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Entertaining for Buffy fans, but frustrating at times to play

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After many months of on-and-off playing, I've finally just finished "Buffy: Chaos Bleeds". It's a melee-oriented game of about 15 levels set in the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" universe, and throughout the game you are placed in the role of different characters from the show -- primarily Buffy herself, but also Spike, Willow, Xander, Faith, and Sid. Almost all of the fighting is of the hand-to-hand variety, except for Willow's spellcasting (which is fun) and a few ranged attacks: crossbows (which are rare but good) and "holy water" and "hell fire" potions which you can throw at advancing enemies.

My girlfriend (the Buffy fan in the family) bought the game originally, but some of the game's quirks drove her away from playing it (so I had to play it while she watched). First, the floating third-person camera is controllable with the right analog stick, but in confined spaces it will not fully rotate around your character, or will offer too cramped a view to be useful. Second, vampires have a way of spawning right behind your character in a previously empty area and attacking you from behind -- this is quite startling until you get used to it.

Third, combat is the essence of the game, but has an unpolished feel to it. It's quite easy to get out of position so that you're punching air while a vampire attacks you from behind. I guess that's part of the challenge, but it happens often enough to be annoying (and I'm no newbie to fighting games). And I would usually just jam the kick button, which sometimes would do little damage, and other times would result in a spinning roundhouse kick which would knock the enemy to the ground -- it was never clear to me why I'd get one result or the other. There is a "Slayer Handbook" page which shows you the available combos for the active character, but aside from using Willow's spells, I would just use the FBM technique (Frantic Button Mashing) because trying to perform specific combos seemed to get my butt kicked. Throws (which are executed by pressing the A and X keys simultaneously) are effective and well-implemented though -- you're pretty much guaranteed a victory over an enemy once you've thrown them to the ground, but you need to be at the right distance from a not-blocking enemy to pull it off, and you're vulnerable to a counter if you miss.

Another annoying thing as that you can't save freely within a level. In each level you have to fight your way to certain areas where a "Continue Point" is activated. If you die, you can either restart from the beginning of the level or from your last Continue Point. However, unlike in Halo you cannot save the Continue Points and turn the machine off -- you have to keep playing the level until you finish it, or else lose your progress in that level. Now I might be excessively slow and methodical, but some of the levels took me a couple of hours to finish and I didn't enjoy knowing that my xbox would be tied up for such a long time. That's why it took me so long to complete the game -- knowing that I'd have to allocate most of an evening to finishing a level was a deterrent to playing.

I shamefully admit that I had to use a walkthrough to get through a couple of the trickier levels. Usually this was because I just didn't recognize things that I was able to do; e.g. you should note that you can sometimes punch the locks on gates to break through. Other tips for when you're stuck: you should try jumping and holding on to any available ledges, and while pick-up-able objects are highlighted with a shimmery glow, some actionable objects in the environment are not so easy to recognize. Walk around hitting the Y button in front of everything to make sure you're not missing any keyholes or levers.

As you progress through the game, finding secret areas and completing the levels unlocks some of the hidden content. There are short interviews with Joss Whedon and some of the cast members, as well as footage of some of the voice recordings, which is amusing to watch after playing the game. There are also some multiplayer minigames that let you play as different characters and fight against your friends; as you progress through the single-player game you unlock more playable multiplayer characters, including Joss Whedon himself at the very end.

My girlfriend did enjoy the Buffy-ness of the story, and the voice work was good and Buffy-fied in both execution and sense of humor. I did like that the game spanned many different environments, including the Magic Box, a mall, a zoo, and a medieval castle. I had a lot of fun playing Willow and using her different spells -- it would have been nice if the other characters had more specialization to add variety to the combat. And while the boss at the end of each level was often frustrating to beat, once I discovered the necessary pattern, it was a pleasing relief to finally defeat each one, complete the level, and be able to save the game. If you're just looking for a fighty-type game, I'd recommend "Ninja Gaiden" for sweet combat, or "Jade Empire" for cool graphics and an epic storyline, but if you've got a passion for Buffy then this game will help slake your vampire-lust.

