Back in the day this game was a fun ride and now that it works properly at 16:9 it still is, could use a brightness option, some of the levels are a bit too dark, and adjusting the monitor for one game, nah. But all in all its still a fun ride, the ragdoll physics are a bit dated but still fun, and Rayne still looks great but the npc's look kind of clunky but they're being cut up so it doesn't really matter. The down side the game, it never got its ending. it ends like the Deathly Hallows part 1, or Empire Strikes Back. The publisher at the time, Majesco, decided to drop console and PC games and focus on handheld games, I think it was during the recession and PC game ales were in the toilet. So we never got a proper Bloodrayne 3. Think there's one or two scrollers but they're just Castlevanie rip off's, Bloodrayne 1 and 2 were creative games at the time, sorta, I guess.
I'm only 14% in and so far I'm enjoying the game, kind of like Batman: Year One only in a more modern era basically. Its an enjoyable game with a great story and a super dark gothic edge. Game play wise, its nearly a clone of City so there's really nothing to say about the game play that hasn't been said about City, the combat is pretty solid just like City, most of the same moves, and both games have that Assassin's Creed 2 style of countering and fluid movement. But why didn't Bruce shave before going out to fight crime in Origins? He's always been a clean face character, so I find the scruffy look to be a bit odd but since he's supposed to be a lot younger, guess it was their way of showing he was still kind of rough around the edges. Harley Quinn is the one who deserves the next big game though, either by Rocksteady or WB Games, she's got enough history now for them to make a really good game. Yes, I realize there's a mini campaign for her in Knights, but I'd like to see a full game. She's one the best Batman characters to be created in eons, I actually like her more than the Joker sometimes.
While the original kicked down doors and made it hip to use lead female characters, and had female empowerment, the series was getting repetitive with the jump platforms and the limited fighting. Tomb Raider 2 and Legend were probably my two favorite original titles, both had a nice balance between fighting and exploring but regardless, it was time for a new more life like Lara and well a reboot, which is what CD did. This game features a very average looking young woman who learns to become very self reliant and empowered as the story moves forward, and more of an adventure than just tossing torches and repetitive platform jumping. My favorite will always be Tomb Raider 2 but this is a close second, and they get props for modernizing her and revitalizing the franchise, even spawned a new film featuring what appears to be a more life like Lara, unlike those bad Jolie films, need to still watch it however before I say its better or worse. In short, this game is solid, controls are fluid with a 360 gamepad, and as always with CD games, one can tweak tons of graphic settings, like being able to turn bloom, I hate bloom, and motion blur, bleh. In short, great game, not perfect, but no video game is perfect expect for maybe New Vegas but only after downloading like 2 gigs worth of 3rd party mods. ;)
The only issue Absolution had when it was first released, there was a graphics option that would cause the game to get kind of unstable in the final mission, can't remember the name of the setting but it looks like the GOG version doesn't even have it, so I'm hoping the GOG version is more stable. Having said that, I do like Absolution quite a bit, unlike the first two or three Hitman games where one had to start over if their cover was blown, the player has the option to go postal or stealth, and different things are unlocked, so it gives the game more re-play value. The story is also solid, shows 47 has more depth and actually puts a lot on the line to save a child he doesn't even know. The final level used to be quite buggy, not sure if that's the case with the GOG version or not yet but if it isn't, I'll probably come back and give the game 5 stars, if I'm able to edit the review. No clue why some are saying it doesn't work on Windows 10, I'm avoiding that OS. Windows 10 is basically just a fancier version of 7 but they did change some of thei audio files, so that may play into why the game has loading issues.
