Buffy the Vampire Slayer Xbox Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Nick Doukas on September 20, 2002

Full Review: Well, well, the Slayer's got a cute little digital butt, but be forewarned, step out of line and she'll kick yours into the middle of next weekЕ

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. First, a major motion picture, and more recently, a television series. While the film was more of a lighthearted romp featuring Rutger Hauer and Paul Reubens (a.k.a.- Pee Wee Herman) hamming it up as marginally scary vampires, the television series is something else altogether. Although the show still displays a wicked sense of humor, it's the dramatic elements which set Buffy apart and make it a must see for it's vast audience. Episodes such as УHushФ, which features The Gentlemen, a frightening group of ghouls who come to Sunnydale, steal everyone's ability to speak (or make vocalizations of any kind) and then begin to harvest internal organs, play as sophisticated horror, extremely well written and genuinely creepy. Buffy's been killed, resurrected, loved a soulless vampire (who actually managed a soul for awhile), gained a sister and lost a mother. Not bad for a simple cheerleaderЕ.who just happens to be the chosen one. In between all that (plus a bunch of other stuff) it's been a steady diet of nightly patrols, meetings with her Watcher Giles and kicking vamp ass. In a much anticipated move to bring Buffy to the world of videogames, Fox Interactive, The Collective, and Electronic Arts have all come together to bring gamers everywhere the definitive Slayer experience.

As the game opens, Buffy stands before a path leading to an old Spanish mission. She's got Slayer training, which is a convenient plot point that takes you through the tutorial level and introduces all the basic moves for exploration, as well as combat. The controls in BTVS are extremely well balanced, with the default control scheme mapping movement to the left analog stick, and the camera to the right. Players will use the L trigger to switch to first person view, while the right trigger will target the closest enemy and put the character into stalking mode (Buffy will circle and auto face enemies). X is punch and A is kick, press B to jump and Y to use items, interact with the environment and, when in combat, perform finishing moves (stakings) on vamps. You'll use the D-pad to scroll through and equip the various weapons to be found throughout the adventure (such as stakes, brooms, shovels and various other, more sophisticated tools). As you progress in the game you'll receive a water gun (perfect for filling with holy water or hell-fire) as well as a crossbow, and other powerful armaments you'll need to battle the hordes of vampires, undead, demons, and assorted horrors you'll meet. Finally, inventory and ammo can be accessed using the white and black buttons respectively.

BTVS will take you to various locales from the show, as Buffy fights her way through 13 multi-part levels as diverse as Sunnydale High, a cemetery and mausoleum, as well as a sunken church and the Dreamers Realm. The plot concerns Spike and an ancient vampire order, a necromancer named Matereani, Malik, a lieutenant in the Order of Aurelies, and a plan to bring The Master back from the dead. Plus a bunch of other stuff sure to please fans of the show, as well as those that are newbies to the material. All the main characters from the series are included in the game; such as Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Angel and Giles. Expect to encounter the evil end of the spectrum in the aforementioned Spike, as well as other assorted dastardly beings that fans of the show will find familiar.

The environments in BTVS are fantastic, and sport clean textures and impressive architecture. The sunken church, graveyard and mausoleum are especially creepy and every location is brimming with atmosphere. The game successfully combines full 3D exploration, puzzle solving and combat into a cohesive experience that's always a blast to play. Excellent particle effects are evident in every explosion, fire and smoke behave realistically, and volumetric lighting casts an eerie glow, as well as real time shadows, as you advance through the levels. The character models are very well done, and motion captured movements really help sell the idea that you're in vicious combat with the undead. Overall the game looks top notch and the graphics do a good job of displaying the power of the Xbox.

The meat of the gameplay in Buffy comes in the form of the combat, and in this respect the game really fires on all cylinders. Developer The Collective have built an incredible fighting engine that takes combat into the stratosphere!! Every combo you can imagine (plus a few that you probably didn't even think of) is represented here and the character animations for all the moves look incredible. Spinning roundhouse kicks, shin breakers, jumping snap kicks, snap fist, spinning backhand punch and a load of other assorted moves insures that combat is always a stylish affair. Trust me, the first time you're set upon by 2 or 3 vamps and you manage to do the double stake move (stake the vamp in front of you and then immediately go into a reversal, and stake the one behind you) you'll be grinning like a fool, marveling at how absolutely bad ass the Slayer is. This is a deep combat system, and besides the myriad of standard combos, some attacks may be boosted with slayer power, which is represented by an onscreen meter, just above your health display. To add slayer power to a move, press and hold the last button of the combo. Buffy will go into slow motion and a glow will surround her as you perform the devastating finisher. Except that the vamp won't quite be finished. After depleting the enemy's life bar, you need to press Y in order to stake the unholy monster and turn him (or her, there's a bunch of punk/Goth chick vamps to deal with as well) into a flaming pile of ash (yup, just like in the show, it looks really cool too.) All the adversaries have inherent weaknesses and you'll need to exploit these to win. Killing enemies releases slayer power-ups and life force, which replenishes your health.

Diligent exploration of the environments will reveal various supplies such as vials of holy water or hell fire (both of which can be combined with other weapons, such as crossbow bolts), health elixirs (which heal Buffy when there are no enemies around to pony up their life force) and special items such as health crystals, which can be presented to Willow at the various gang meetings throughout the game to increase your maximum health. Each level has several secrets, and the onscreen display will indicate how many have been found at any given time. Furthermore, as the adventure progresses, Giles will give you new moves and combos to use that will come in handy as the enemy difficulty increases. The control is very responsive, and combat feels very natural and intuitive. Other moves such as climbing and jumping are implemented well and you'll be able to smash chairs and tables to create impromptu weapons. Vamps can be grabbed and thrown into sunlight, as well as sharp boards strategically placed throughout the levels.

All the voice acting is done by the original cast, with the exception of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but honestly, you'll be hard pressed to notice since the replacement voice actor does such a convincing job, you'll swear it's Gellar herself. Buffy's got cute quips that she throws out during battles, like: УYou should never have entered my Slayground!Ф and УSometimes, in this job, I just gotta say Ewww.Ф All the voice acting is very well done, and the ambient sound effects add bucketloads of atmosphere. The music is excellent as well, piping in at just the right moments and creating an aural tension that really immerses you in the experience. The game will automatically save your progress at predetermined checkpoints, which are, for the most part, well spaced throughout each level. The in-game camera is fantastic, and offers a cinematic view of all the proceedings. In fact, just the other night in the sunken church, I was spinning the camera all around the character, checking things out from every possible angle, and found myself awed by the incredible view of the underground stronghold. This was right before I was attacked by two Hanoch Demons, whom Buffy promptly made short work of. Hey, sometimes it's good to be the Slayer.