Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

I had to give it four stars rather than 3 for just a good rating, the extra star is for the storyline. It makes you forgive the GRAND departure from the PnP version. I used this to intro my wife to the whole World of Darkness genre. She played this before Bloodlines and it was a good setup for it. She still chuckles at "Pissed off Christoph". All in all a good game that could have been better, but still appreciable on it's own. Plus the toolbox to create your own chronicle is handy. For the price, it's worth it. Now if you have not played Bloodlines, do yourself a favor and get that too. It's too bad that this world is now defunct. There was so much potential left.

I'd heard about the World of Darkness before buying this game from friends who played the pen and paper role-playing game. I'd even started up a game like that (rolled up a character) before it turned out noone really had time to play. I think that what got me to buy the game was the description of the story though... Dont want to spoil it for anyone, but any game featuring a pious templar falling for a nun and getting turned into a vampire has to be played... Whats not to like? For me, the story line is what made this game. Not the graphics, which were probably not the best even back when the game was new. There is supposed to be multi-player support, but I never really got it to work (as far as I can see, you need someone to take on the role as Game Master to really work with it). I must have played this game through four or five more times since the first playthrough, experimenting with character development. Most games I wouldnt bother with after the first playthrough (or even after a partial playthrough). I simply LOVE some of the other aspects of this game though. There are some ways to take advantage of the supernatural aspects of the life as a vampire... Get your manipulation skill way up and you can actually buy stuff from a vendor and sell it back to the same vendor at a profit. This is NOT a bug, simply a result of your supernatural manipulation skills ;) Also, you get exp for each kill, there are plenty of vampires to fight, and you can resurrect vampires (not only your own team). Put this together, and you can kill, res, kill, res (and so on) the same vampire for LOTS of exp. Maybe taking advantage of the game, but still clearly within your abilities as a vampire and certainly something a vampire would do. Clerly a game worth your time ;)

Not easys to rate this one. The story is good, it really feels like the original VAMPIRE THE MAQUERADE. If you can stand older 3D graphics, it looks quite nice. Both the locations and most of the characters have very distinct features and animations. The sound is also more than decent. Music, environment and voice acting are good. The downside is (as many have written), that there are endless hordes of enemies and fighting is not really fun. So, it becomes extremely tedious. Some levels include more or less simple riddles, but mostly you have to chop down lots of random enemies. IF you want to have the nice atmo and story nevertheless, then I would suggest to cheat. You can (1) easily cheat a huge amount of money (to get the best armor and buy huge amounts of blood) and experience to max the all of your characters attributes (most of all: strenght and dexterity) as wall as the most important disciplines (Celerity and Feral Claws). Fight your way with ease. Or you can (2) easily cheat god mode (you cannot die), just walk through the enemies and ignore all enemies (some boss need to be killed, others can be ignored).

The game revolves around a crusader, named Christoff who falls in love with Sister Anezka, after being wounded in battle and being nursed back to life: Classic Florence Nightingale. The feelings are mutual, naturally. He is turned by the Brujah, one of many vampire factions within this universe setting. It’s the bickering, plotting, scheming and politics that set the events in motion that make for the plot in this game. The game takes you several locations in 2 major era’s, the Crusades and the present (1999) I love this game. I played it when it first was released in 2000Now, a TV series, another videogame and a couple of books later….But I could never finish the game. A bug made the game crash in New York. And that was the end of it. Then, now, Christoff in the game, thanks to GOG I get a second change. I played it, no crashes this time. And I finished the game. I must admit, after replaying the game, I noticed some flaws, it wasn’t as near-perfect as I remember. Some flaws may be attributed to games becoming “better” over the years, others shouldn’t have been in the game to begin with. At the time I would have given it a 9/10 or maybe a 10/10. Now, a 7/10 maybe 7.5/10 (I can't give have a star on GOG) The graphics are very good, considering the time, nailing the atmosphere perfectly. But the music is generic, except the Tower Of London levels: here the music is spot on eerie. The voice acting is OK, sometimes good, but the dialog can be a bit corny. The sound effects are good. And the plot is not too bad, but a bit straightforward. Things, which might not have bothered anyone in 2000, but 17 years later, new standards have been set...Just remember, there was a time that all you needed for as excuse for a game, was for a big monster turtle to kidnap a princess. The gameplay is hack and slash, or point, click and hack. But it’s fun and the RPG elements give you tonnes of stats the tweak and to improve. Overall, it’s a good solid 24 hours of fun, minimum. The difficulty can be challenging, but it’s easy to get “into” the game. Everything plays intuitive. No steep learning curves. After playing this game, again, I realise, that this is a very linear game. There are no side quests. Bummer. Another thing that was mildly disappointing, in hindsight, is that we only get to visit two eras, although this would not have suited the plot. Maybe by playing one of the other characters, but again, may not have been best suited for the plot. Not necessary, I know. But…nice to have had. Another nice to have: there is also no fast-travel. A thing we have been spoiled with on numerous occasions. Luckily the levels are relatively short: each quest is divided in 4 levels: 3 Levels of puzzles (finding a key or a lever) and fighting and a boss level. Each of the 4 levels are well designed, but not overly complex and relatively short, so remembering the route and back tracking or returning is never a chore. I also found the ranged weapons underwhelming. This is very prevalent in the later missions, where guns are available. They do the same damage as the melee weapons, but the melee weapons seem fare more effective. To me the most serious flaws concern the IA: it’s not exceptional but the two things that stick out like a sore thumb are: 1. Sometimes enemies don’t respond to your presence. You are kicking an enemy’s arse, while shouting “to the abyss with thee” with sword-clatter and the the screams of the dying, and his colleague (in the same room!) doesn’t respond until he sees(!) you. 2. You and your party members can get stuck behind and object and the IA hasn’t got a clue how to walk past that object. The nice to haves I can live with, the latter two shouldn’t have been there to begin with. Overall a highly enjoyable game that I would recommend everybody that loves RPG’s or games supernatural or urban fantasy themes.

Superb game. The game play is a little clunky but the development system with experience points and spell selection is great. This game has a great atmosphere, and one of the best stories iv ever played in a game. The story and how it develops is thee best part of it, the only other game where i enjoyed the story as much as this was deus ex, and that says a lot about what i personally think of it. Give this a game a go it's a part of history, the whole idea of being human, then becoming a vampire, and playing out your quest for redemption into the modern ages, is both original and superb.