Look at this with the Roger Ebert philosophy of rating something on the relative merits of what it’s trying to achieve and it’s a huge success. The original Devil May Cry’s gameplay is a perfect fit for the world of Buffy, and this Fox Studios imitation brand of Capcom’s masterpiece is surprisingly satisfying to play. Land a stake through the heart of a vampire who’s spinning in the air with all the aggression of an LA stunt actor and you’ll be in a heaven that feels incredibly close to the world of the television show it’s trying to replicate.
It’s unfortunate, then, that the game also has you spending hours collecting keys for doors and fuses for fuseboxes and levers for broken switches - anyone remember the episode where Buffy does a block puzzle? I guess this item-fetching filler is a natural drawback of this being a budget TV tie-in that needed to have “OVER 20 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY!” in its Game Informer review.
The story here is straight out of the Whedon mid-season template, which certainly isn’t a complaint. The dialogue has a decent number of the corny chuckle-able quips that the show was known for, and the writers somehow managed to work in a bunch risque lesbian riffs that I’m surprised exist in a mid-2000s 20th Century Fox product. My only complaint is that the game never gets meta with itself - not that I love metanarratives or anything, but the show was always down to get outside itself and examine itself in a fun way fitting of its Twilight Zone roots. Sadly, there’s nothing here like the iconic dream or musical episodes, and the game’s all the poorer for it. Go collect another crypt key.
The best thing about Chaos Bleeds? Anthony Head - who played Giles on the show - is the game’s 'tutorial voice'. I have never heard a trained thespian sound so deeply, utterly strained in my life before and it is amusingly unpleasant. You haven’t lived until you’re heard Giles say “Buffy, press the UP D-PAD button to use an item in your inventory, or press SELECT to see this again.” and punctuate it with a huge sigh that the sound techs simply chose not to cut out. Brilliant.
It’s unfortunate, then, that the game also has you spending hours collecting keys for doors and fuses for fuseboxes and levers for broken switches - anyone remember the episode where Buffy does a block puzzle? I guess this item-fetching filler is a natural drawback of this being a budget TV tie-in that needed to have “OVER 20 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY!” in its Game Informer review.
The story here is straight out of the Whedon mid-season template, which certainly isn’t a complaint. The dialogue has a decent number of the corny chuckle-able quips that the show was known for, and the writers somehow managed to work in a bunch risque lesbian riffs that I’m surprised exist in a mid-2000s 20th Century Fox product. My only complaint is that the game never gets meta with itself - not that I love metanarratives or anything, but the show was always down to get outside itself and examine itself in a fun way fitting of its Twilight Zone roots. Sadly, there’s nothing here like the iconic dream or musical episodes, and the game’s all the poorer for it. Go collect another crypt key.
The best thing about Chaos Bleeds? Anthony Head - who played Giles on the show - is the game’s 'tutorial voice'. I have never heard a trained thespian sound so deeply, utterly strained in my life before and it is amusingly unpleasant. You haven’t lived until you’re heard Giles say “Buffy, press the UP D-PAD button to use an item in your inventory, or press SELECT to see this again.” and punctuate it with a huge sigh that the sound techs simply chose not to cut out. Brilliant.
Erato_Heti
2 years ago