I never played the initial version of the game that caused so many complaints, but I just finished the final version and loved it. It's definitely heavily inspired by Castlevania, so if you're a fan of the early games, you'll have a good idea about what to expect. It's more on the challenging side, but never ridiculously so. There are checkpoints that are about the perfect distance apart, never too close so as to make things too easy, but never so far apart that you'll rip your hair out. I loved the gameplay, music, sound effects, and sprites, but what really impressed me the most was the gorgeous backgrounds and environmental effects. For a game that has an SNES throwback look, they really worked magic here and there was a lot of attention to detail. If you're really in the mood for a classic Castlevania fix, I can't think of a more perfect game than this. I didn't know what to expect, but I had so much fun with this game that I will definitely be coming back to it. I really hope there's a sequel because this game deserves one.
I love all of the games in the Bloodrayne series, including this black sheep. I don't dispute what the other reviewers say in terms of it being difficult/frustrating at times, and also having little to do with the other two games, but I think the game is intentionally doing its own thing while also paying homage to Castlevania. In that, it succeeds greatly. As a matter of fact, the earlier Castlevania games were also difficult and frustrating in this manner. Basically, you just need to spend some time getting to know how the game works and it's not so crazy difficult after that, especially if you feed often. I think there's only one enemy type that you can't feed from, and it usually spawns with other enemies that you can feed from, plus there are health upgrades if you take the time to look around the map for them. I'll add that though there's some nasty platforming in a few spots, you really feel like you've accomplished something once you've gotten through them, and the game developers are usually pretty generous with checkpoints. The boss battles are lots of fun and they're usually quite the spectacle as well, with blood spraying all over the place and such when you've defeated them. Finally, I've just got to praise the scenery in this game. The gothic art, architecture, and music are spot on and just what you're looking for to set the mood for a game of this kind. If you like gothic/vampire games or old school games that present a good challenge, this is the game for you.
Shadow Man is an awesome 3D Metroidvania-style adventure. It starts out in the bayou, where your girlfriend (a voodoo priestess) informs you that some bad juju is going down. Turns out that a cult of serial killers are plotting to send the world to hell in a handbasket, and you're the only one that can stop them. To do so requires you to explore the world of Deadside, where you'll encounter all manner of voodoo spirits... most of whom are unfriendly. You navigate through Deadside by gaining new powers and objects, and by collecting Dark Souls, which you're also collecting in order to keep the evil Powers That Be from carrying out their plans. Areas that you'll explore include an asylum, an unholy cathedral, an overrun prison complex, and voodoo temples. The voodoo temples are particularly important because they contain gads (powerful tattoos) that allow you to do such things as touch fire and walk on hot coals. This is a unique game that definitely deserves your attention. It offers many hours of gameplay time, a great story, and a very unusual game world. It's also appropriate that this game was released close to Halloween because it definitely has its creepy moments (the Home Improvement Killer's level has a Silence of the Lamb's vibe, for example). Check it out,. It's current price is a steal for such a high quality gaming experience.
The Last Revelation is the game that brought the Tomb Raider series back to its roots, and it some ways, is even more of a tomb raiding experience than the first game. Gone are the "Lara as James Bond" levels, replaced by pure tomb raiding goodness. The entire game DOES take place in Egypt (apart from a training level in Cambodia), and while that might sound boring for a series known for its country to country hopping heroine, there's actually plenty of variety in the levels. Lara explores Old Kingdom locations all the way through to the Egypt of the Ptolemies (including Cleopatra's palace) and the alleyways of modern Alexandria, giving you a good idea of just how many cultures Egypt influenced and was influenced by. Oh yeah, and since this is Egypt, Lara gets attacked by mummies! :) REAL mummies this time, not those fake ones from TR1. The game does take some departures from the series formula, such as Lara being able to travel back and forth between level sections instead of only being able to progress forward. If you're stuck in a certain area, it might be because you need to backtrack to an area you were at a couple of loading screens ago. Lara can also combine items in her inventory in this game, a feature which is necessary for her to progress through the game. For example, in one level, she combines items to make a pole with a hook on the end so that she can use it to obtain an item that's locked up in a cage. As for Chronicles, well... it's a mixed bag. For every step that TLR took forward, Chronicles took two steps back, and unfortunately gave us the return of James Bond Lara, even going so far as to have her break in to a rival's high tech fortress to steal an artifact there. To make matters worse, the levels don't really live up to the quality of previous games, giving them a "fan made" vibe. It's still a fun game, especially if you like Lara's more high tech antics just as much or more so than her tomb raiding escapades, but just don't expect TRC to be of the same quality as TLR.
I'm a big TR fan, but I read on the community pages that people were having trouble getting these games to work, so I was on the fence about buying them. I decided to take the plunge, though, and I'm glad that I did. There *were* some problems with the first two games, but these were easily fixed by running them as an admin. TR3 ran fine as it was. It should be noted, however, that TR1 doesn't have the gameplay music that you're familiar with if you played the console version. I've since read that none of the PC ports of it have ever had the music; that's disappointing, but it doesn't ruin the game for me.
