1. 48448

   9

   Personally, I think the controls are great. It prevents the game from being a mindless button masher. You can't just hammer the attack button and still have the privilege of running away immediately. This forces you to keep track of every enemy on the screen as opposed to just the ones directly in front of you. Rayne's movelist screams crowd control. You have to control. Not react. That's not her forte.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 3 users said Yes.
2. Scottface

   9

   Okay, I havent finished it yet, I've screamed at the TV after dying COUNTLESS times, and I don't know/care what the story's about, but god I love this game! For a start, It's just gorgeous to look at. The crisp, hand-drawn HD visuals are a thing of beauty and something we really should be seeing more of in PSN/XBLA titles. Not unlike SHANK or Super Streetfighter 2 HD Remix, there's an air of anime about the look of the game, albeit with a unique stylised colour pallete. The red skies and blue castle walls really give the game a very polished neo-gothic atmosphere. Yet, despite how clean the visuals are, the world looks dirty and dangerous, a real feast for the eyes.
   The animation's particularly smooth too, complementing the flowing combat perfectly. Which leads me nicely into the gameplay, which as I mentioned earlier, is HARD. Boss hard. The combat uses one main attack button, combined with directional inputs to create an impressive arsenal of slashes, uppercut-launches, head-stomps and combos. Combine these with jumps, dashes and jump-dashes, and it is possible so get around the screen with lightning speed doing seriously stylish, brutal dammage to all comers. I say "possible" as opposed to "simple" or "easy" because the combat in this game is anything but simple or easy. There are several enemy types, each requiring different tactics to take down without taking dammage. Often the game will throw several enemy types at you at once, and it becomes a relentless game of evading gunfire, blades, claw dashes and circular saws as you try to dispatch your undead foes to their bloody graves. If you do take dammage, however, all is not lost. The games protagonist is a sexy female vampire chick named Rayne (hence the title,) who has the ability to feed on most types of enemies. Doing so recovers a decent ammount of your health bar. Alternitavely, she can bite them for a short time, infecting them, then with a press of another button, make them explode. This is not only useful for doing splash-dammage to multiple enemies, but also breaking through certain walls, clearing your path onward or to hidden areas. It's also used to solve some tricky puzzles, too.
   It's not all hack-n'-slash combat though, the game is, after all a platformer at heart. There are sections of incredibly tricky platforming, some of which I thought I'd never get past (hence my angry screaming at the TV) but with practice and perseverance, you'll get there eventually. same with the bosses. After destroying the first boss, the crab-puncher, on only my 2nd or 3rd attempt, a few levels later I encountered: Crab-Puncher Mk2, one of the hardest bosses I've faced in recent memory. Luckily, this game has the: "one more go" factor in spades. And when I finally beat him after countless failiures, much like those uber-tricky platforming sections I just mentioned, the sense of satisfaction is immense. It really is punch the air stuff. This is what got me so hooked on gaming in the first place, back in the 80's, trying to land on that stick thin platform for the 25th time while being chased by something masive and avoiding cannonballs from all directions. Then When you eventually do it, the releif alone is enough to make you grin like a cheshire cat, let alone the sense of acheivment. I've not mentioned the story because, like alot of the old 8-bit and 16-bit classics, its not important. The dialogue is played out using text in speech-baloons as opposed to voice-acting, and you don't need to read it if you're not interested in the story. You'll come for the action, not the plot. You get graded on your performance at the end of each level, Devil May Cry style. I was getting an F- on every level, until an hour ago when I scored a C-. I was over the moon! This alone is reason enough to replay levels, trying to beat your previous score, as well as the hidden red skulls on each level which grant you power ups when you've collected enough. There are even sections where you can transform into a raven, flying around the levels, avoiding obstacles and death traps. There just seems to be so much variety for what's essentially a simple 2D action-platformer, with the game constantly throwing new things at you. Its not for everyone though, its just too hard for alot of modern gamers. And the BloodRayne franchises origins as a sub-par 3rd person scrapper from the last console generation (and the awful Uwe Boll Movie) may put people off. For the rest of us though, looking for a good old-fashioned challenge with amazing visuals, are in for a treat… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 4 users said Yes.
3. Thriftygamer

   9

   Iâ

   • Helpful? 2 of 3 users said Yes.
4. Vandiel

   5

   This game produce mixed feelings to the gamer. The graphics design is really nice and enjoyable to watch. The music is so generic that you will forget it soon. But most importantly, the game play and controls of this game feels kinda weird, sometimes u feel it smooth in a fight just to enter another battle and realize u are taking much damage from ranged enemies because u struggle to avoid the projectiles. This is one game u will play one weekend and after u finish it you will forget about it.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.

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