maxlords
02-24-2005, 09:31 AM
“Wha? A licensed game is worth playing? Surely you must be joking?” But no, it’s the truth! Today we’re looking at an oft ignored gem (maybe in the rough), Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the Xbox. Now, unless you’re a fan of the show, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Great, a lame game based on a cheesy show”. But nothing could be further from the truth with Buffy, one of arguably the best 3D beat ‘em ups ever made.
Turns out that The Collective (http://www.collectivestudios.com/default.asp) had some great ideas when they designed this game. It seems they were fans of the Buffy TV show or took ideas from it quite faithfully. Basically the game is all about nonstop fighting with some cheesy but fun plot development. You beat the living hell out of everything that moves. Simple but effective. And as it turns out, extremely fun!
Here’s a quick rundown on the story. You play Buffy. You kill vampires. It’s not extremely complex, but it’s fun. I originally played this game before I began watching the series on DVD, so I didn’t know the complexities of the characters but it didn’t make a difference to me. What did was the exceptional camera and responsiveness of the controls. Buffy is able to do a ton of moves, and they’re all relatively easy to pull off once you practice a bit. Everything from picking up objects, flipping switches, and throwing enemies, to hurling stakes, staking behind the back, reverse jump kicks and more. There are easily as many moves as a fighting game, all executed easily with minimal fuss. In addition, there are super moves powered by building up your strength by beating on opponents. You can even throw opponents into protruding objects such as a broken fence and impale them. The collision detection is excellent and the environments are quite interesting.
Out of weapons? Break a rake in half and use it as a stake, or shatter a wooden box for one. No stakes handy? Grab a handy shovel and decapitate the enemy! The flexibility the game gives you in options is amazing. And if you’re good, you won’t even HAVE to fight sometimes. A strategically placed stake will dust your vampire enemies in a single shot, but it’s harder than it sounds…you have to hit the heart. You miss, they keep coming! And that’s just a handful of the ways to go. You can also burn your enemies in various ways, or beat them down punch by punch then go for a killing blow!
In addition to the massive amount of enemies, you’ll be doing a lot of climbing and jumping, from rooftops to caves to buildings. Move hand to hand across ropes, scamper over ledges, and try not to fall. Fall far enough and you’re toast, even with Slayer strength. The levels are huge and detailed, and there are a lot of them. Every level is broken up into sections, and each section is none too short. As I played the game, I kept expecting to be at the end, only to have something else surprising pop up and continue on my way. If you’re looking for a short game that you can beat in one sitting, this isn’t going to be it! Expect to spend hours ripping through a myriad of foes.
There are a few problems with the game of course. The facial mapping isn’t that great because this is an early Xbox game. Not a big deal, but if you’re a fan of the show it’s weird. Buffy’s lines are corny, to be expected, but at the same time, she repeats some of the kill lines quite a bit, so they get somewhat tiresome. I’d personally have loved to turn them off. Some of the voice actors are from the show, but Buffy in particular is not, and the person they chose isn’t quite right somehow. I assume Sarah Michelle Gellar didn’t want to demean herself by signing onto a lowly video game, but the rest of the cast did. The game takes place around Season 2 or 3 I think, so you have the core characters from then in their personalities of that part of the series. But prepare for some cheeseball lines. Outside of that, I didn’t have many problems with anything at all. It’s a solid tight game with amazing gameplay!
Ultimately, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the logical extension to the classic beat ‘em up style games such as Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and other well known games. Everyone complains that the genre is dead, but then, no one tried Buffy the Vampire Slayer either. It was pulled off here, and pulled off extremely well! Buffy proves that a licensed game isn’t always bad! Don’t ignore Buffy the Vampire Slayer just because you don’t care about the show…you’ll be missing out for sure!
For those that are interested, here’s the official site for the game: http://www.eagames.com/official/buffy/home.jsp
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/21dce4cc.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/af1f198a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/4a513c2a.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/98208c55.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/5dfedcce.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/60de37f1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/04a1d69b.jpg
Turns out that The Collective (http://www.collectivestudios.com/default.asp) had some great ideas when they designed this game. It seems they were fans of the Buffy TV show or took ideas from it quite faithfully. Basically the game is all about nonstop fighting with some cheesy but fun plot development. You beat the living hell out of everything that moves. Simple but effective. And as it turns out, extremely fun!
Here’s a quick rundown on the story. You play Buffy. You kill vampires. It’s not extremely complex, but it’s fun. I originally played this game before I began watching the series on DVD, so I didn’t know the complexities of the characters but it didn’t make a difference to me. What did was the exceptional camera and responsiveness of the controls. Buffy is able to do a ton of moves, and they’re all relatively easy to pull off once you practice a bit. Everything from picking up objects, flipping switches, and throwing enemies, to hurling stakes, staking behind the back, reverse jump kicks and more. There are easily as many moves as a fighting game, all executed easily with minimal fuss. In addition, there are super moves powered by building up your strength by beating on opponents. You can even throw opponents into protruding objects such as a broken fence and impale them. The collision detection is excellent and the environments are quite interesting.
Out of weapons? Break a rake in half and use it as a stake, or shatter a wooden box for one. No stakes handy? Grab a handy shovel and decapitate the enemy! The flexibility the game gives you in options is amazing. And if you’re good, you won’t even HAVE to fight sometimes. A strategically placed stake will dust your vampire enemies in a single shot, but it’s harder than it sounds…you have to hit the heart. You miss, they keep coming! And that’s just a handful of the ways to go. You can also burn your enemies in various ways, or beat them down punch by punch then go for a killing blow!
In addition to the massive amount of enemies, you’ll be doing a lot of climbing and jumping, from rooftops to caves to buildings. Move hand to hand across ropes, scamper over ledges, and try not to fall. Fall far enough and you’re toast, even with Slayer strength. The levels are huge and detailed, and there are a lot of them. Every level is broken up into sections, and each section is none too short. As I played the game, I kept expecting to be at the end, only to have something else surprising pop up and continue on my way. If you’re looking for a short game that you can beat in one sitting, this isn’t going to be it! Expect to spend hours ripping through a myriad of foes.
There are a few problems with the game of course. The facial mapping isn’t that great because this is an early Xbox game. Not a big deal, but if you’re a fan of the show it’s weird. Buffy’s lines are corny, to be expected, but at the same time, she repeats some of the kill lines quite a bit, so they get somewhat tiresome. I’d personally have loved to turn them off. Some of the voice actors are from the show, but Buffy in particular is not, and the person they chose isn’t quite right somehow. I assume Sarah Michelle Gellar didn’t want to demean herself by signing onto a lowly video game, but the rest of the cast did. The game takes place around Season 2 or 3 I think, so you have the core characters from then in their personalities of that part of the series. But prepare for some cheeseball lines. Outside of that, I didn’t have many problems with anything at all. It’s a solid tight game with amazing gameplay!
Ultimately, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the logical extension to the classic beat ‘em up style games such as Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and other well known games. Everyone complains that the genre is dead, but then, no one tried Buffy the Vampire Slayer either. It was pulled off here, and pulled off extremely well! Buffy proves that a licensed game isn’t always bad! Don’t ignore Buffy the Vampire Slayer just because you don’t care about the show…you’ll be missing out for sure!
For those that are interested, here’s the official site for the game: http://www.eagames.com/official/buffy/home.jsp
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/21dce4cc.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/af1f198a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/4a513c2a.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/98208c55.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/5dfedcce.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/60de37f1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/04a1d69b.jpg