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- ~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.
-