Chaos Bleeds - good plot, bad execution

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: September 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm a huge fan of all things Buffy, and a casual Xbox gamer. I own the first game and have really enjoyed playing and beating it.

I bought Chaos Bleeds about a week ago, and I'm about halfway through it. I am a little surprised that most of the game review websites gave this game such high marks, and I can only think that the reviewers either didn't play it for very long, or didn't play the first game.

Here's what's good about Chaos Bleeds:

* Graphics are pretty, and the frame rate is improved.
* I like that you can play as different characters.
* The weapons are kinda fun.
* There are interviews and extras and such that you can unlock by finding secrets, and these are cool (but probably only if you're a Buffy fan anyway).

Now, here's what blows:

* The camera is the biggest frustration of all. You can't look all the way around anymore! If you're in a corner, tight space, or small room you often can't look around at all. Attempting to do so usually makes for big camera jitter - something that was nearly nonexistent in the first game.

* The inventory screen from the first game is gone! You have to do all your switching of supplies and weapons on the fly using the directional pad. And it is extremely poorly implemented. When you're in the middle of battle, using the directional pad while actively doing battle is nearly impossible. This means that even if you have a Medi-Pack (the Chaos Bleeds equivalent of Elixir), you often can't get to it when you need it.

* Fighting multiple enemies at once is an exercise in frustration, Lots of enemies don't disintegrate instantly once you've offed them. And if you beat one in a bunch, the interface doesn't let you switch your focus quickly enough to the next baddy. If you played the first game, this will drive you nuts in comparison.

* The "puzzles" where you have to find multiple objects and combine them are often nonsensical - you pick up objects without a lot of context for how you're supposed to use them, and often have to run through the same parts of a level over and over again to solve it. If I wasn't getting help from Vivendi's game forums at buffygame.com (which I strongly recommend anyone who has this game visit), I'd still be in the first level. I usually really enjoy puzzles and don't have problems figuring out what I need to do, but this game puts me at a loss constantly, and not in a "I was entertained and challenged" kind of way.

* Stuff you're supposed to pick up doesn't "glow" as much as in the first game. It's *really* easy to overlook something laying in the middle of a room, especially if the room is brightly lit.

* In the first game, when an enemy was approaching you almost always had its life meter pop up in the upper right corner of the screen before it was on you. In Chaos Bleeds, the meter often doesn't pop up until the bad guy is right on top of you. Combine this with the camera limitations, and you get snuck up on *a lot*.

* I was annoyed with the lack of save points in the first game - this game has exacerbated this issue further! While they give you an equivalent number of continue points, if you quit the game and come back, you have to completely restart the level. This results in my Xbox having to be left on overnight a lot, and I hate doing that.

* Voiceovers for Willow and Anya are thoroughly unsatisfactory and annoying.

* You get a "Slayer Rating" for each level and overall, but none of the documentation explains what the ratings are for and what they mean.

Okay, I know I'm hating on the game a lot, but these are serious design flaws. If you're a fan of Buffy, buy the game anyway, you'll enjoy hanging with the characters. God knows the plot is more coherent than anything we got from Mutant Enemy in Buffy's last season on TV. If you're not a big Buffy fan, I recommend the first game for a better overall gaming experience with better fighting and camera angles.

The story ...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 22
Date: May 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK, take the first time and add better graphics, more playable characters and multiplayer option, that's what this game is. Play as Buffy, Faith or some one else. The short E3 video was enough for me to see that this game is just as good or better then the first one. The lay-out on the screen is almost the same as with the first game. You have health, slayerpower and your weapons on the left side of the screens.

Good but has it's problems

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was so excited when I found out that they were making another Buffy game because I loved the first and am a huge Buffy fan. But when I actually got it, I was a little disappointed.

First of all, it's great that you're not only Buffy. But don't be fooled by those descriptions that keep saying, "you can choose between Buffy, Faith, etc." It's not true. Each level you are a different character that the creators picked. You don't actually get to choose.

