I love this game. It's one of those RPGs that I can see myself coming back to, time and time again only to never get to the end.
This game has not aged particularly well. The combat is janky as all hell, the animations are awful, the visuals render a cool atmosphere but are technically not impressive even for its time but man this game has that oomf factor. Even though the world is not very interactive, the atmosphere more than makes up for it.
The main reason why you should play this game is for the writing. It puts you right at the center of a civil unrest between multiple vampire clans seeking control of LA. Nothing is black and white. It might look like it's obvious who the bad guys are, but around halfway into the game you realize that nothing nobody says is entirely true. Everyone has a motive and shape their conversations around it to sound genuine. The more you think about it, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.
The music isn't dynamic like a lot of modern games so it might sound a bit out of place at times but there are genuine bangers here, my favorite being the Hollywood theme. Reading the story behind how that track was created and what the composer was going through at the time, you can see why it's so somber and dark.
The game was rushed and released unfinished. It's pretty much unplayable without installing fan patches. The last 5 hours of the game, it starts to lose polish. You go through lots of linear levels with a bunch of gun wielding enemies and it's just not fun. All that being said, I would recommend this game to anyone who's looking for an awesome RPG.
4/5
This game has not aged particularly well. The combat is janky as all hell, the animations are awful, the visuals render a cool atmosphere but are technically not impressive even for its time but man this game has that oomf factor. Even though the world is not very interactive, the atmosphere more than makes up for it.
The main reason why you should play this game is for the writing. It puts you right at the center of a civil unrest between multiple vampire clans seeking control of LA. Nothing is black and white. It might look like it's obvious who the bad guys are, but around halfway into the game you realize that nothing nobody says is entirely true. Everyone has a motive and shape their conversations around it to sound genuine. The more you think about it, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.
The music isn't dynamic like a lot of modern games so it might sound a bit out of place at times but there are genuine bangers here, my favorite being the Hollywood theme. Reading the story behind how that track was created and what the composer was going through at the time, you can see why it's so somber and dark.
The game was rushed and released unfinished. It's pretty much unplayable without installing fan patches. The last 5 hours of the game, it starts to lose polish. You go through lots of linear levels with a bunch of gun wielding enemies and it's just not fun. All that being said, I would recommend this game to anyone who's looking for an awesome RPG.
4/5