BloodRayne: Betrayal Review

**Smore ninja** · September 23rd, 2011

BloodRayne: Betrayal, features a character, named Rayne that has been missing from the video game scene for quite some time. I’ve never played the original games nor paid any attention to any BloodRayne content like the comic book or movie, but I’m glad I got the chance to review this game. In the game you mostly play as Rayne, a Dhampir Vampire Hunter. For those of those who were as well versed in vampire mythology as I was before playing; a Dhampir is the child of a vampire father and a human mother. They have all the benefits that being a vampire contains while having a large lack of their weakness. Rayne being a Dhampir does bring up several similarities with Capcom’s half-human-half-demon demon hunter Dante. BloodRayne: Betrayal is a hack-n-slash side scrolling game with some platforming elements in it and a nice bit of violent fun.

A quick way to describe BloodRayne: Betrayal is to call it a side-scrolling Devil May Cry game and being a huge fan of Devil May Cry; I greatly enjoyed this. The controls are nice and simple. For combat, you have one attack button and you have several different combos that you can use. These can be attained by altering the timing of pressing the attack button and which direction you push the left thumbstick. In addition to basic combat, Rayne can utilize her vampire powers to either bite and drink the blood of her enemies, which restores health, or bite and infect her enemies which turns them into walking blood bombs which you can then detonate at will thus damaging all enemies nearby and possibly causing them to explode as well. To keep things balanced you can only use your fangs on enemies that have been stunned by your regular attacks. You can dodge attacks by using a dash that can also be used during the middle of a combo. To mix things up you have a very powerful magnum, which can kill most enemies in two or less hits. The catch is that ammo is limited. There is also aerial combat which works exactly like combat except with the extra complication of falling. All mixed together these elements make a great hack-and-slash title.

The fighting is fun and frantic while at the same time requires a nice amount of finesse. BloodRayne: Betrayal is still a difficult game, despite the controls that make the game easier. I’ve almost been killed in battle far too many times to count and normally would get lucky and save myself by managing a healthy feast on an enemy. There are a variety of enemies in the game, with each one having something that makes them unique. An example of this would be an enemy with a long-range dash attack or being able to spew out poison gas. I also happen to be terrible at the game; this isn’t me just saying so to gain some pity. After every level, the game ranks you based on the score you obtain which is determined by how much damage you received, time taken to complete the level, and various bonuses you can gain throughout the level. Each and every level can be attempted again to improve your score.

The Platforming elements of the game can vary from being too simple and easy to hair ripping fast paced and painfully hard. There is a clever use of combat moves for most of the platforming, but to give a good break from Rayne, you take control of Raven who is a human that can transform into a Raven. The Raven segments are fun and just like controlling Rayne require some finesse. Rayne does gain the ability to transform into a raven herself later in the game and makes sure that being able to transform at a whim doesn’t ruin any regular platforming. When I say that the platforming has clever use to combat moves what I mean is that there is one attack where if it connects with an enemy, it will launch Rayne into the air. Think of a Mario stomp where he has to cross a large chasm or pool of acid that vaporises anything. The only that it can be crossed is by hopping from the head of enemy to another. There is one section that mixes both combat and platforming, where you fight two floating enemies while staying afloat by hopping on the previously mentioned enemies’ heads. This is the most frustrating part of the game. One hit and you fall to your death. But, what is more frustrating is that in the attack that is used for head bouncing, where if used too closely in the middle of a combo, will use an attack that has Rayne basically execute a ground slam attack. Accidentally using this attack has caused more than one death.

Blood Rayne is a very great looking game visually, with the enemies fitting the mood of a vampire-themed work. The enemies are either more of a Victorian style or just plain demons. The environment has a gothic style to it and well, there is a very considerable amount of blood throughout the game, so much blood that I’m surprised the game is rated T. But, I’m not here to critique ESRB. When I say there is a lot of blood I really need to emphasis that there is enough blood to drown Rayne in, and in some cases if you make a mistake that is what happens because every time an infected enemy would explode, their blood would be everywhere and when there is a chain reaction, so much blood. There is enough that one boss is a giant moving object made out of blood. With so much blood it’s nice to see that it reacts the way water like liquids should, when bunched up with similar liquids it will stick together and when there is a pool of a liquid, be it blood or acid, and you move around or there is some sort of displacement in the liquid, then waves are created. It’s a nice detail that I’ve noticed. There are also instances of visual changes where all you see are the silhouettes of all the characters on screen. In the final level, BloodRayne also does a good job of making it seem like the entire area is on fire. The music is also great, with a mix of classical and metal depending on which type of music suits the mood better. There is a small sense of humour in the game with a dialogue between two characters early on, which gave me a quick chuckle and seeing that the final boss took on a demonic shape and made metal hand gestures while head-banging during his attacks, I couldn’t help but laugh.

While there is a lot that is great about BloodRayne: Betrayal, it still has its issues. Combat requires a large amount of control, but the timing frame for certain attacks seems to be far too short and then there is the aerial combat control issue that I mentioned earlier. It is also difficult to change directions in combat which makes you lose that much more control and since it is a side-scroller it can be difficult for attacks which specifically target a single enemy, such as Rayne’s vampire abilities. Because some enemies cannot be bitten, this issue it makes you lose more control in combat as well. BloodRayne also prioritizes stomping on downed enemies over attacking enemies that are directly ahead of you. The downed enemy is no threat to you while his buddy right in front of you is getting ready to stab you in the face. I’ve lost a fair share of health because of Rayne’s love for curb stomping.

With all this loss of control it might be easy to mistake BloodRayne: Betrayal as a bad game, but that isn’t the case. While there are control issues, you still have plenty of control at the same time because it is a very interesting balance. The game still looks great and the fighting is fun. In the end, that is all that matters. While there is room for improvement, the issues don’t really get in the way of the fun.

Overall Rating:
8/10