Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

Written by John Scalzo on June 17, 2003

First Impressions: Unto every generation a Slayer is born...

It has been exactly one month since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended it's seven year run as one of the best shows on TV. Considered fluff by many, to its hardcore fans the show (and it's spin-off Angel) has become a quasi-religion with its creator, Joss Whedon, affectionately referred to as "God." It also spawned a highly acclaimed Xbox game that not only was a treat to fans, but considered a solid action title by people that had never even watched the show. Well now Buffy and her Scooby gang are going multi-platform with the upcoming game Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds.

The first thing that will be noticed about this second Buffy game is that The Collective is no longer the developer. This time around development duties have been passed to Eurocom, the team behind the recent James Bond and Harry Potter games. What that also means is that no one is quite sure if The Collective's fantastic fighting engine that they designed for Buffy (and are now using in Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb) will return for the sequel. Some sources say yes, some sources say no, some sources they don't know for sure, and Eurocom isn't saying anything.

What Eurocom is saying though is that their game will have "more, more, more." And their biggest boast is that while the first Buffy game featured a moveset of around 50-80 moves, Chaos Bleeds will include over 150 moves for Buffy to slay with. Chaos Bleeds will also feature the action game standard of the ever-increasing power as you beat up on enemies. And when the Slayer Power Meter fills Buffy will be able to unleash a huge special attack. It may or may not use The Collective engine, but so far it sounds good.

The other "more" in Chaos Bleeds is more playable characters. Six characters from the Buffyverse will be playable throughout the game with Eurocom saying you'll play as Buffy for roughly 60% of the game and everyone else for the remaining forty. And they are Buffy (obviously), Faith, the other vampire Slayer, Buffy's friends Xander and Willow, Spike, and Sid the Dummy (a living ventriloquist dummy from the first season). Each character has their own distinct fighting style that will change how the game must be played. Buffy and Faith obviously have their Slayer strength and similar fighting styles. Spike uses his vampire strength and speed in much the same way. Willow uses her Wiccan abilities to perform a variety of spells over the course of the game to combat the undead. Xander, being a normal human, has to rely on weapons for his fights. And Sid the Dummy is like Yoda at the end of Episode II on steroids flying around with his little fists of fury. It sounds funny; I just hope it plays well.

Weaponry in Chaos Bleeds is also supposed to be more advanced than the previous Buffy game. Sure there is the requisite selection of crossbows, axes, swords and the like in Chaos Bleeds. But just like the show, stakes are the most important piece of weaponry. A nice touch is that any wooden object can be smashed to produce stakes. And each stake has a limited amount of "power" before it shatters. This works with larger weapons as well so that a long staff will break down into a small staff which will eventually break down into a stake.

Graphically, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the most visually impressive games for the Xbox so Chaos Bleeds has a lot to live up to. Being a multiplatform game this will be easier said than done but Chaos Bleeds does look pretty sharp since it's "only" a PS2 game. The characters are very detailed and look quite a bit like their real life selves. The levels themselves are also looking pretty sharp with just the right amount of color and shadow you need for a game like this. Early reports also put the framerate up there at a nice, healthy 60 FPS, so the action on screen never slows down, which is much more important than the graphics. OK, I lied; the most important thing is that just like the first Buffy game, Chaos Bleeds perfectly recreates the vampire bones to dust death animation and sound from the show. That's the most important thing to a Buffy fanboy such as myself.

Chaos Bleeds fits into the Buffy mythos as a lost episode of season five between episodes 17 (the funeral for Buffy's mom) and episode 18 (the introduction of the Buffybot). Coincidentally those episodes air this Tuesday and Wednesday on FX. Not surprisingly, where there's chaos, there's Ethan Rayne, a warlock that has caused trouble for the Scooby gang several times. A dimensional bleed is causing alternate realities to come crashing together, which means many of the long thought dead heroes and villains of Sunnydale can make a return engagement. Many great characters make a return from seasons past including Sid the Dummy, Kakistos, Tara, Giles, Ethan Rayne, Faith, and the Gorch brothers. The First (the big bad from season seven) is also rumored to make an appearance. I'm sure plenty of others will also show up for the fun. This being season five, I'm sure Glory will make at least a token appearance and considering how popular Vampire Willow was, any alternate dimension game has to include her. Of course that's wishful thinking from me. Unfortunately Dawn is "at camp" and Anya has been kidnapped so they wonСt be seen.

Almost all of the major characters will also feature the actual actors behind the character providing the voice work in the game. Xander (Nicholas Brendan), Spike (James Marsters), Faith (Eliza Dushku), Sid the Dummy (Tom Wyner), Tara (Amber Benson), Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs), and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) all lend their voices to the game. Unfortunately again, Alyson Hannigan won't be providing the voice of Willow because she was off filming American Wedding. Giselle Loren, the voice of Buffy from the first game, will be returning for Chaos Bleeds. And everyone that played that game knows what a good job she did.

Finally, rounding out Chaos Bleeds will be several multiplayer modes. There's Survival, a kill as many enemies as you can game; Bunny Catcher, a nice nod to the absent Anya where you try to catch as many bunnies as you can; Slayer Challenge, your basic deathmatch; and Domination, a king of the hill type game.