 Vampire the Masquerade – Redemption has all the elements of a great RPG – immersive
with a complex story line, a sympathetic hero, and a character history rich with detail. A lot of work obviously went into this latest release from Activision. The graphics are nicely done, and the sound only adds to the immersive nature of the game.
You begin as a human character in the days of knights and swords with Europe as the setting. Shortly into the game, you become a vampire and struggle for the rest of the game with your waning humanity, and your quest to see your humanity returned. Along the way you make some
Vampiric allies and more than a few enemies, all eager to see your vampire blood spilled all over the cobblestone. Not only that, you fall in love with a young nun before your turning, and that love carries on after you are dead.
As the game progresses, you make you way through several historical settings up to and including the 20th century.
So why didn’t I like it? I ask myself the same question. To be honest, for the first hour or so, I did like it. The first quest is very simple and introduces you to the general game play. My mistake was in thinking that the game would get better as it went along.
Here are a few technical flaws to begin with.
First off, combat is very difficult to control, especially with more than one character in your party. Strategy almost goes out the window as the combat is real time, not turn based, and there is little time for calm planning before or after the fight begins. Switching between coterie (party) members is cumbersome at best, and a royal pain at worst.
As well, the plot is VERY linear. You are given few choices in the direction your character will go and what they will do. Kill this, get that, bring it over there…I have said it before, this kind of linear game play is a negative, and the game play itself must be extremely well done in order for me to forgive
this kind of no-imagination-required plot line.
There are a couple of puzzles in the game, but they are very simplistic and require little imagination to figure out. The main thrust of the game is combat and story line, and both of these are done poorly.
 The on-line feature (and what game of this type hasn’t got one??) is interesting in that there is provision for what old time Dungeons & Dragons players will remember as a dungeon master; that is, one person
acts as the keeper of the world the rest are playing in. They can add people
(NPC’s), alter the world, and in a very loose way control the story line. For me, this works well when you know all the people playing. Try this kind of control with strangers over the net and I guarantee that conflicts will arise.
The world the game takes place within is well rendered and truly a joy to watch and listen to, though these features do not go very far toward compensation for no-brainer story lines and a poor combat dynamic.
I have loved vampires and the vampire genre for many years now, and I really wanted to like this game, but in the end it turns into a straight line, straight
through, no imagination disappointment. If you are a true vampire fan and will try anything once, give this game a go.
If you are a little more discerning, there are other options out there that you will find far more rewarding.
by Galen
Wilding
|
