It is not often that a game comes along that faithfully captures the spirit of a T.V. show. Games like James Cameron's Dark Angel and the Dukes of Hazard simply throw together a bunch of boring cliché levels and then add the show's characters in order to attract fans of the show. What's worse is that most of the time the level's the characters are placed in have nothing at all to do with the show and if they do then it's only a shallow version of what the show portrayed it as. Nothing is ever really innovative or at least fun for the most part. Thankfully these games simply fade in and out of the shelves and right into the bargain bins within a few weeks leaving room for games that are actually worth playing.

Someone finally took notice of this trend in games and finally made a T.V. show based game that doesn't make people want to gag. Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the X Box is not only a fun and incredibly addictive game, but it also captured the essence of why the show has such a strong cult following. The witty dialogue, unique characters, and surprisingly impressive combat saves Buffy from being just another game in the bargain bin.

Now I'll admit the only reason I even picked up the game is that I was and still am a die hard Buffy fan (except when the show went to UPN and got all screwy.) At the time I didn't even care if the game was going to be any good or not. It didn't matter because it was Buffy and the screen shots looked impressive. Upon playing the game I realized that the developers had a hit on their hands and almost no one outside the Buffy circle would play it.

For those who have not been introduced to Joss Whedon's (the creator of Buffy) world of vampires and the women who slay them, Buffy is the "chosen one." She must fight the vampires and demons that infest Sunnydale California. Buffy is not a helpless little creature mind you, being the Slayer she is gifted with superhuman strength, agility, and a natural ability to fight. Buffy uses these skills to punch, kick, and stake any vampire that gets in front of her.

The creators of the game realized that the only way to make Buffy stand out amongst the previous games would be to create something completely original. Now there have been many vampire games in the past (Castlevania and Dark Angel Vampire Apocalypse to name a couple) but none of these games ever let you actually cram a stake through a vampire's chest. Buffy allows the player to pick up a stake and physically stab a vampire through the heart. Every time Buffy stabs a vampire in the chest she is rewarded by watching the vampire turn into a pile of dust. While this doesn't sound that interesting, the developers took a note from the show and had the vampires turn to dust the exact same way they do in the show. First the body transforms into dust almost instantly, and then the skeleton follows a split second later. The effect is very cool and gives the player and incentive for fighting as many baddies as possible.

Graphically the game is gorgeous. All of the major settings look exactly as they do in the show down to very last trashcan. The characters are faithfully depicted in the show for the most part. Buffy looks incredible and Giles is damn near indistinguishable from the real actor. Cordelia for some reason looks like she has just gotten a face lift and Spike for the most part shows no facial expression other than ignorant. For some reason shadows were used a little too much on Willow and Xander. They look like they haven't gotten a wink of sleep in days. Now despite a lot of positive points there are some drawbacks preventing Buffy from being perfect. A lot of the backgrounds have some jagged edges that stick out so much you would think that its part of the architecture. Also a lot of the shadows look really odd and out of place. Another complaint is that for the most part you really only fight like six different looking vampires. A lot of times you end up fighting four vampires that look identical to each other. The game loses points for not having a lot of variety in vampire skins but the demons that you fight in the game are a tribute to creativity.

The sound effects in the game are also very impressive. The game has a really great eerie soundtrack that gives a really spooky atmosphere, for about three minutes. Like the vampires in the game, it's a lot of repetition. For that matter so are Buffy's quips every time she dusts a vampire. It seems like they only gave her like four lines to say. It gets really old really fast. Luckily the rest of the voice acting is top notch. Players will be fortunate enough to listen to the entire original cast (except for Sarah Michelle Gellar) playing out their roles on the show. The actress who played the voice for Buffy in Sarah's absence, while not dead on, was still close enough to give the character her trademark attitude and style.

Where the game really shines though is in the game play. Buffy's combat system is simple and very stylish. She starts off with a simple set of combos and throws. As the player progresses through the game, Buffy will be given pages from the Slayer handbook with new combos and moves. Buffy can also equip a variety of weapons, ranging from the classic wooden stake to a water gun filled with holy water and hellfire. These weapons are essential for Buffy to complete her tasks. Remember the only way Buffy can kill a vampire is by staking it in the heart, sunlight, holy water, hellfire, decapitation etc. Now that doesn't mean that Buffy always has to carry a weapon on her. While it's almost impossible to not have a weapon, Buffy can improvise with the environment around her. If a table is turned on its side, Buffy can kick or throw the vampire into the table leg piercing the heart and dusting another vampire. If Buffy were to ever break or lose a steak, she can simply break a box or chair and use the debris as a stake. In a cool twist of events while Buffy can only kill a vampire in the above mentioned methods a vampire cannot kill Buffy unless her health is depleted and then (and this is the good part) the vampire has to suck her blood as a sort of finishing move. Some of the stronger vampires can break her neck if Buffy's health is low enough. This adds a whole new dimension to the game giving the player a sort of last chance if Buffy is a little too low on health.

Another of Buffy's weaknesses, which I don't really understand, is water. Buffy is supposed to be the be-all-end-all female badass but if she is ever thrown into a pool of water, bam, game over. While this doesn't make a whole lot of sense it does prevent the game from being too easy in a sort of "cheap death" sort of way.

Overall Buffy is a great game with only a handful of minor complaints. The game features a strong combat engine with solid controls. The game looks great with a 95% all star voice cast. The sequel coming out in August of 2003 looks fantastic and shouldn't be missed by Buffy fans and the non alike.

Aug 25, 2003 | 1 comments
Cris Strenth