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Thread: Sleeper of the Week: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox)

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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Default Sleeper of the Week: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox)

    “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







    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Oh yeah...I almost forgot (being as I'm half asleep posting this...ironic huh?). You can pick this game up cheap. Another one that's easy to get cause everyone things "Yeah...whatever" when they look at it! Probably $15-20 for a complete copy, and WELL worth it!
    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

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    agreed ; gerat game
    and don't forget it's sequel "Chaos Bleeds" which is the same(or even more) fun and avaible on GC/PS2 too.
    I got my copy(GC) for 15 euros.




    also highly recommended

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    agreed, never played the sequel but the first one was a great action-platformer mix. pick it up if you can!

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    I gave my sealed copy to Brykasch for Secret Santa this year....now I gotta go hunt down another copy sometime.

    I knew I shoulda played that game.

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    I am sort of biased because I loved the show but yes this is truly a fun game. I thought that the girl who did Buffy's voice was pretty good, maybe not with how the lines were delivered but with how close to Gellar's voice it was and with the rest of the cast adding their voices made it seem like you were playing an episode of the show not just a game. Now for Chaos Bleeds, outside of the levels that you played as a dummy and the atrocious voice work of the girl who replaced Allison Hannigan as Willow, it is also a very fun game and worthy of a buy. Both are highly recommended!!!
    Systems owned: 2600, 5200, Lynx, Jaguar w/CD, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, N64 w/DrV64, Gamecube, GB, GBA SP, Game.com, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Turbo Grafx 16, Game Gear, Master System, Genesis w/32X and CD, JVC X'Eye, Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii.


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    Cherry (Level 1) DaBargainHunta's Avatar
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    Tremendous game, definitely an underrated gem. I'm only now discovering the show, which is pretty good too.
    Formerly the poster known as Retro Pro

    My review of Road Trip for PS2: http://digitpress.com/reviews/roadtrip.htm

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    I have Chaos Bleeds which has been sitting on my shelf, never played. I'm not really a fan of the show so I didn't give the game much of a chance either. After reading this I am definitely going to give it some attention!

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    I've never actually seen the show, but if there's anything I love It's a good beat-em-up. Definitely gonna check this out when I can.
    "First, we have aspirin. A common cure for things that aspirin cures. Leads to.....rabies."

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    While I don't consider myself a beat-em-up fan, I do like Buffy. If I recall, it was pretty well reviewed, too. Did it not sell very well? (I guess not, if it's the "sleeper of the week" )

    Anyway, I agree that it's a good one to pick up, even if you're not a big Buffy fan. Myself, I've only ever seen a few episodes. I may put it back in the short queue for completion...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zubiac666
    That little man in the corner is Pretty damn freaky.

    ...I Guess I'll be needing to play this!

    Currently playing in my dreams: The Brutal Balad of Fangus Klot (Xbox) Citizen Siege (Xbox 360) Hand of Odd (Xbox 360)
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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bargora
    While I don't consider myself a beat-em-up fan, I do like Buffy. If I recall, it was pretty well reviewed, too. Did it not sell very well? (I guess not, if it's the "sleeper of the week" )
    I honestly don't know. However, I don't think it did. A lot of people scoff at it when you mention it. It didn't get a lot of publicity when it came out either. Simply wasn't pushed, and I don't think it sold that well. I'm trying to pick games that in my estimation, have been ignored or missed by the average gamer. It may happen now and again that I hit upon one that sold better than I thought or more people are familiar with than I thought. I don't have the sales data on anything so I can't be sure...I'm kind of winging it on that part
    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

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    It does have internet cred, but so does ICO - and we all know how THAT sold.
    Formerly the poster known as Retro Pro

    My review of Road Trip for PS2: http://digitpress.com/reviews/roadtrip.htm

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    Great game. I'd say it was one of the first really good titles for the Xbox. I'm a pretty big fan of the show, so I love the atmosphere and setting, but the lines are pretty bad. The tone is right, but the intelligence and charm of the show is absent. However, I must say that I hated some of the later levels - especially the completely incongruous platform levels. I found the jumping to be rather awkward, and I never really mastered the fighting. I probably just needed to practice, but I think a little less moves would have actually been more satisfying. Defense was pretty tough for me, too. The first half of the game, when you're in Sunnydale fighting vampires, was much more fun than the demons you fought later on.

    Also, if you like this game, then you have to check out Indiana Jones. It's made by the same people and is basically the same game only with a different character. He gets his moves and appropriate environments, so it's not like complete deja vu.

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    That little man in the corner is Pretty freaky.

    ...I Guess I'll be needing to play this!
    Ditto that guy looks like a puppet..

    I was just about to mention Indiana Jones And The Emporor's Tomb. That one was my favorite for two months.

    I've seen the Video for Buffy the vampire slayer. If i were knocking nazis around, It would be more satisfying for me.

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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slate
    That little man in the corner is Pretty freaky.

    ...I Guess I'll be needing to play this!
    Ditto that guy looks like a puppet..
    That's cause he IS a puppet.
    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

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    Quote Originally Posted by maxlords
    Quote Originally Posted by Slate
    That little man in the corner is Pretty freaky.

    ...I Guess I'll be needing to play this!
    Ditto that guy looks like a puppet..
    That's cause he IS a puppet.
    Yeah, he was only in one episode, and isn't important at all to the show. He's an old demon hunter whose soul ends up trapped in the puppet. He died in the same episode in which he first appeared.

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    I don't know much about the games or TV Show...

    And i'm not going to argue over this.


    (Edit, March 28th 2010 - What the heck was I thinking?)
    Last edited by Slate; 03-28-2010 at 12:26 PM.

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    No one was expecting you to. sheesh x_x

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    I had no idea there was a seuqel!
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