Product Description

Vampire: The Masquerade--Bloodlines continues the famous White Wolf gaming tradition in a new role-playing adventure, combining intense first-person shooter combat with an open, non-linear world, rich character development and an immersive storyline. The game plunges players into the dark and gritty vampire underworld of modern-day LA as a creature of the night, interacting with and battling mortals and other creatures of darkness with an incredible array of vampire powers, skills and traits. Based on Valve's Source Technology, the same game technology used to power Half-Life 2, Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines is being developed by RPG developer Troika Games and is based on White Wolf's World of Darkness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1994 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2004-11-19
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP
• Number of items: 1

Customer Reviews

bloody good
i really enjoyed this game however used to glitch on me a lot so wasn't able to complete it, could have been my disc tho'! should be remade and updated for the newer consoles would be an instant hit!

Read this before you take the plunge
I have no idea why this review has been flagged as unhelpful by certain readers, because, although I speak with the harsh tongue of truth, I am imparting knowledge. This game is a beautiful nearly, an angel with a broken wing, a not quite, an also-ran. I'd love to love this game. I want to, believe me. I dearly wish I could give this 5 out of 5. It has nice characterization, a great plot, tons of atmosphere - what's the prob, I hear you cry? Well, I'll tell you, gentle reader. Indeed, it ought to have been a real classic. Moody graphics, lovely sound effects and slick music (although tune wise it's the typical industrial/gothic creative-black hole dirge as we are forced to expect from any horror game or movie these days, which no-one who knows anything about music can not laugh deeply at)
When it works, it's scary, funny, entertaining pulpy hokum, and the thing feels - well - made with a hell of a lot of love, you might say. I really, really, wish I could give it 5. I do. Why does it screw up?

Well, It's so buggy, that you will hopefully, snap the cd in half before you try to end it all by jumping through the window in frustration. I have never played such a technically flawed and annoying game. I heard that the programmers, no fault of their own, were forced to rush release, which must have hurt deeply considering what they put into this. If the bits you could play were bad, you wouldn't care - but the bits that work are amazing. Despite what another poster said (99% ok with patches? Absolute twaddle!) even with the patches, there is a very good chance that you will *not* be able to proceed or complete this. I say this because I know no less than 4 people who have this game, and not one of us has managed to get it to work sufficiently to complete it. Now you have been warned. If you can live with all this, you might have a good gaming experience for a while. Your call. I wish it were different.

Amongst the greatest games ever made
While perhaps not quite a gaming-household name, the now defunct Troika is one of the greatest development teams ever to have existed, and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of their finest achievements, and one of the best games ever made.

Bloodlines is a roleplaying game - to most people, that would mean picking a class and then going off on some epic quest to save the world, and pretty much killing everything you meet along the way, gaining experience as you go, developing your character in a fairly strict, class-defined way. Bloodlines is a completely different animal. A major contributing factor in this is that you don't earn experience points for killing stuff.

All the experience awarded is through completing quests, which makes the game fundamentally different to a typical D20 roleplaying game. Because everything then defers to the playstyle of your class - if you're a stealthy character, it makes no sense that you'd fight your way through an area like a warrior. No, you'd stealth through, and since the enemies don't yield experience, you lose very little (or, usually, nothing) in playing your class your way. It's a fantastic gameplay style and it amazes me that no one has yet imitated it.

You'll start by picking a class in a fairly traditional roleplaying game way, or you can answer a few questions about your preferred playstyle and the game will pick a class for you. All of the World of Darkness clans are represented in the game, though there are really only four archetypes: fighter, stealther, spellcaster and `talker'. Every class is a balance of these four styles, and mostly it's just the extremes that are worth playing, as they offer the most distinct and diverse experiences.

If you're not familiar with names like White Wolf, World of Darkness, or Vampire the Masquerade, don't worry - you don't need to be. Troika does a wonderful job of introducing you to the world through the eyes of a newly sired fledgling vampire, whose sire is killed due to vampire politics. After a quick tutorial with your new vampire friend (voiced by none other than Futurama's voice of Bender, John Di Maggio), you're thrust into the Santa Monica vampire underworld.

The game takes place mostly in first person, though a third person option is available. You'll explore the environments in a fairly standard RPG manner, seeking out talk-to-able characters who are usually quest givers or otherwise drive the story. The game takes place entirely at night, so you won't have to deal with sunlight and, with the exception of the hideous looking Nosferatu clan (who must keep out of sight, hiding in sewers), you can interact freely with humans.

The missions you go on are mostly pretty standard RPG stuff, go here and get that, go here and kill that, go here and talk to him/her. But that you can often take several routes through a mission are what really make the game fantastic. As a member of the insane Malkavian clan, you can smite nearby enemies with temporary insanity and simply walk past them, as a fierce Gangrel clan member, you can tear them apart in bestial rage, or as a member of the Nosferatu you may simply turn invisible and stalk past them. As experience isn't earned for combat, it doesn't make a difference.

Similar diversity exists when talking to people. Character skills like intimidate, seduce or persuasion offer additional dialogue options that will aid your agenda, if you have sufficient skill. Other skills come into play as well, sometimes you may open a locked door using your hacking skill, or you may find a key hidden under a pile of books with a high perception skill, or you may be able to simply kill someone who possesses the key. Rarely will insuffiency in one particular skill prevent you from completing a quest, though completing quests in certain ways may impart bonuses.

The story, which I won't spoil, revolves around an almost cliché vampire Armageddon, but you're not some great hero on an Epic quest to thwart evil, you're just stuck in the middle of a political struggle and you're trying to find out what's going on. Some things feel cliché, but Troika does a wonderful job of making their game very counterstereotypical, and you probably won't see the ending coming - unless you happen to talk to a certain Malkavian.

The combat is easily the weakest part of the game, but it does at least take place in real time. You have a selection of guns and melee weapons available - but thanks to the extraordinary healing speed of most supernaturals, guns aren't very effective. This is a melee game. You'll tear people apart with knives, axes and swords, or use your vampiric abilities to confuse or destroy enemies. Being a vampire, you are remarkably strong and resilient, and you're pretty hard to kill. Your health regenerates fast, and all it takes to keep you healthy is a little blood now and then. You feed on innocent humans and enemies alike, or even rats, and you can always buy a few blood packs at the local blood bank for tight spots.

The voice acting and writing style are singularly fantastic throughout - some of the best I've experienced in a game - and coupled with a large number of interesting, albeit generic, rpg missions, an engaging and non-standard main quest arc revolving around politics, a host of fascinating characters and a beautiful engine (source), Bloodlines is perhaps the best roleplaying game I've ever experienced. The only downside to the entire game is the combat, and the ending few hours are rather weak (being a series of dungeon crawl style constant-combat events). The game was released in an absurdly buggy state, but running fully patched, I experienced no bugs, and only a few drop-to-desktop crashes here and there.

Bloodlines is one of the best games ever made, and is severely underappreciated, do yourself a favour. Buy it.