Also, people keep saying the basic format of the game is the same but that's now true either. The cameras are so annoying! The first time I played I couldn't see anything because they don't turn very well. To top it off, you can't look up and if you get to close to an object it "bumps" into the object and won't let you turn the camera!

Last of all, this game is less action then the first game. It's more of a puzzle game. You have to spend more time trying to figure out how to get into buildings then you actually spend in them! It's a lot trickier then the first one.

Since it's sounds like I don't really like the game from this review, I should tell you that this is still a good game. It's easier to beat the bad guys (especially with all the help your getting from the other characters and all the cool new weapons) and getting to play all your favorite characters are great.

Although people have complained that it?s not SMG, the girl who does the voice of Buffy does an excellent job! The girl who does Willow gets kind of annoying though. And despite rumors that Emma Caulfield would be doing the voice of Anya, she is NOT in this game.

This game is definitely a must-have for Buffy fans!

Camera system almost ruins the fun

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: August 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off, I'm a huge Buffy fan who's pretty easygoing about all things Buffy. I also LOVED the first Buffy Xbox game. This one is nice in that you can play Willow (magic! yay!) and others, but what's NOT nice is the camera system.

I've only had it for about six hours, so maybe it'll get better, but I got the camera system figured out for the first game in under an hour. With "Chaos Bleeds," you don't have the range of motion that you had in the first game, you can't look up AT ALL, and when you're in a tight room or hallway, the imaginary camera "hits" the walls and won't let you turn around to see what you're fighting. But it's just as bad when you're in wide open spaces (like the cemetery), because the camera will "hit" a lamppost or tree and refuse to let you rotate the view as well, until you move forward or back a few feet or turn another direction first to "release" it. It's incredibly annoying--more than once today I've started yelling and cursing at the game because I'm trying to play and can't even turn around to see what's attacking me.

To give you some context about my abilities, I'd say on a scale of 1-10 for skill (10 being a hard-core gamer and 1 being my mom), I'm about about a 6.5 to 7.

I would heartily recommend you RENT THIS TITLE FIRST to make sure the camera system doesn't totally ruin the game for you. I have been waiting all summer for this, and now I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with the total experience it provides. The camera system is so wonky that it almost feels like I'm playing with a broken controller. Which I'm not.

Return to Sunnydale

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 21
Date: June 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is shapping up to be even better than the original game. It's also coming at the perfect time, because this year when we would be gearing up for the new season there won't be one, but this game will be there to ease the pain.

The game is to take place between the 17 and 18 episodes of the fifth season (after Joyce's Death but before the Glory War). And it will be like a lost episode, with Ethan Ryane, Faith, and Sid the Dummy guest starring.

Lucky it even gets the one star.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: September 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a huge Buffy fan from back when the TV Show first started. I own all the box sets that are released and I own the FIRST BTVS game for Xbox. I bought this game yesterday at GameSpot for 49.99 without tax. My husband played it for 5 minutes, we looked at each other and agreed, this game BLOWS. It is NOTHING like the first BTVS game on XBox. The graphics are like a PS2 game, most of the time your characters look like they are floating in thin air! The voice acting of the characters is way off including the cast that is actually in the TV Series. They seem like their hearts are not in it. Plus there is no Alyson to voice Willow. Some girl voice actor they hired is doing our favorite witch...except she is majorly annoying, her voice is NOTHING like season 4-7 Willow, and she really doesn't know how to act at all.

All in all this game is a real huge disappointment. Do yourself a favor, don't run out and blow your money buying it like I did. Rent it and see if you like it...then if you do fork over the dough. I promise you, if you are a fan of the First Xbox Buffy game you will want to kill the people who made Chaos Bleeds for ruining a great game.

I hate that it wasn't good. I hate that it did not meet my expectations...hated it so much I took it back today, traded it in for 20 dollars (way under what I paid) and bought Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic instead.

