Kenn:
Like SiN and SHOGO, Blood 2 makes extensive use of in-game cinematic sequences. A refreshing break from the load-kill-exit routine, this gives the game a chance to further the storyline and develop the characters. Like most real-time engine-rendered cinematics, the sequences in Blood 2 are not made to be visually stunning. Characters are usually seen standing in idle animation frames as the camera pans around and the voice actors strut their stuff. It's nothing like watching in-game scripted characters as in Half Life, but it does the job, usually with some morbid, yet off-the-wall humor.

The one thing done VERY well in Blood 2 is the music. From the low riffs which accompany the main menus to the in-game scores, the tunes are always appropriately moody, menacing, or even satirical, but never by-the-book. One of the comical and entertaining "levels" is a one-and-a-half minute elevator ride up a 500-story (501 stories for you Europeans) skyscraper, all by yourself. I sat there thinking "this is the most horrible music in the world." Of course, then I reakuzed that I WAS in fact, in an elevator. Couldn't help but laugh. I would be be surprised to find out that Monolith put that level in just for the music.