BloodRayne
| BloodRayne | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio | Terminal Reality | ||
| Publisher | Majesco Entertainment | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
2002/03/04/05/07 | ||
| platform | PlayStation 2 , GameCube , Xbox , Windows , Mac OS | ||
| genre | Action game | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard , gamepad | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
Windows 98 / Windows 2000 / XP , Pentium (733 MHz), 128 MB Ram , 64MB graphics card | ||
| medium | 1 DVD-ROM , 1 MiniDVD , 2 CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | Not published in Germany | ||
BloodRayne is a two-part video game series developed by Terminal Reality . Thematically it is a mixture of action and horror. It was published by Majesco Entertainment .
BloodRayne
Bloodrayne was published by Majesco for Windows , Mac OS , PlayStation 2 , Xbox and Nintendo GameCube . While the versions for Playstation 2 and Nintendo GameCube were still uncensored, the PC and XBox versions were relieved of certain Nazi symbols (for example swastikas were exchanged for triskeles ). Curiously enough, the PC version still has National Socialist symbols on the artwork presented during the installation. In addition, the SS runes were also kept unchanged in the PC version.
The game has an extremely high level of violence and was therefore not even published in Germany, but was and is only available as an import. Due to the depiction of violence, the game was indexed on November 29, 2003 by the federal inspection agency for media harmful to minors.
Backstory
The attractive heroine Rayne is a dhampir , half human, half vampire . Her father, the vampire lord Kagan, killed her human mother (Rayne is the product of a rape) and her family in order to leave Rayne no caregiver but himself and thereby make her subservient (so he created many subordinates). Rayne is protected from her father by the "Brimstone Society", a mysterious organization, and trained as a merciless vampire hunter. Her trademark are two fold-out blades on her forearms, with which she takes down her opponents in close combat. She is also an excellent marksman who is able to use two firearms at the same time. As a half-vampire, Rayne is immortal, but she also has to endure the disadvantages associated with her origins: water and daylight don't bother her as much as a thoroughbred vampire, but they still hurt her. She is also affected by the thirst for blood. Thinking about revenge for her family, the intelligent and sarcastic Rayne helps the "Brimstone Society" with assignments all over the world, in which the task is to locate, investigate and, if necessary, eliminate occult phenomena.
In 1932 Rayne was sent by the Brimstone Society to the Louisiana swamps to solve mysterious deaths. Her teacher, the Tibetan and also Dhampir, Mynce, is to accompany her. Rayne finds the cause, an ancient, powerful artifact that turned the people there into the undead. A Nazi officer, Jürgen Wulf (also Wullf or Wolf ), takes it from Rayne and leaves her seriously injured. Five years later, on the eve of World War II, Rayne is sent to Argentina to a hidden German submarine yard to stop an occult Nazi detachment, the dangerous GGG (Gegengeist Group). This is on the search for occult objects to give the German Reich unimaginable power and to make it invincible forever. There Rayne is supposed to eliminate a number of high-ranking German officers with the help of wanted posters and obtain the occult artifacts (especially Beliar's eye ). But not only the Germans turn out to be a threat, but also a number of non-human opponents, such as the werewolf-like Hedrox or zombies created through Nazi experiments (by the Daemites, demonic parasites). Later, Rayne's path leads directly to Germany, to the heart of the Gegengeist group, to the “Gaustadt” castle. There she should not only eliminate other officers of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, but all other high-ranking GGG members, and avert the occult threat from the Nazis. There, where the Gegengeist group has collected all the artifacts to be able to summon the demon Beliar, they finally face Jürgen Wulf, who now has superhuman powers himself, and Beliar himself in the last fight.
procedure
The game offers 40 levels in three scenarios (swamps of Louisiana, a German submarine shipyard and a German castle). The majority consists of battles against innumerable enemies. End bosses have to be tracked down first, but challenging puzzles are rarely found. There are also some jumping and skill inserts to be completed. Depending on the level, these can be explored freely or you can follow fixed paths. Most of the time, however, there are spacious areas. The level of difficulty of the game increases continuously. Boss fights are more common, with cutscenes in in-game graphics before and after. There are also good FMV films as opening credits and credits and between the levels.
BloodRayne 2
General
| BloodRayne 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Terminal Reality | ||
| Publisher | Majesco Entertainment | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
2004/05/06/07 | ||
| platform | PlayStation 2 , Xbox , PC ( Windows ) | ||
| genre | Action | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard , gamepad | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
Windows 98 / Windows 2000 / XP , Pentium (1.0 GHz), 256 MB Ram , graphics card | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM , CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | English, German and others | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | German version heavily censored | ||
The sequel to BloodRayne was released for Playstation 2, X-Box and PC. In contrast to its predecessor, this game was officially released in Germany, but only in a heavily censored form. In order for the USK to issue an age rating at all, the display of violence was reduced to a minimum. Nevertheless, this heavily cut German version was not approved for young people . An uncut German version has been published in Austria and Switzerland. The uncut version of BloodRayne 2 was indexed in Germany. Part 2 has been further developed and renewed from a technical point of view. The basic gameplay of the predecessor has been retained.
