Unrelated I do also plan to review Varney Lake and Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York soon. I may have to revisit them to help me prepare those reviews. I rather give them more respect doing that. I will also attempt going for a different ending in Varney Lake as well. I honestly can't wait to talk about either vampire game soon.
My recent GOG vampire games purchase
1. BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad
2. BloodNet (2 versions)
3. Veil of Darkness
4. Rogue Lords
5. Vampires Dawn 3 - The Crimson Realm
6. Vampyr
I also wanted to say Vampyr in particular I kept a close eye on for years. I just finally gotten the golden opportunity to get it. Sometimes you gotta be willing to wait a few years maybe longer to get games with everything at a much cheaper price. Obviously most of this vampire purchase is notably longer games than BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad.
BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad (2021)
The story involves Count Bloodvayne going to rescue members of his vampire unit from Scorpion. No not Mortal Kombat character or Spider-Man villain. Although either of them in this could've work honestly. There's five stages that does offer some variety. I probably should tell you expect to die a lot. Thankfully you get as many chances you want to get through the game.
Each stage has multiple sections filled with enemies as well as hazards. You gotta adapt quickly or you won't get far. The game's difficulty spikes very often to the point it's not fair at times. For example you have two enemies running towards you. You can only take one of them out if you remain on the ground. Ideally you should try to jump over both of them.
From there you should quickly take em out before you take a hit. I should also mention this is playing a joke of the game being based on an animated TV show that never was. Which I kinda like concepts similar to that to a degree. I actually felt in the audio department it's good enough to get the job done. Easily the art work itself is my favorite aspect of the game.
They sure don't hold back being violent in this. You even see enemies get killed by hazards with some brutal death animations. Which is among my favorite stuff about the game. The bosses are notably repetitive as well as a bit unfair at times. It's one of those games, the main antagonist the solo boss character.
In this case, Scorpion takes a play book from Sonic's Dr. Robotnik. He actually has a particular boss fight somewhat similar to his original boss fight all the way back to Sonic 1. I will say the boss fights are better than the boss fights in Duke Nukem 1. To me, it felt like only Dr. Robotnik made the concept work.
Some of the dialogue you can tell they had some fun making this. Parts of it has self awareness with some jokes thrown in. We aren't going to compare this to UnMetal, it's not even close. I will say the bat character is a little more cute than expected. This bat also acts as a power up until you take a hit. Some of the routes you are force to take within these stages can be frustrating to get through.
I will be honest parts of those actually tougher as well as more intense than most boss fights in this game. I'm not even why so many deaths I died from a single hit. Last I checked I wasn't playing Contra. Also let's not even begin to compare this to either Contra or Metal Slug. The later I'm a much bigger fan of myself.
It's kinda amusing to get shutters to open. You simply find the computer then destroy em. Geez vampires may differ in how long they been around for. You would expect they have the knowledge to hack an computer or simply pull the cord from the wall. Instead they are so impatient to get through. They have to directly destroy computers.
I'm glad this isn't a heavy key item game. Although some of those FPS wise are truly amazing games. Which in all honestly I rather be playing those instead. This is by no means a bad game. It's kinda more of a gem than anything else. There's just enough good you may find some enjoyment in it. The flaws actually makes it difficult to keep on playing.
There's other modes like Speed Run Mode and Boss Rush Mode. I have a few major problems since I didn't try those out. Speed Run Mode is rushing through the game. Now if the game wasn't so strict about everything. I would've considered giving this variation of the game a try. Boss Rush Mode can differ depending on games.
Either they can surprisingly fun or a frustrating challenge. In this case, it's obvious a rather unforgiving challenge. I rather do an boss rush in UnMetal than this!!! The only major thing left to discuss are the five playable characters. You start with Count Bloodvayne basically Dracula in this. His name likely a reference to Dr. Van Helsing just not in the way you expect.
It's also a possible reference to another vampire series, BloodRayne. I actually felt he's among the best characters in the game. I do respect all of them plays notably differ from each other. I do have a clear favorite among them. Sergeant Sabre kinda reminds me of Marvel's Blade mixed with Star Wars' Lando.
He is armed with a sword that quickly cuts through enemies. I actually felt he's the best set up among the playable characters. To me, Rick Ghastley actually the worst among them. Ideally you should love the guy with an shotgun. But the way his shotgun works is too flawed. You have to manually reload your gun.
Also it's even easier to not fire a shot in time. Not to mention, the brief period of reloading could be a death sentence in several spots too. I could argue how the other four playable characters are better. I also do like at the end of most stages, you can choose which character to unlock. Personally I absolutely loved that with a huge passion.
I really didn't want to play through the entire game multiple times to unlock everyone. Even if I had to Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood is way more worth it. I know it's strange the good guys actually the vampires. Which that twist by itself caught my attention. I also should point out, all of them has a different Vamp Power aka their specials.
Some of them activates automatically or others like Mitzie's you have to do manually. Although using her Vamp Power in the wrong areas can harm and kill her. Which is kinda amusing since she has wings!!! I rather had the ability to fly for a short period of time. I also liked whoever you play as has different lines within cutscenes.
This is a touch I am glad they went for. It does help differ the experience enough to maybe play through the game more than once. For an indie vampire game it's a little interesting than expected. I don't think it's a good place to start. Especially if you want to get more into vampire games. I will say for what it is you should consider giving it a try.
What it does well is truly amazing stuff. The challenge is a bit unforgiving at times. At the same time, parts of finishing the stages felt like a real achievement. There's some secrets if you know how to go about em. I do like they allow exploring for the most part. A few sections you are rushed to through. Otherwise if you can overlook the difficulty curve it's a fun vampire game.
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