Buffy Games

Buffy Games began humbly and like the show the destiny of the games was never easy. It changed hands many times going from one development team and publisher to the next. There were Buffy games for the handhelds. The WB-series-gone-GBC game would have been something that I would have liked to get my hands on when I still had my GBA. (I never should have sold that thing.) The PS One Buffy game was cancelled for some reason.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer for GBC
Published by: THQ
Developed by: GameBrains
Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1
Release Date US: September 30, 2000

Buffy the Vampire Slayer for GBA was released shortly before the second gen Buffy console games came out.

Buffy: Wrath of the Darkhul King for the Game Boy Advance. Published by: THQ
Developed by: Natsume
Genre: Action
Release Date US: June 11, 2003

This looks like a fun handheld game. But it was met with poor reviews and very low ratings. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King consisted of 16 levels in total. As players progressed through the game, they found weapons and changed into different outfits. Items of clothing were given to Buffy by friends such as Giles, Willow, Zander, and Riley which seems rather odd. But just b/c a game has gotten lousy reviews doesn’t always mean that it isn’t fun. It may have some flaws in the gameplay, but that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t enjoy it anyway as a time waster. Just like with movie rating you have to make your own choices. Critics don’t always have the same taste as the fans do. Buffy fans can be mush more forgiving that people who are not into the series. Which really shows as you surf the web reading the different opions about all the Buffy games in general.

The first Buffy console game was simply self titled as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it included original dialogue and voice recording from cast members. But it was only released for Xbox. Buffy The Vampire Slayer http://www.eagames.com/official/buffy/home.jsp This title was well recieved but unfortunately only for the limited amount of Xbox gamers which was relatively few at the time. But it did create a buzz and proved that a Buffy console game could be successful. I mean why not? The series was a huge hit for many years and with the right combination of developers there was no reason why the franchise could not become successful as a game title as well.

August 16, 2002
Published by: Fox Interactive
Developed by: The Collective and EA Games
Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds came out on Xbox, PS2 and Gamcube as well. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds game was based on one of the hottest TV shows ever. Now you could feel like you were helping to boink the baddies from Sunnydale’s ”Hellmouth”. It had some involvement from the television show’s creators, writers, and a few cast members.

Naturally the game was about how the Scooby gang trys to figure out what is causing an outbreak of violence. The foes are from the TV show and included Giles old pal Ethan Rayne, Anyanka the vengeance demon, and Adam, a robotic creature made up of parts from all kinds of demons and creatures. These enemies are part of some plan concocted by “The First”. There are puzzles in each of the twelve levels, most of the game is about fighting the vampires, zombies, and demons. Buffy is a great action game. There are puzzles in each of the twelve levels, most of the game is about fighting the vampires, zombies, and demons.

Some of the Buffy cast is back to reprise their rolls, there are several notable missing voices. Sarah Michelle Geller is not in the game??? Somebody is doing an imitation of Buffy. Alyson Hannigan did a wonderful job in the original Buffy game.
She does not appear either and the Willow ’sound alike’ - doesn’t.

The camera has control issues. It does add some unneeded frustration to the game. I found myself falling into these areas where the screen would just go all black and you could hear the sounds of your character fighting. But then you couldn’t do anything and would have to reset the game - loosing all your progress since there aren’t any save points.

There is moody music and the theme song performed by Nerf Herder sounds like it’s lifted directly from the show. A few of the sound effects are over used. The graphics looked good, but not spectacular. The backgrounds are simple and rudimentary. Though a lot of character models look a little off due to low-polygon character modeling.

Then there are numerous multi-player games. You can take on three of your friends in a fight to the death Survival match, or you can run around trying to catch cute little rabbits, in Bunny Catcher. The game also allows you to play a game of Dominance, where you’re fighting to take control of land, as well as take the Slayer Challenge.

There are a number of incentives for you to play through more than once. The game comes complete with a number of DVD-style extras, including a gag reel, cast interviews, video of the voice over work, and more. They should provide a great deal of entertainment for the fans of the Buffy series.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Chaos Bleeds is an older title that was languishing on my wish list for a very long time until recently. This time when I was at the local give-me-cash-for-old-disks place and I picked up a copy of Buffy : Chaos Bleeds for PS 2. The two player modes are all a scream. There is one where you and a friend can team up to catch bunnies of various colors. Not kidding - rabbits. Bunny Catcher is a race to collect as many bunnies as possible, different colored rabbits are worth a varying amount of points.

The other two player modes are disappointing. I wanted to pick up two controllers and have both of us take on an adventure together. But the other two player modes consisted of defending a lit pentagram from an onrush of baddies, zombies and vamps. That part of it leaves a lot to be desired. I guess we will have to wait for Obscure for Xbox before we see two players vs. zombies action. Then I am betting that cooperative modes will be everyplace.

In single player mode though you go through several adventures in the familiar territory buffyverse. There’s the cemetery, sewers, warehouses, and the magic shop. All of it is there to be explored, plundered and smashed up. The graphics are not too shabby. The game is almost two years old now and it reflects some of the goofy glitchyness of that era. It reminds me of some of the stilted game-play and camera angles in like an old copy of Tomb Raider II. The camera sticks. Sometimes characters get stuck in walls or floors. Even the NPC’s can too. The goofs make it even funnier though. The game has the same tongue in cheek humor and snappy dialogue from the show. Spike’s dialog is a steady stream of “Spikisms” one liners. Although again another big disappointment is that the voice actors are not the original cast all the way thorough. You can unlock some of them. Though the impressions of them aren’t too bad.

The characters have a variety of fun pick ups and weapons to use like, a shovel or a sword or battle axe. There are flaming potions and fireballs and other magickal elements that can be hurled at the bad guys. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses of course. They do have a wide range of strikes and combos to use. Unfortunately the targeting is terrible and you can be kicking away into thin air while your character refuses to turn around. No actual cheat codes are around for this one except for game shark.

For all its flaws Buffy chaos Bleeds is still a fun game. You have to be a real Buffy fan to enjoy it. It has been quite a while since the show ended, even though it is going on in reruns. This is a good time to revisit the buffyverse and make it last a little bit longer. It is fabulous hearing the music and Spike’s quips again.

Published by: Vivendi Universal
Developed by: Eurocom
Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1
Release Date
US: August 26, 2003
Will girls want to play it?: yes for sure.
Purse: It’s a fine time waster for the $13.99 bargain bin.

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