Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption (based on patch v1.1) Page 2 The Masquerade (continue) Of course before you can head off to fight the evil you must know where to find it. That's where the adventure aspect kicks in. Some NPC's can be talked to and they will give you quests and hints in the form of a story. Sometimes you are able to ask questions and respond to what their say by choosing one of the available options and although different answers will affect what the NPC says, it has no effect on the overall story : everything will come down to the same and that's a shame as more recently Deus Ex has shown that multiple branches in a game are possible. To me that's another sign that Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption is not a true RPG. The gameplay is much too linear. The lack of side-quests and different character classes will ultimately limit the replayability for the singleplayers among us. The only RPG found in this game is the distribution of experience points. As you advance through the game and kill off monsters you will gain experience and new skills that you can assign points to. This can only be done if you are in your Haven, the place where your coffin is. This is also the only place where you can save your game in a slot of your choice in the original version of the game. You don't always have to walk back to your Haven as there's a spell that transports you directly to it.    Sounds familiar, doesn't it ? The game is also auto-saved everytime you enter a new portion of the map. This can be very annoying as this means that only one person can play the game because the auto-save slot is constantly overwritten. However the people at Nihilistic have already released a patch that lets you save anywhere in the gameworld and pause the game during combat like in 'Baldur's Gate'. This brings down the difficulty of the game but for me it's a welcome addition and it shows that Nihilistic is prepared to make this game the epic singleplayer experience it is meant to be. Sounds & Music Now that we know how to describe the game let's discuss how it plays and sounds. Let's begin with the sound and music in VTMR. The music is excellent, not too loud but certainly a moodsetter. The theme is one of my favourites and because all the music is in mp3 format you can listen to it without having to start up the game. Sounds are very well done too. Everything that can add to the creepy atmosphere of a dungeon is in the game, like the sound of dripping water, bats etc. There is not one weak point in sounds and music to be found, except perhaps for the voice-overs that are sometimes a bit annoying too listen at. The gameplay however … . Hack & Click Let me get this straight : I really wanted to like this game and to a certain degree I do, but that's only because I have been very patient with it. There are so many annoying flaws in the gameplay that it becomes frustrating and boring. One of the major problems is the AI in the game. As long as you are on your own it's playable. Click on a spot and Christof will walk or run up to that point. Left click on an enemy and you will attack, highlight an NPC and you can start a conversation, … all basic stuff really. More advanced are the use of Disciplines like 'Blood Healing', 'Potence', 'Celerity' etc. and secondary attack modes (slower but more damaging). There are like 66 disciplines in the game. Not every discipline will be accessible to you however as some can only be combined with a certain Vampire clan or just a mortal human being. Disciplines are organised in a special order : some disciplines can only be activated when you have gained the knowledge of another and less powerful discipline. The real problems begin when other Vampires join your group. They will follow you around and you can influence their behaviour by setting up different factors like aggressiveness and discipline usage. They are not too smart though. If you travel to fast, they will get lost or they will keep walking into a wall or the side of a stairway. If you attack an enemy they will join you in the fight but are more of an annoyance than a help because they are constantly in your way blocking your path to destruction. One should think the only way they can be used is as a decoy so you can hit the enemy from behind. Combat is one big joke. Enemies are triggered by your advance so it's ridiculous to see them stand there in the distance doing nothing and when you walk up they start running to you, without a proper tactic. They just run into you, start a fight and when they get to beaten up they run off to heal themselves and come back. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0 "rip your own stuff"