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""Little pigs little pigs .. ah nevermind. I'll find another way""

That is just one of the many quotes in this game that are laughable. However, you'll learn that it too can be a flaw. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is just one of them games in which you really enjoy, or you don't.

I'll give you the scores, and then I'll elaborate.

Graphics8/10
Sound 8/10
Story 7/10
Multiplayer 5/10
Fun-Factor 9/10
Overall(Not accumulated from above) 9/10

Graphics
Well I'm not one of them people who nit pick a game based on how it looks. To me, this game looks fine. It may not really show off the power of the Xbox (or Gamecube & PS2 for that matter!), but indeed the graphics are good. If you are a fan of the show, you may be a tad disappointed with the character modules. You can obviously tell who is who, but sometimes you may want to be in doubt when you know who it is. But other then the characters themselves, the scenarios and everything else are great. The cut scenes, in which can be somewhat boring, are good looking as well.

Sound
Wow. Ok. Well Sarah Michelle Gellar (Ya know, Buffy herself) didn't do the voice in this game. She didn't with the last game either. However, her replacement is AWESOME. I was stunned when I played the first game and found out it wasn't her. But true, hardcore fans will really know the difference. Anya, who doesn't talk really that much in the game, has a pretty bad voice actor. Willow's voice isn't TOO bad. At first, you will be asking yourself ''What the heck is Willow on?'', but you slowly and gradually get used to her squeaky and irritating voice. However, non-fans of the show won't realize her voice is really bad and will look past it because of her cool magic spells she can do. But besides the voices, everything else seems great. Staking a vampire sounds just like the show, especially when they turn into the dust. The fighting sounds pretty authentic, but sometimes it may seem a little too much. But for me personally, I like the quotes that each character has. They all have a bunch of different quotes, such as trying to open a locked door, picking up certain items, and while they are fighting. While at first it may be a bunch of different things said, you'll eventually be guessing what they'll say next. Xander and Buffy have by far the most entertaining quotes in the game. Even though you may hear ''Little pigs little pigs, ah nevermind. I'll find another way'' a few thousand times every time Buffy tries to open a door, you'll still laugh every hear and there. The good outweighs the bad in the sound department, that's for sure.

Story
This is supposed to take place in some lost episode in season 5. Well if you are a fan of the show, you're going to be disappointed because of who isn't in the game. Glory and Dawn, who are a big part of Season 5, are sadly not in the game. But anyway, it takes place in some alternate dimension and yadda yadda yadda. To me, the story is just blah. I am a fan of the show, but not a true hardcore one. So I'm OK with the story. But fans of the show, once again, but not be too impressed. Where as, non-fans will be think it's terribly corny, or yet pretty cool.

Multiplayer
No, just no. I was so excited when I heard of a mulitplayer mode in this game. I was even more excited to find out it would support 4 players and have 24 characters in total. Ok but out of them 24 characters, I only see maybe about 7, possibly 8, worth playing as. I personally don't want to be some random zombie skeleton with no moves at all. What's the point? Where's Angel? Where's Oz? Where's Coredelia? Where's Giles? Where's Dawn? I mean.. come on now! Sure, Sid the Dummy was a treat for hardcore fans of the show, but I think fans would have been more happier with Angel, Oz or Cordelia. Even though Sid is really fun to play as. The arenas are just meh. They aren't bad, but they aren't great. They could of been a bit more larger, and they could of made an arena based on every level in this game, instead of just 4. The modes, well, again there's only 4. Survival can be fun with 4 players, so can Slayer Challenge. The other 2 are just a waste of time. Bunny Catcher and I don't even know what the other one is called. It's like a king of the hill mode. No, just no. But what else is totally wrong in this mode? Why isn't there any weapons AT ALL? I mean, all of a sudden just by punching and kicking a vampire they turn into dust? Even if they just gave us stakes to use! Just a stake! That would of been fine. Sure, we would of wanted shovels, and pitch forks, and the battle axe and the sword, etc. But AT LEAST it would make sense to slay the vampires..the real way. And on top of that, you can't even throw. Why not? That just doesn't make sense at all. I can go on about the flaws of Multiplayer mode, but I'll stop. But don't get me wrong, you could have a good half hour to maybe an hour of fun with 3 other players in Survival Mode.

Fun-Factor
It's a fun game! Regardless of who isn't in it, regardless of who is and isn't providing a voice and regardless of how much better the multiplayer mode could have been--this is still a damn fun game. The fighting, and where it may get repetitive, is just fun. To learn all of Buffy [and Faith's..] moves is one thing. And then do different moves with Xander and Spike, and then do magic with Willow; it turns out very nicely when it all comes together. Fans of the action-adventure genre will be very pleased with this game.

Final Thought
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is a fine game. Where it lacks, something else backs it up times two. if you are looking for a fun multiplayer game, stay away from this. If you are looking for a good, long action-adventure game with an ok story and challenging puzzles; get this game now. True hardcore fans of the show will either be thrilled to have this game in their life, or be mildy depressed. This game does not follow the show very well, but it doesn't get too farfetched. I think Xbox owners got spoiled with the first one. Sure it didn't have mulitplayer mode, or it didn't have different playable characters, but it felt more like the show. It did the show justice very well. Very few complaints can be made about the first one, where as this one, only true hardcore fans can make the complaints. If you aren't into Buffy, you will still like this game. Well, just like every game, this isn't for everyone. But you will enjoy it if you enjoy good ol' beat em ups. The one thing stopping most fans of this genre is the name ''Buffy'' being there. That's stupid now.

So all in all, I'd recommend this game at least a good rent. It's worth the six bucks rental, and I am not disappointed with spending $50 for it. I am just disappointed in general since it's almost like the first one..but it just isn't.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/03