Blade 2
System: X-Box
Publisher: Activision
Developer:
Nival Interactive
Released: September 2002
Genre: Action
Capabilities: Memory Unit
Review Written: March 23, 2003
I’m not the biggest fan of games based on movies. Most of them end up being
awfully poor, no matter which gaming era it happened in. This goes in effect for
E.T. on the Atari 2600 to Home Alone on the NES and all the way to recent
releases such as The Scorpion King and Minority Report. There have been a few
standouts here and there such as Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Enter
the Matrix looks quite promising as well. But for the most part, these games do
not leave any lasting impressions, and Blade II continues the tradition with a
game so loosely based on the movie it not even funny. It sticks to the well
known formula where you slap a licensed based character into a haphazard 3D
action platform game and hope it sells.
If you saw the movie, you are probably thinking this is exactly what the game is
based on. That is not exactly the case, only a few elements from the actual
movie are thrown in the storyline, and the rest is the geriatric action we’ve
seen in past movie-based games. Activision managed to get the rights to use the
likeness of Wesley Snipes in the game, so he is in here, all decked out with his
slick trench coat and sword. In the actual game, you are going after a new race
of vampires whose only weakness is sunlight. Blade’s buddy Whistler makes all
his weapons and will chime in to give you advice here and there. A few weapons
from the movie make their debut in here such as the sunlight-generating UV
grenade.
A quick tutorial level with Whistler will get you familiarized with the controls
right off the bat. Blade II uses a new approach of punching, where wiggling the
right analog stick in a different direction accomplishes this feat. Blade can
also jump, but does this weird flip in the air that seems to take forever to
pull off, and it does not help that you have no control over the jump
whatsoever. Blade’s movement is screwed up too. Both moving and turning is done
with the left analog stick, but in a fashion so horrible it makes free 3D
movement seem impossible. There is also a strafe function, but strafing is
performed so slow that it is deemed useless. At least the guns aren’t so hard to
use, little target reticules lock on to enemies and a few rounds of lead….errrr
silver in them will get the job done.
Most of these movie-based games usually have a gimmick attached to them.
Minority Report had the jet-pack missions, Spider-Man had his trademark web
slinging, and Blade II has the rage ability. As you vanquish the vampires a
little “rage” meter will fill up, and once it is topped off you’ll have access
to use Blade’s sword for a limited amount of time. This usually results in
one-hit kills and some pretty sweet looking death sequences where Blade will
take a short pause before stabbing a victim in the chest. But after seeing it
for the fourth time or so the cut scenes get repetitive fairly fast. The other
couple of weapons available are the glaive which is the equivalent of Zelda’s
boomerang, and the aforementioned UV Grenade which will exterminate the vampires
with a single flash of light.
The game play is really straightforward, where you’ll spend most of your time
getting from one point to another as your level goals. The developers at Mucky
Foot Productions idea of level variation are throwing a couple of switches in
the way to unlock doors, or blowing up an oil canister to blast into hidden
rooms cluttered with power-ups. It would’ve been more challenging to find the
hidden rooms if the cut scenes in the levels wouldn’t of blatantly centered the
oil barrels to blow up for you. Also, the computer AI is so poor that your seven
year old little brother can breeze through the game. Enemies would just stand
there waiting for me to walk up to them before they attack. It’s like I am
playing Metal Gear Solid and I’m hiding behind a wall, but the wall is not
there. It is simply inexcusable.
The graphics are just as mediocre as the game play. Sharp laser shows in the
dance club, and a cool blur effect when going into rage mode are the only
highlights of the visuals. I take that back, I like the exaggerated gore too,
especially after Blade beheads a vamp with his sword. The character models are
decent. Obviously, Blade’s model is where all the effort went into. It’s a great
representation of Blade, but he and the rest of the cast have some stiff
animations that ruin the effort put into the character models. The same can be
said about the level design. While quite polished, they are a couple generations
behind the competition.
The soundtrack for the movie of Blade II had some kicking tunes from the likes
of Busta Rhymes, Redman, and the Gorillaz, but Activision didn’t want to shell
out the licensing dollars to have them in the game. It is completely
understandable, but they could’ve at least upped the quality of the lackluster
techno beats that make up most of the background music. The hired voice talent
to portray Wesley Snipes and whoever played Whistler are some damn good
imposters. Blade delivers a taunt whenever he executes one of those death blows,
but his words of wisdom will grow tired on you after hearing them several times
in each and every level. The vampires will also shout out a few lines whenever
you run across their paths, but just like Blade they get all too annoying all
too fast.
There aren’t any noteworthy extras in Blade II. Aside from the theatrical
trailer and a sharp credits sequence, there aren’t any of the usual staples of
extras you’d be led to believe are in here. No multi player, no extra game
modes, notta. Blade II only takes several hours to complete and the sporadic
hidden rooms aren’t enough reason to justify another play through. This would’ve
been the perfect kind of game for the DVD extras that have been popular in games
of late. If the developers could have spruced up some “making of” documentaries
or interviews with the actors, fans could have been easily satisfied.
RATINGS
Graphics: 6.3
Sound: 5.8
Game play: 5.5
Replay Value: 2.9
Overall: 5.1
Blade II ended up being just what I expected it to be. The game play leaves a
lot to be desired, and the total lack of extras and short game play time makes
matters worse. At best, only hardcore fans of the movie would want to buy this,
and for everyone else it might be a good weekend rental. Avoid this like most
other movie-based games and hold out for Enter the Matrix instead.