1.5 hours played
Written 5 days ago
[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote]
You know, I think some game franchises are actually cursed. No matter who you give the game to, someone or something appears out of nowhere to ensure the game ends up being very bad at worst or mediocre at best. For the longest time, I considered Bubsy to be one of the most notable franchises to fit this criteria, but I think now I can add BloodRayne to the mix as well.
I started playing the games in this franchise a while ago. I found the first game to have a tedious gameplay and a very clunky combat system, thinking that a more hack & slash gameplay suits the series more. BloodRayne 2 showed me that the devs seem to have had the same thoughts, as the gameplay was changes to have more emphasis on fast-paced action. Unfortunately, this was not executed properly, resulting in the game becomes even worse and more boring than the first installment with a slow and impactless combat, and badly designed platforming sections.
Then came BloodRayne Betrayal. I played the original version many years ago, and I remember being so infuriated by it that I quit before the second boss fight. The game was simply way too problematic, especially for a game made by Wayforward, screaming that there were definitely money or time constraints involved. I left that game behind for a long time, until now when I finally decided to check out the enhanced version. And I have to say...
[h2]This is the same flipping thing as the original![/h2]
[list][*]The artstyle, artistic visual changes (such as everything becoming silhouettes) and some visual effects (such as screen shakes which you cannot disable) interfering with screen readability and making it a nightmare to notice where everyone/everything is?
[*]The tutorials being some texts that appear at the bottom of the screen WHILE YOU ARE FIGHTING and vanish very fast, forcing you to read about them in a menu instead of properly teaching them?
[*]The controls being very impecise for platforming because Rayne's movement is too slippery?
[*]The actual platforming being very awkward and even infuriating due to hazards that come out of literally nowhere, medusa head equivalents flying around, getting juggled to death by spikes due to nonexistent invulnerability frames (like how it was in Sonic 1), and interactable hazards that do not respawn unless you deliberately kill Rayne or reload from checkpoint?
[*]The combat feeling very weightless due to your attacks giving out no sense of impact?
[*]Those sections where you have to quite literally play Flappy Bird?
[*]The game reusing the same graphics, music and level design for an extended period of time and causing fatigue?[/list]
NONE OF THESE HAVE BEEN FIXED OR IMPROVED UPON.
This "upgraded" version only improves the visuals, adds voice acting to the very few instances when characters talk and makes the difficulty more tolerable. That's it. The rest of it, is the exact same game we had before. And what we had before is honestly not something I would ever recommend to anyone. It's honestly not a fun game, and I don't see why you should bother with something that is branded as "entertainment" yet is not fun.
[h2]TL;DR[/h2]
Barely upgraded. It only enhances graphics, adds a bit of voice acting and reduces the difficulty, while keeping all of the original's shortcomings intact, resulting in a game that is still not fun.
