Blood 2: The Chosen Review

Ballistics Report

Thresh's comments in BLACK

Kenn's comments in BLUE

Performance:

Kenn
With more entities, cinematics, and scripting going into levels, load times for games are going through the roof. Blood II manages to stay reasonable on that end however, and the relatively new LithTech engine stretches its legs, competently rendering both complex and large levels alike, chrome effects, over-the-top explosions, and decals galore.

Innovation:
Thresh
Monolith sticks to the tried and true formula for FPS games, throws in a little plot and storyline for good measure, and comes out solid. The ability to customize your character's attributes and weapons for Multiplayer are definitely new, but we have yet to see whether such drastic variation is actually good for the game.

Learning Curve:

Kenn
Blood II basically throws you straight into the action, whether you're ready or not. The pop-up screens might help if you're stuck somewhere near the beginning, but there's nothing like the elaborate introduction/training courses provided by Half Life or Sin.

Gameplay:
Thresh
Cool beans. Enemies are still kind of dumb, and refuse to attack while moving. Level integration works well, with a focus on realistic puzzles and quandaries. We like the speedier pace of Single player, the excellent musical accompaniment, and the morbid sense of humor.

Multiplayer:

Kenn:
While Dennis is certain that a "killer setup" is bound to be found and used by the hardcore set, I thought that being able to customize your character's attributes and payload was definitely a step in the right direction. Multiplayer was fun for free for all, but looking forward towards other variations of multiplayer, we found Blood II's ammo-only map system limiting.