on donated 
blood to his hearts content, not have to kill anyone, and he wouldn't
have to get his fangs dirty. Its quite possible that real life 
vampires actually do this but this business of sucking blood from a
virgin was made up by Hollywood to add a bit of excitement to its
films. Dracula without the blood sucking wouldn't have been the same.

Maybe I'm watching too much TV.......

Ahem, back to the review. This is the 43th line and I've yet to 
mention Bloodnet is a graphic adventure. Well I have now. Its not
quite your average point and click affair because there is a bit of
a RPG element thrown in too. All your endless stats are used for
the fight scenes where you and the group of followers you've managed
to assemble are pitted against a local gang who are giving you
trouble. The graphics in the fight scenes are quite amusing. Once
you've positioned each one of your tiny spirtes they fire at the 
nearest enemy. The amusement comes when you see the firing is turn
based. Your guy will fire a bullet at an opponent standing a couple
of feet away. Then the opponent will fire back. Pause. Then its the
other guy's turn again. Everyone stands completely still until they
are victorious or bite too much lead. Its sad but fun.

Wander around locations, pick up objects, talk to people in
conversations that seem to last forever, and enter cyberspace. This
is one of the coolest places in the game. Your cyberperson floats
around on screen meeting up with other entities who are jacked in to
the net. Its doesn't take long before you find Elvis The King who
wants to be put back into a real body, presumably so he can continue
working in the local chippy. Its true... Elvis lives. 

Overall Bloodnet is an enjoyable game which succesfully mixes an
adventure game with role playing elements. The plot is looking a bit
tired now but the gameplay makes up for it. If you rush down to the
computer shop Game you should be able to pick it up for 12.99 and that
really is a bargain.