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.