Don't even waste your money!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you loved the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer game offered only on the XBox, then stick with that and dont waste your time playing Chaos Bleeds. I always thought the sequel to a game was supposed to surpass it in every aspect? Nonetheless, you do get the chance to play as Xander, Willow, Spike, Faith and Sid the Dummy...but that doesnt make up for the way that the controler handles and the bad angles that this game offers. The way the game was set up before was much more user friendly. If you were getting low on energy (health), all you had to do was pause the game and go to your inventory, drink an elixer and go back to fighting; not in chaos bleeds, in this game while your getting your azz beat by 3 vampires, you are having to scroll through your inventory of weapons to find a medipak and use it quick before you turn to dust yourself. And you can only carry 5 medipaks at a time, you could carry 9 elixers in the previous buffy game. Also the control handling is so slugish, you start trying to hit a vamp, one show up behind you, dont waste your time trying to turn around to hit him, youll end up going in a different direction swinging at nothing but air and the vamps are now behind, still kicking the crap out of you. If you enter an area and there are 3 vamps there to fight, you wont know it by their energy bar showing up at the top of the screen like the previous buffy game, you get to find out there in the area when they appear out of nowhere and jack slap you a good one. Faith and Buffy fight the exact same way. Spike is somewhat slow but seems to be the strongest, Xander... although his arena is the hardest, i just dont seem him staking 50 vamps and living, and Willow character doesnt have the option to kick, all she can do is slap a vamp away from her and PRAY she is holding a stake or has enough magic to toast them with fireballs, or shes dead meat too. Also in the previous buffy game, as you went through the game, buffy had the chance to boost her slayer power and health giving her the chance to last longer in the game, not in chaos bleeds, what little energy you start off with, thats all you get.... so try not to block those vampire punches with your face.... or you can just hang it up. After playing this game for almost 3 months, i have yet to beat it. It took me almost 3 weeks just to clear Spikes stage. All in all, its a horrible excuse for a game and i wouldnt bother.... youd be better of playing Legend of Zelda on the regular Nintendo.

A Bit Disapointing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Having loved the first game, and being a big Buffy fan, I could hardly wait for this one. MULTIPLAYER, CHOOSE FROM DIFFERENT CHARACTERS! it promised. Well, read the fine print. The multiplayer isn't in the main game, it is a mini-game mode much like the hidden "Arenas" in the first game which were also multiplayer.

Also, you can't "Choose" different players, you are assigned them for different missions. This was a BIG letdown. I had imagined Buffy, Spike and Willow fighting through the levels, side by side with 3 player control. Sadly it's not to be.

The gameplay is alright, but as many have said the camera lacks the smoothness of the first game and is downright annoying at times. It is hard to navigate and keep your opponent in front of you, and you there is no real "look" feature, rather you can spin the camera wildly on a single axis, not really giving you much of a view of anything.

I had high hopes for this game, but overall I am disapointed.

A good game but a tiny bit dissapointing!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first Buffy game was excellent! This one is just good. When I saw the trailer for this game I knew that it would be my favourite game since the original. In the trailer the camera looks so smooth but when you play the game the camera always gets in the wrong position so you can't do things properly.

Before the game was released loads of advertisers kept saying "you can be Buffy, Xander, Willow, Spike or Faith" and promised that this feature would be great. It isn't! Personally I would like to play as Willow for a tiny part of the game, getting to use her powers, and then switch to Buffy for the rest of the game. But instead you have to play as each character for a certain amount of time which is really annoying because personally I think playing as the others is too boring!

Nicholas Brendon, Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Amber Benson and Anthony Stewart Head all voice their characters. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan do not voice their characters though. I don't think Emma Caulfield voices Anya but I'm not 100% positive. The women who voices Buffy is really good and voiced her in the first game so she is no problem but the women who voices Willow! Don't get me started. She tries to sound like Willow too much and makes her sound SO CHEESY!!! Also in the first game you could choose the game difficulty but in this one you can't! This is really annoying because for non-experianced gamers, like me, the game is kinda hard to beat!

From everything I've said you may think this game is rubbish but it isn't! It is a great game and I really enjoyed playing it! I hope that there are lots more Buffy games to come and if there is a third one I hope that the creators make some changes and make the gameplay more like the first game and Alyson Hannigan returns and voices Willow!

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