Blade 2

It seems that only yesterday comic books relied solely on paper and ink to keep them fresh. Avid fans flocking to their local “geek” shop to buy the latest issue of their favorite hero saving the day. Times have changed and like it or not comic books are becoming more and more mainstream as each day passes, first Superman made his appearance, then Batman, and even more recently Spiderman. With any successful movie a game must be made and nine times out of ten that game sucks ass, in fact with the exception of Spiderman and perhaps two of the Batman games they have all sucked. Does Blade 2 break the cycle or just leave you wondering when the cash cow will finally tip?

We start with the overall look and feel of Blade 2 for the XBox, sure the lighting is nice and the textures are much smoother than it’s PS2 counterpart, but for the most part it is pretty bland. Character models seem very low poly and Blade himself looks a bit stiff and bulky. Sure Wesley Snipes is no small guy but this is a bit un-proportioned. The levels themselves are decent looking unfortunately they seem to repeat constantly, for instance in the parking garage every floor is identical so don’t be surprised if you find yourself asking, “Haven’t I already been here?”. On the plus side the frame rate is smooth which is more than I can say for the game play…

You knew it was coming and here it is, this game plays like shit. Imagine the beautiful combat system of Buffy, throw it in a blender, and drink it. Then after a few hours piss it out and you have Blade 2’s game play, it’s that good! The left stick controls the camera and whichever way you point it Blade goes once you press forward, this leads to many unfair hits and attacks. The melee system is also a joke, using the right analog stick you control Blade’s punches and kicks. While a good idea the response time is almost a joke, the game even warns you to be slow with your attacks as if saying we can’t keep up with the game’s action pace so calm down. I dunno about you but when I think of Blade kicking ass I think of fast action and finesse, not sloppy control and delayed attacks.

Sound…sound…OH yeah I knew I put that somewhere, IT SUCKS. The music is terrible and the voice overs are ridiculous! Blade sounds like a pimped out gangsta and Whistler sounds like your high school gym teacher. The enemies also have some award winning dialogue such as “you’re dead half breed” and “daywalker”. And the Oscar goes to…..not this game that is for sure. Custom soundtracks could not even help this game’s audio flare blach!

I wish there was something nice I could say about this game as I am a huge Blade fan. He is one of those heroes that deserved a game with fast kick ass action sequences and lots of violence. Instead we are treated to a half ass version of Hidden Invasion…ewwww. Fans of the series this game does not even come close to doing your hero justice, where are the developers at The Collective when you need them? Perhaps Activision will get a better developer next time until then do not bother with this mess!

Written by
Ken is the Editor-in-Chief of this hole in the wall and he loves to troll for the fun of it. He also enjoys long walks through Arkham Asylum and the cool air of Shadow Moses Island. His turn-ons include Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid and StarCraft.