Stylish and fun to play. Only part I didn't like was I wish it gave more control over the camera angle. At first I could not get it to run on my PC. Basically the game is not designed to run at resolutions higher than 1080p. If your display has a native resolution higher than 1080, lowering the resolution will still not fix it. Same computer, different lower res monitor and the game launches and runs flawlessly. I know workarounds exist, but they are a little more challenging than plugging in a different screen.
I award five stars mostly on how much fun I had playing the game. The game itself isn't anything that terribly innovative or new, but for starters Its a solid piece of software that runs great with no glitches on my Win 11 gaming PC. The quality of the visuals makes it very fun to play. Ive been playing this game on a GeForce RTX 3070. The scenery and animations are excellent on my living room OLED TV running the game at 4K. The game works great with a typical keyboard and gaming mouse but I found the control setup works very well with an XBox controller paired over BT to my computer. This setup works great for a living room gaming experience playing TR.
I'm giving this game high ratings based off how much I enjoyed playing it, plain and simple. Let's not forget, BR2 is 20 years old this year, and it looks mighty fine playing on my 1440P gaming monitor or maxed at 4K on my OLED TV. Ziggurat did an awesome job updating the game so it can work well on modern systems. While some will criticize it on the techicalities like how the combat system works, movement of the camera view angle, and strike detection, all of those things work well enough not to detract from the gameplay. What makes it fun is the overall theme. Rayne is an excellent playable protaganist, and the boss enemies she encounters are certainly interesting! Ferril, Ephemera, Xerxes, Kagan, and the others have personality and wit that make the story compelling and interesting. If you like hard rock, gothic, vampire-themed action, then this game is for you!
It's been a long time since BR2 came out, and back then I never had a chance to play it. The Terminal Cut version is not a complete redo of the game, but it has an appreciable list of enhancements that make it look pretty darn good on modern equipment, and run very solid. As I'm playing through, its hard to believe this is still a 20-year old game. The first two stars are awarded for being a solid piece of software with no glitches, and a decently good combat system. The remaining stars are awarded based on the merits of entertainment value that this game has provided. The soundtrack is perfect. You have a perfect balance of intense/mood setting music mixed in with heavy metal at just the right moments. The voice acting and dialogue is high quality, and Rayne never disappoints with some of the campy, humorous things she says at just the right moment. Overall, the look and feel of the game is a perfect mix of gothic-inspired, vampire horror fun. Its like Evanescence and Disturbed got together and said, "Let's make a video game". I will say that you do need to spend a moment setting up your key bindings and mouse buttons in a way that lets you react as fast as possible. I was playing terribly at first until I set up the right key combos on my gaming mouse...especially with the harpoon throw weapon. You will not be able to advance though the game without learning how to use it. Also, if your PC has multiple monitors, I found it was necessary to open Display Settings, and then drag the monitor completely apart that I intend to play the game on. If you don't do this, you may find that during your fighting, movements of the mouse will suddenly place the cursor outside of the game window, which will minimize and stop your game until you maximize the window again. A little annoying, but easily rectified by simply having one monitor connected or just separating the gaming monitor from your other displays using Windows Display Settings.