Backstory
Rayne is no longer just fighting for the "Brimstone Society", but is together with her companion Severin (from Brimstone) in search of her hated father, the vampire lord Kagan. Rumor has it that the former Nazi collaborator, believed dead, survived a massive explosion 60 years ago. Rayne also spent the past 60 years tracking down and killing Kagan's other children, her Dhampir half-siblings. During her research, she discovers that the vampires are now able, through the so-called shroud , to cover the sky with a blood-colored cloud, which enables them to walk around in broad daylight. After the implementation of this plan by the vampires it comes to worldwide chaos and Rayne plans the death of her father in order to be able to save humanity. Together with her companion Severin , she fights her way to Kagan's tower. Her half-sisters Ephemra and Ferril , who intend to take over Kagan's power, act as special adversaries . Finally there is a final duel between father and daughter. Rayne kills Kagan, but that is not enough to undo the destruction of the world. The "Brimstone Society" has shown reluctance to date, but is now fighting energetically and hard against the vampire invaders. This also affects Rayne and Severin and sees them as enemies, which is why they look for other allies in the rebuilding of the world. The game ends at this point and at the same time suggests a continuation.
Gameplay
Both BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 can be assigned to the genres of third-person shooter and action-adventure . The focus of action is in close combat. True to the sub-genre Hack and Slay , the player uses the two blades attached to Rayne's forearms to fight opponents. While the close combat system is relatively simple at the beginning, it becomes more varied as the game progresses, as the various attack maneuvers and special movements are only gradually unlocked as the game progresses.
In order to refresh Rayne's life energy after injuries, the half-vampire sucks the blood of her opponents and thus fills her own life energy bar. The firearms used in the game can be fired comfortably from all positions thanks to the auto-aiming system known from the Tomb Raider series. In Part 1, Rayne can wield almost any type of weapon in both hands at the same time. In Part 2, Rayne only carries her blood-fed "Carpathian Dragons", two handguns that can be loaded with different types of ammunition. These have separate blood supplies, but can also be fed directly from Rayne's own blood supply if required. Puzzles are mostly limited to finding and using key cards for locked doors, the focus is clearly on the action. Only short platformer and dexterity (similar to the newer Prince of Persia games) loosen up the fights in BloodRayne 2.
At the end of some levels, the player also has to fight an end boss who usually has a weak point that has to be found out first. Often this can only be overcome by skillfully using Rayne's vampire powers. These powers include the slow-motion effect, a special vampire view, a berserk mode, mind control, and the so-called "ghost feed" through which a ghost tears away from Rayne and sucks out an opponent while Rayne can continue fighting normally. In BloodRayne 2, Rayne receives radio hints for most of the tricky passages from her companion Severin. Both games show a very high degree of violence (blood, dismemberment, etc.) in the original version.
comics
There is also a BloodRayne comic series from the US publisher Echo 3 and Digital Webbing . These are official and their action is therefore also recognized by Terminal Reality . The comics do not deal with the games any further, but deal with further topics such as a werewolf hunt or how Rayne got her twin blades. Some of them are one-shots , others are short series with two or three issues. Each of these comics exists in two to four different editions, which differ in the cover, and are limited to a few copies. So far, the following comics have been published in chronological order:
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Apart from that, other comics appeared that don't tell a story of BloodRayne, but rather content such as BloodRayne pin-ups, the making-of of some comics, whose characters or covers contain:
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Before the release of the video game BloodRayne 2, Majesco Entertainment created a pre-order program in which every buyer, in addition to the game, also received the Skies Afire special review . It is a comic, composed of seven pages preview of the BloodRayne comic Skies Afire of the same name , as well as eight further pages with character and unused cover sketches, as well as BloodRayne pin-up art.
The process of creating the cover for Skies Afire is also documented. RAW , RAW II and RAW III are structured in the same way as Skies Afire special review , apart from the fact that they do not deal with a comic of the same name, but with several that have already been produced by then.
Trivia
- Rayne will be voiced by American actress and voice actress Laura Bailey in both games .
- Rayne is (next to Triss Merigold from The Witcher ) the only character from a video game so far who was featured in Playboy . Rayne appeared in the October 2004 issue of US Playboy.
- Rayne was also featured in alternative rock group Evanescence 's Everybody's Fool music video .
- A planned BloodRayne game for the PSP has been discarded. However, Rayne can be found as an unlockable character in the PSP game Infected .
- The modifications Bloodrayne2 FSAA and HD expand and improve the graphics of the game with high-resolution shadows, post-processing effects, textures and anti-aliasing .
Film adaptations
In the film adaptation BloodRayne , Rayne is played by Kristanna Loken . In 2007 the sequel BloodRayne II: Deliverance and 2010 a third part Bloodrayne: The Third Reich , in which Natassia Malthe took over the roles. Uwe Boll directed all three parts .