Blood 2: The Blood Group

This isn't a particularly bad game. But it isn't a particularly good one either. What makes it so disappointing is that the first in the Blood series was very dark and atmospheric, much like the horror movies it was parodying. This one however did not have much of a horror feel, and it did not even come close to being as good as the original. The original was humor mixed with horror, this was just humor, and not very good humor at that. Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (KJV)

After reading all the reviews, I thought to myself "Well, Blood was an awesome game, what's wrong with this one?", and I assure you, there is plenty wrong with this game! The humor is not appealing at all, and the game crashes or glitches extremely frequently, to the point where you give up, and forget about this game's existence. I tried really hard to like this game, but could not bring myself to. While I may actually like some of the level designs and great weapons with the extreme gore from the original game, I cannot excuse the constant crashing, and control lockups upon exiting the menu. When I exit the menu half the time, the character freezes up completely to the point where no amount of smashing the keyboard buttons brings it back to control the character. I just wanted to vent out frustration from a rough day, and the day has been made rougher with this poor excuse for a game. Not even Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall crashes that often, and it crashes quite a bit. I even tried using the batch file from the community forums, only to find it still crashing, even though it is not as often. There are so many games that are worth your six dollars, and this is NOT one of them. Get the original Blood, Rise of The Triad or Painkiller instead, and avoid this disaster at all costs!

Pff, actually it came out in the golden age of 3d. Oh yea, 3d technology is available, let's make games with it, even if it looks extreme terrible, and worked better in 2d. Actually Blood2 is not only ugly, but really without any of the original Blood's fkin good, 1900's, Lovecraftian atmosphere. This is just an example of that times' craze, the not-so-far future, with cyberpunk setting. Meh. Okay, that doesn't mean it must be bad from the start, but Blood2 has no originality, or has no anything what could raise the game from the ocean of these trash products. Like Lovecraft was a master, who were much higher than other horrorwriters that time, Blood1 was a masterpiece (okay, Build engine was old in '97, but who cares). While Blood2 is ... August Derleth. (Sry if my english is not that good, 3rd language for me :) )

Game is utterly broken; black screen with any resolution above 1024x768. Steer clear of this mess.

Seriously. Spend your money on the other game, or give it to charity. Blood 2 isn't worth it. First of all, the game is ridden with bugs and glitches. Hilarious crap can happen, like flying corpses or pieces of crates, occasionaly doors can kill you or you can get stuck. And it will crash every ten minutes or so, if you will play it on higher res than 1024x768. And don't forget to set all the possible compatibility settings, because you may not run this piece of mess at all. It's not fault of GoG Team or your OS - my friend bought the rental version in '99, and the problems were present. Next, the gameplay. Blood wasn't an easy game, but the sequel is simply infuriating. Most of the enemies are sharpshooters and will in most cases shoot you first with rapid fire. Rest of guys will simply tore you to pieces with two hits. Have fun quickloading/quicksaving! Weapons are laughable. Pistols, SMGs and assault rifles are so weak, you will think you're throwing peas at enemies. Suprisingly, sometimes they will die after 3 shots, and sometimes 30 will be enough to lay'em down. All the "special" guns have little ammo, so no Tesla for you! And forget about the explosives, the most important thing from in Caleb's arsenal in Blood 1 - there are just a few rooms which will allow you to safely use such a powerful weapon. Visuals could be passable, but there's one problem - it's too dark. And no, you can't change the brightness. Have fun shooting in the dark! Also, the levels are laughably undetailed and boring. Forget about the chapels, asylums, dungeons, madhouses from the first game - here you've got boring generic industrial rooms and sewers. And yes, I know Quake 2 was also pure industrial style and had awful lot of sewer levels - but in id's case, it worked. In Blood 2, you are bored beyond your imagination. Playing Blood 2: The Chosen, one may undestand the major difference between good "real 3d" shooters and the bad ones. The good ones, like Quake 2 or Unreal have fluid gameplay, good guns, interesting level design and trick or two. Blood 2 is the complete opposite - you die a lot, you don't feel like undead badass cowboy, who went to hell and back - you just feel ripped and frustrated. So don't buy it.