Activision's latest 'Vampire'

From...

	GALLERY

June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 11:58 a.m. EDT (1558 GMT)

by Jay Turner

(IDG) -- Activision's Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption finally sees the light of day. With a strong license, powerful multiplayer design tools, and a strong Internet development community, Vampire manages to hide its failings in shadows while giving gamers the power to create worlds.

Based on the popular tabletop RPG from White Wolf Studios, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption involves you in an eternal struggle with ancient powers as you fight to hold onto your humanity despite your new (un)life as a monstrous, blood-sucking creature. Redemption has the fortuitous support of multitudes of fans and stacks of supporting game supplements, and it has the advantage of a deep and well-known license from which to pull its content. Mention Vampire to a tabletop RPG fan, and it's guaranteed you'll get a response, as it easily rivals AD&D as the most popular game on the table.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

Review: Lemmings Revolution

Review: Motocross Madness 2

Review: MTV Music Generator

Review: Daikatana

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-BusinessWorld

TechInformer

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

To really understand Redemption, you have to think of it as a PC storytelling tool, and not as a game in itself. The provided single-player game, while ambitious and admirable, is rather shallow and combat-obsessed compared to the Storyteller mode. In single-player you plumb endless dungeons and slay countless shambling vampires, whereas the Storyteller mode allows you to write the story and be game master as up to three hapless players inhabit your realm. Don't like the combat-rich nature of the single-player game? Then take that very setting and place neutral NPCs that offer quests or simple companionship. In Redemption, the world is what you make it, literally.

For a PC RPG, Vampire looks gorgeous. With graphical quality somewhere between the best CRPG and the average 3D action title, Vampire offers longtime White Wolf fans a chance to see onscreen what they've imagined in their heads for so long. The various Disciplines (vampiric "spells") come off with subtle flair, and the characters and locations burst with detail unheard of in recent CRPGs. Vampire won't make Quake III sweat, but Diablo II and Neverwinter Nights might do well to take a look.

As with the tabletop version, Redemption overflows with pretense in its language, with great voice actors spouting purple lines of prose that would embarrass Anne Rice with their affectations. Awesome music fights with repetitious samples during combat, but ambient music brings mood and tension into the single-player game's endless dungeon crawls. Of course, in Storyteller mode, the voice acting is gone and the dialog is whatever you type in, so a lot of the sound problems fix themselves.

Vampire is a point-n-click RPG, but past games have done it better. Unlike the brilliant 3D camera in games like Darkstone, Vampire's view sticks closely to your character's backside, so you have to do a lot of camera-swinging to do simple things like retreat from combat or quickly sweep your surroundings. Combat comes down to clicking on an enemy and holding down the left mouse button, and it all moves so fast that it's hard to devise any sort of strategy. Of course, the simplicity of the controls makes for an easy time setting up your own games; creating objects, controlling characters, and other chores from a Storyteller's perspective are all easily done.

Even with its flaws, one is compelled to look past Redemption's shallow single-player offering and embrace the groundbreaking Storyteller mode. The power to create worlds and invite true role-playing to the world of PC RPGs is what drives Vampire to success. If you've ever wanted to be a monster fighting for its soul, or if you've ever had designs of creating your own RPG, then let Vampire seduce you to the dark side.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption tips

• The easiest way to dispatch enemy vampires, by far, is to lure them to you with the Awe Discipline and then feed from them just like you'd feed on a mortal. Awe will make them groggy enough that you'll be able to grab them, and they'll usually let you drain them dry.



• The Obfuscate power Mask of a Thousand Faces is useful for disguising yourself in enemy territory. Just right-click on another character and you'll morph to look like that character.



• When you're creating a multiplayer game, keep in mind the strength of the player characters and scale enemy strengths accordingly. Mix up combat with involving quests and role-play for the most rewarding experience.

E3 impressions
May 18, 2000
Hands-on with the PlayStation2
March 10, 2000
Review: Alloy Arcade Stick
January 14, 2000
Retro roundup: Classic arcade games return
October 25, 1999
Sega Dreamcast: Good games, better graphics
October 1, 1999

Review: Daikatana
(GamePro.com)
Review: StarLancer
(GamePro.com)
Review: Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
(GamePro.com)
Review: MTV Music Generator
(GamePro.com)
Review: Motocross Madness 2
(GamePro.com)
Review: Flying Heroes
(GamePro.com)
Review: Lemmings Revolution
(GamePro.com)
Review: Codename Eagle
(GamePro.com)

Activision

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.