BloodRayne 2 Preview

Wouldn't you want to let out your last breath in the arms of a lusty well-stacked vampire chick?

The hip vampire community, consisting of blood-thirsty individuals such as Raziel, Kain, and Blade, has agreed to come out of the spotlight and leave the stage open for BloodRayne. Everyone's favorite blood-sucking female is on the loose and ready to kick some ass once again. Last year Majesco and Terminal Reality released an action adventure about an attractive vampiric little lady of the night, faced with but a single purpose - to destroy as many Nazis as vampirically possible. Although we weren't all that impressed with the whole shebang ourselves (The core gameplay was very cool; the story sucked though. - 2Lions), the game achieved moderate success in the industry. Majesco still wanted to improve on certain shortcomings, so they began working on a sequel almost immediately after the original was launched. It wasn't until a few days ago that the company unleashed a gallery of impressive-looking in-game snaps from BloodRayne 2, truly increasing our expectations for the game. There will be a variety of new features incorporated into the game along with a few overall improvements in the gameplay and graphics.

To those of you who may have misunderstood, BloodRayne is not an ordinary vampire. She's actually a dhampir, which makes her a rather odd mix of vampire and human flesh (call me mad, but I believe I've heard that one somewhere before... oh well). In any case, she is blessed with the skills and powers of a vampire, but is forever cursed with an undying lust for human blood. Akin to any self-respecting vampire out there, BloodRayne is also doomed to hide from sunlight. In this sequel our sexy vampire heroine is about to stumble upon one of her greatest quests. During her adventures back in 1935, she united with the so-called Brimstone Society to fight and overcome the Nazis. This huge conflict wasn't her main concern though. Kagan, BloodRayne's father and a fiendish Nazi collaborator, ended up dead some time before the War ended. For years she wanted to kill Kagan herself, but somebody beat her to it. BloodRayne devoted several decades of her life in pursuit of numerous vampiric offspring Kagan left behind to preserve his mighty legacy. This nasty bunch of sharp-toothed villains soon formed the Cult of Kagan and created a peculiar substance called "The Shroud," which gives vampires the ability to walk unharmed in broad daylight (hm, another familiar moment kicks in). Plotting to turn every living human into vampire chow, Kagan's disciples are on the verge of becoming the most powerful organization in the world. BloodRayne, however, was something they didn't count on...

Those who played the original should be able to recollect the basic gameplay. Things are pretty much going to be the same in the sequel. But, to make things a bit juicier, our elegant female received a whole bunch of nifty new acrobatic moves that allow her to move swiftly across poles and rails throughout gunfights. Apart from being a gorgeous maiden of the blood-sucking community, the main character has the aptitude to perform almost any stunt imaginable; including the much-exploited bullet-time maneuver. The original game offered some serious and intense shootouts, giving you a proper chance to try our every single capability of your character. This time around, your character can pull off over thirty different combos, which, as you'd expect it, can be unlocked during combat. Being a lustful vampire and all, our charming heroine needs to satisfy her thirst every once in a while. Blood is beyond any doubt her favorite beverage. As before, she's able to gnaw at unfortunate victims, completely draining their frail human bodies. Like any up-to-the-minute vampire protagonist, she must do this with style and grace. So, you'll be able to suck your opponents dry by using many classy vampire moves. Mind you, the sequel also comes with twelve finishing moves, such as "the cleave" and "stab and behead," which should most certainly broaden the gameplay and make your character look even cooler during combat. You'll also have the opportunity to exercise a bunch of brand new devastating powers such as the Enhanced Blood Rage and Ghost Feed. For those who are unfamiliar, Blood Rage is the peek of your character's power. As your characters fights throughout the game, she fills the Bloodlust meter. In due time, she gains Blood Rage and consequently can deal out more powerful blows to foes.

For the time being we don't know if the game will boast any brand new weaponry. But we do know for a fact that the developers took the time to tweak some familiar weapons. The harpoon, for instance, received a completely new function. Apart from stabbing enemies directly, the harpoon be can be used to drag various objects and drop them on opponents. Of course, players won't be using all of these cool new moves just for the fun of it. Another interesting addition to the gameplay is the new experience system. Each time players perform a creative move in combat, they receive a variety of bonuses. Hm, yeah, well, presently we do not now what they are, but it'll probably denote extra moves, skills, or additional experience. We'll see...

Another commendable point is that Majesco was willing to address particular issues gamers and critics experienced in the original. For the time being, we know that they've tweaked the combo system. But, more importantly, we know that they've also remapped the controls, to allow more slick and easier combat as you perform all the new-fangled moves.

As far as we gathered, the sequel to BloodRayne brings a wide variety of visual enhancements. Character models received a nice makeover, while the environments were perked up with extra details, textures, and more realistic real-time shadows. Other effects were also included, such as realistic presentation of cloth and shattered glass. To ensure that the game runs smoothly with all these improvements, the developers have tweaked the game's Infernal Engine, adding diverse new features. Body physics have been revamped to make enemies act more convincingly when you start piercing them with bullets and kicking them about with lethal combos. Additionally, there's an impressive range of fresh motion-captured movements thrown into the game. All in all, the designers and animators are doing their best, and we're pretty impatient to see the results for ourselves.