Blood 2: The Blood Group

I saw a cheap price for Blood II and thought I might as well buy, since it was one of those games from my teenage years that stuck in my head. I didn't manage to get through the replay however and I'm now wishing I had just watched a walkthrough on Youtube. There is just nothing to DO in Blood II. The first Blood, while still basically a shoot-em-up has a narrative and is simply structured - You have to rescue your three fellow cult members from three bosses and then proceed to kill the big boss and there are very minor switch based puzzles in each level (but mostly it's about the killing). Just off the top of my head though, I can vividly list the types of levels you play through in Blood 1, each distinct with fun identities; a moving train, a funfair, a snowy landscape with hotel, a spider's lair, a hellscape... Blood II has none of this. It is an exceptionally ugly game mostly set in a very basic, grey dystopian city and it just feels like no imagination went into elevating it from it's basic starting point. All you have to do is kill everything in your path and find a way out of the level, usually by blowing a whole in some wall. The monsters are also mindlessly repetitive and the AI (even for the time) is a little embarrassing. It just feels like it was all very rushed. Definitely not worth the revisit for me. It did however, work fine on my Windows 10. It is buggy in the sense that enemies spawn too late on occasion and their bodies remain floating in the air, but it did run ok with fine graphics.

Blood 1 was much better than 2nd part of game

I LOVED Blood 1. It was undoubtedly my favorite shooter of the Quake era 90's. I waited for Blood 2 for years. Every week I'd go to the local EB to see if there were updates on its release. Finally it came out and just dudded onto my PC. It is the equivalent of a macho cover band at a local bar covering one of your all-time favorite bands. The chords are right, but the vibe is just a mimicry, and a bad one at that. The motion in this game feels all off, the humor is flat, the enemies are either boring or function strangely, they try to add a story around 4 characters each with different (and shoddy) skillsets, and the difficulty spikes in absurd fashion. I tried on and off for 2 years to even like this game, but just can't recommend it. However... the Expansion Pack is worth checking out. It comes very close to the fun and absurdity of the first game, and is quite fun to play. Blood 2 = 1 star.. Nightmare Levels = 3 stars.

What you have here is a game that, while inferior to the first, is still fun to play. That is, if you can get past the CTDs and other problems. The early Lithtech engine used is crap. Besides that; cool guns, awesome music, neat levels and lots of blood! Go spill some.

Blood 2 at release was a fun fast paced shooter which mixed in elements of magic and slight role playing in the form of 4 playable characters called “The Choosen” which are Ophelia Price (stealth and sniping) Gabriel/Gabriella (Heavy weps and Armor and a shemale) Ishmael (Magic using orb and voodoo user ) Caleb ( The leader and most powerful of the group, he could make Duke Nukem cry) Along with killer class choices there are weapons we have still yet to see used in any other game. There are special ritual knifes which are customized per the chosen wielding them and change as there used making them a viable option in combat. The affectionately named “old favorites” have returned as the Napalm launcher and Flare gun. Each with alt fire modes and can be dual wielded not to mention the sexy and always welcomed Tesla cannon, which has some very fun and insane fire modes that I’ll let you figure out. Next is your basic 9mm and Mac10 machine gun both can be fired akimbo style in each hand if your STR is high enough as your chosen.. err chosen! Then we have the classic Sawed off Shotgun which you can dual wield. The Sniper rifle that uses location damage EG hit the head or body for near instakill. The m16 assault rifle with grenade launcher also akimbo'd. A Howitzer cannon and a freaking minigun (Gabriella's favorite) lastly in the regular wep line up is a Death Ray that can bounce around walls, a flamethrower/poison sprayer (seriously this one is kinda fun) and a SINGULARITY GENERATOR, which makes a black hole and sucks in enemy’s and is so beautiful to see in action. Now comes the most fun you'll ever have: The Voodoo Doll, you literally stab it and what ever enemy your pointing it will react per location of the stab, the alternative fire is a voodoo hex which attempts to kill or seriously injure all enemy’s on screen. Then the best idea I have ver seen implemented in a game: The Orb! ever see Phantasm? Remember that little silver ball with a drill bit in it? Yes this is The Orb you launch it at an enemy and it drills into there brain, its a fire and forget weapon that seeks and drills, the enemy can be heard screaming in pain as it bores into there mind. Alt fire gives you control and you can guide the ball or scout the area. Lastly there is the Life Leech, this fires massive balls of death which melts faces off and heals you. The alt fire makes a massive shockwave hurling back mobs and can make some amazing effects near certain objects in the game :) The last weapons is more of a tool, its the all-seeing eye, you toss it or drop it and you can use it to see remotely anyplace you want. And its indestructible, well you cant lose it but it can be destroyed. Blood 2: The choose and The Nightmare Levels are classic Monolith games. That being said you can expect a level of humor and articulation in level design that’s been lost to modern era games. A corridor may just be that and nothing more or it may lead you to a bone leech ready to eat your FACE! Monolith spent a lot of time working out the basic level design and structure to create a fun and appealing exsperiance. They placed spawn points pretty well in most levels, and the mobs do a good job navigating the area. There are a few wall glitches here and there, but you'll see that in any game. Along with design of levels Monolith did a great job on the story, as you progress though the game “as Caleb” your treated to cut scenes and an evolving storyline which does a good job tying in all the locations. It moves sort of like No One Lives Forever but with a lot less humor and such drastic changes in location. All in all Blood 2: The Chosen is one of my all time top games I love to pick up and play when ever I have some time to kill. The multiplayer is pretty fun to if you can get a few nostalgic friends to get in on it with ya. Well worth the price and a must have for any Lithtech or Blood fan. “Geropayati Cruento Paashaeximus!”