Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Hands-On

With only a few days left before Halloween, Activison invited ActionTrip out to LA for one hell of a treat: a hands-on preview of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Based on the wildly popular pen and paper RPG from White Wolf, Vampire lets players choose from 1 of 7 Camarilla Clans, each featuring their own strengths and weaknesses.

That's LA sewage system for you...

I am in the shadow, but my assault rifle is in plain sight.

To help set the mood for the preview, Activison rented out a dance club/bar that goes by the name of Fang and is home to the Vampire scene in LA (I'm not kidding). As I was getting the lowdown on how to play the game, I kept glancing around the club. Rich red velvet enshrouded room. The bar had a grey stone motif that resembled the walls of a dungeon. Several members of the LA vampire scene were milling around the room, glowering at us 'normals' while they watch the game play and basically just freaking me out. Flanking either side of the stage were two large skeletons that stared down on a dance floor that was serving as our play area. Two long tables with top of the line gaming rigs sat waiting for those of us who would be playing the latest Vampire build from Troika Games.

After our briefing was over, I fired up the game and loaded the saved game they had ready for us. Since this is an RPG that allows the player a huge level of customization for their character, our game would start just beyond the character creation and tutorial so we could maximize our two hours in the game itself. Vampire is built with Valve's Source engine and even though we had seen the demos at past E3's, actually playing the game was a huge rush.

The Source Engine allows for expressive facial animations and accurate lip syncing. This means when the game zooms up close on a character when you are talking to them, emotions show clearly on their faces helping to convey the emotion of what they are saying, not just the words themselves. I found myself actually looking forward to conversations with NPCs. One quick tip: if you currently don't have 4.1 or better speakers, get yourself some good headphones, now. The in-game audio is excellent and you will want to immerse yourself into the game as much as possible.

Great graphics and surround sound can only take a game so far (if only more developers would learn this lesson). Luckily, Troika Games includes guys who are responsible for the Fallout Series and Arcanum; games which were known for rich character development, a wide variety of side quests and multiple ways to deal with a problem that included consequences that followed from your decisions. This will allow players to tackle the story in the way they enjoy playing. And it also should allow for a fresh game experience when played again using a different type of character.

The character the team had configured for our play test was a vampire that was more of an animalistic brawler. Using blood I had sucked from victims, I could enhance my strength and other key attributes for a short while. Once the blood was used up, I could not use any of my powers until I had acquired more either from blood packs or a victim plucked from the streets. I had to be careful though. Vampires must not demonstrate any of their supernatural powers in front of humans for fear that if they live and report what they saw to others, this may bring vampire hunters. This act of blending in with humans is the Masquerade the title refers to. It also sets up challenges for the player to overcome while trying to accomplish their goals. Using my ability to buff up could help in situations like lock picking and combat but I am interested in seeing how the other Clans and their powers can be used in the same situations I encountered.

Vampire is packed with loads of atmosphere which should make any wannabe blood sucker happy. Having the game set in LA gives the team a wide selection of locales and settings to set NPCs and quests in. After all, where else in America could you go from a Gothic night club, to a beach side house filled with gang members while on your way to a haunted hotel? The development team have paid close attention to detail so each location you visit has an accurate feel and sucks (sorry, bad pun) deeper into the story.

Take the haunted hotel I mentioned. I needed to find some personal item that could be used to drive the haunting spirit from the property. I was headed there for another vampire, who in agreement for me helping with her pursuit would give me information I needed to move my own plans forward. Making my way through the sewers (which showed off the glorious water effects of the Source engine) I came up in front of the condemned property I was supposed to search. Construction equipment lay still around the outside of the building, an indication that people had been driven away from this site in a hurry. Entering through the front door, I viewed a building that was at one time an elegant luxury hotel. Now the rich walls showed signs of water damage, the thick carpeting was littered with debris from the decaying ceiling, and cobwebs and dust were everywhere. As I moved through the halls of the once grand structure, it was clear some other world entity was present. Light bulbs glowed and shattered as I passed, the chandelier began vibrating and plunged to the floor and a half glimpsed shape of a woman could be seen rushing away.

Following the specter, I rushed up a stair case, only to fall through the decaying floor boards to the sub basement. Moving though the hallways, trying to find a way back upstairs, I found newspapers yellow with age among the trash that littered the floor. The front pages told the story of a horrible killing that had taken place in this very hotel years before. A child's severed head had been found in a laundry dryer and police were stunned by the brutality of the crime and the carnage that had been left behind. Suddenly I saw the woman running down a side passage and I followed her into a room filled with pipes and large boiler tanks. Through this maze I saw another figure: a man carrying an ax in both hands and his head hung low. Making my way past the tank that was in between us, I rounded the corner and found - nothing. Thinking he had fled deeper into the mass of pipes, I continued on, my nerves on edge as I waited for the attack that had to come.

Another turn lead me to a room with a panel enclosed by chain link fence. Closer inspection revealed that the panel was the master power switch. Throwing the lever brought the shriek of metal against metal as the generator coughed and the lights began to flicker back to life. The walls began to tremble slightly as I headed back the way I had come, feeling a bit more relaxed now that the lights were on. I saw a door I had missed in the dark and came into a large kitchen with pots and pans hanging over the large stove in the center of the room. As I entered and looked around, I noticed a faint blue light coming from the corner.

Suddenly the pots and pans began to vibrate. A large colander flew off its mount, crashing into shelves on the other side of the room. The pots and pans hanging from the ceiling began launching themselves all over the room while that same blue light surrounded them. Flames burst from the burners on the stove and light fixtures burst in their sockets. The door I had entered through was on the other side of the room and the hail of pots and pans had effectively cut me off from it. If I tried to pass through that storm, I was going to get seriously hurt. Even though my vampire body would heal itself quite quickly, I had to find another way out! Looking around I noticed a small niche set into the wall near me and as I moved closer I saw a panel with numbered buttons next to it. Pressing one of the buttons caused a small door to slide open. I realized this was a dumb waiter used to deliver food from the kitchen to the floors above for room service. I climbed inside, closed the door and left the kitchen behind as I rose to the top level of the hotel