The nature of the genre itself dictates the ability to pull off button and directional movements in a flurry as a requirement. But here, the combos (of which the variation is quite limited) bend you into biding your time and become the master of patience. Pushing left, left, left quickly will only result in the same three movements and not a combination; Should you really want to pull that off, you're supposed to go left, (pause), left, (pause), and then left to be successful. It may sound easy (and it is in practice) but getting it to work while tromping through a game filled with enemies is a different beast entirely.Because you have to use the thumb stick (which represents the direction of an attack) combat turns out to be very stilted. The minute you begin fighting, your character stops progressing forward. It's almost as though the game expects promotes the repeated surrounding of the player as to hide the shortcomings of the engine. What's the point of having super speed and agility if you don't get to use it? That's a question Blade may never answer as whenever he halts to beat someone up, you'll give about half a dozen other vamps the opportunity to come in and gang up on you. Ho hum.Another area of displeasure is Blade II's frustrating habit of on-again/off-again intelligence; it's almost bipolar. Sometimes you can kill a few vamps and his surviving buddy runs away, while in other instances you'll waste six vampires in a crowd and the three blokes next to him stand still as if nothings happening. -- They don't run, they don't attack, they don't do anything! Argh!Truth be told, the developers didn't go far enough. If you are going to use the stick for attacks, then use it to its full capabilities (its potential is far more than "up and down" and "side to side"). Why aren't there projectile attacks or a deeper variety of standard fighting maneuvers? Innovation should be something that people chatter about excitedly, not curse at without refute.RageBeing half-vampire has its advantages. As Blade fights and pulls off his combos, he increases his rage meter, which satiates his bloodlust and making him more powerful. At first he gains the ability to use his sword. Then, as his rage increases, he gains a shield of invulnerability, and finally increased strength. The added power is great, as the punches and kicks will send your enemies flying. It's almost too bad this wasn't the norm in the game, as things really start to kick when you go nuts and wield the sword, especially when you notice that enemy deaths are much more gruesome and the combat strangely more lucid. What doesn't make sense though, is why your rage needs to be increased to use a sword. I mean -- it's a sword. It appears to be a very forced gameplay limitation.WeaponsBlade has a small assortment of artillery, which increases as the game progresses. Beginning with an automatic p isn'tol, you'll eventually unlock new weapons, such as a shotgun, a glaive (think Batarang), and spiky silver knuckles as your score increases. You'll only have a few weapon slots available for each mission however, so even if you have everything expect to wield only a handful of your goodies. On the flipside of the sword issue, this was a much more intelligent way of limiting the player and keeping anyone from becoming too powerful.The only nagging problem with regard to the weapons is the fact that you can still pull off martial arts attack with a gat in your hand. Yeah, you should be able to kick a guy behind you even if you are wielding a p isn'tol, but you shouldn't be punching him like some kind of freak as if nothing were in it. It looks strange and feels cheap.
GraphicsBlade II isn't exactly a stellar example of how the PlayStation 2 at work. Character models are decent, but the animations are repetitive and there's not enough variety to keep the game visually stimulating. At least the environments fare better with boring parking garages, vampire Disco Tech's and underground sewers.The lighting leaves a lot to be desired, and was handled in a much better form with the Xbox version (although, from what we've seen it wasn't all that on that system either) and most of the models end up looking like flat sheets because of it. Not to mention the fact that the colors are boring and drab, the animations jittery, and jaggies in the least expected of areas.SoundBlade II's music is repetitive and seems derivative of your standard action titles while the sound effects leave a lot to be desired. Weapon fire seems piddling and Blade himself manages just a rather small stock of quips to keep you entertained in the meantime. At least the voice acting is cleverly done, with a Wesley Snipes sound alike and dialogue that doesn't sound too hokey. Normally an area that movie based games can be knocked on, the lack of actual vocal star power isn't that sorely missed.And let us just say, that even though the PlayStation 2 version doesn't support the same Dolby 4.0 setup that its Xbox cousin does, the stereophonic presentation does a commendable job of hammering home the audible points. What the disc lacks in technology, it's made up for in good old-fashioned loudness.
