Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds screenshots   The Final Say! Gameplay 9.1 Graphics 8.9 Sound 8.5 Value 9.3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds -  reviewed by Andrew B  Review Date: November 2003 Review Score 9.0/10  Distributed By: Vivendi

Buffy the Vampire Slayer may have finally come to an end on TV but the saga continues for PlayStation 2 owners. Buffy the Vampire: Chaos Bleeds is also set in "official" Buffy continuity and is regarded as a lost episode of Season 5. When Giles old nemesis, Ethan Rayne comes to Sunnydale to awaken The First, Buffy and her friends must use all their guile to prevent this catastrophe from happening. Unlike the previous Buffy game on the market, this version of the series allows gamers to play every member of the "Scooby" gang that includes Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike and the rogue slayer Faith. Players can also play Sid, a demon hunter who has been trapped inside a ventriloquist dummy that was an actual character that appeared in the early series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  In its purest essence, Chaos Bleeds is an adventure based fighting game that once again threatens the very world that we live on who only Buffy and her friends can save. Each character can perform a variety of different manoeuvres such as kicks, punches and throws. While melee attacks are the main form of combat in the game, players also have access to a wide variety of weaponry that include stakes, swords, shovels and crossbows. Although Buffy is the most powerful member of the Scooby gang,  Willow has access to dark magicks that make her a formidable opponent. Xander is probably the weakest character in the game but his light-hearted anecdotes makes up for his lack of fighting prowess. The characters also gain new moves and powers as they slowly progress through the 12 entertaining levels of this game. The missions in Chaos Bleed are varied and challenging and as you progress through the game, the characters that you control are also changed, depending on what is the mission objective. That is, you take turns in playing all the characters that were mentioned above. Keeping up with the tradition of the TV series, Chaos Bleeds has a varied ensemble of enemies that include your stock standard Sunnydale vampire, undead zombies, ghosts and powerful bosses that you must despatch, usually with your trusty stake. The game also contains a variety of puzzles and objectives that help keep the gameplay challenging that must be completed before you access the next level or character. A disappointing aspect of Chaos Bleeds is that the game only allows you to save the game once you have successfully completed a mission and this can become extremely annoying if you have been playing the game for over 30 minutes or longer as many of the levels are quite long. The game also saves at "checkpoints" if you die which is appreciated but an auto-save option would have been welcomed by this gamer.

The control system of Chaos Bleeds is perfect on the PlayStation 2 and uses a combination of the analog stick to control your character and camera angles and also the d-pad buttons to perform your various combat manoeuvres. The only frustrating part of the game is that the camera angle sometimes goes astray and you must manually adjust the view, although there are certain areas in the game where this is impossible. Fortunately this doesn't interfere too much with the gameplay of this title.

Graphically, Chaos Bleeds is a visually brilliant game and the backgrounds look like they have been taken directly from the television series as you revisit some well known places like the Magic Box and Sunnydales' very own graveyard. The characters themselves are well animated and contain some great texture detail that almost make them look like their real world counterparts. Although Xander and Willow look the most realistic out of all the characters, Anya and Spike look a little too rough on the edges to show any true resemblance. The game also contains some great special effects such as vampires getting dusted, some great flame effects and some brilliant use of lighting that go hand-in-hand with the powerful spells of Willow.

The musical score of the game features the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme to help pull you into the world of vampires and really sets the mood for the game. Although the musical score is mainly for ambience, it does heat up whenever you encounter enemies or if something dramatic happens in the game. The various sound effects in the game such as vampires being dusted or the sounds of our heroes being attacked are perfectly implemented into this title. As with the previous game, Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't lend her voice to the game but her stand in does a remarkable job at mimicking Buffy herself. Fortunately a few members of the original cast lend their voices to the game.

Chaos Bleeds also features a great multiplayer option that lets you play up to four people in this awesome gaming title. The multiplayer games include some fun modes such as Survival, Bunny Catcher (Anya's favourite *not*), Slayer Challenge and Domination. Like a DVD, Chaos Bleed comes with a plethora of Buffyverse extras that are given to the gamer when they have successfully completed a mission. These extras contain a variety of interviews with the cast of Buffy and are very entertaining to watch. Amber Benson, James Marsters and Anthony Head are just a few of the interviews that are included in the game.

In conclusion, I LOVED this game because I'm a real fan of the original television series. The game did play like a lost episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and contained a great storyline, some nice graphics and voice acting that made this a highly addictive game for me. For those that don't know much about the original television series, will still get a kick out of this well made game. Highly Recommended!

- Andrew B