BloodRayne: ReVamped (Xbox Series X) Review — Fearzine Magazine (2024)

Sexy 2000s Era Hack-and-Slash

Vampire games suck! You run around sucking. Suck Nazis, zombies and even Nazi zombies. Or zombie Nazis? One of those. BloodRayne is very much a game of its time. An action shooter horror themed romp where you play a sexy dhampir (half human, half vampire) redhead murdering Nazis and other demonic creatures because of course those silly Nazis are up to their old tricks. Digging up old relics, summoning evil spirits from the beyond. All in the pursuit of world domination and damn the consequences.

BloodRayne is a third person shooter slasher action horror game developed by Terminal Reality and originally released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC. You play as Rayne working for the Brimstone Society during the 1930s. After losing your mentor during a mission you learn about a Nazi plot to find relics of power by the G.G.G or Gegengeist Gruppe. Basically a supernatural focused SS unit of Hitler’s. She is then sent to stop the GGG from collecting these relics of power and hunt down all the members of the unit. The driving narrative is very shallow but honestly, how much of a reason do you need to chase after and murder nazis? Much of the story is forgettable and or poorly delivered. You'll be too busy either looking at Rayne’s ass or the chaos you are creating anyways to notice.

I have fond memories of playing BloodRayne as one of the more violent and to my adolescent memory “scary” games of my youth. Upon revisiting the game via the recently released ReVamped edition my expectations were put in check. BloodRayne is very much a mindless action game, focusing on blasting and slashing hordes of enemies. It thankfully does have some solid creepy moments and twists in the story that felt akin to meeting the Flood for the first time in Halo. The moment in the story when the “evil” is released and you hear Nazi soldiers screaming in terror is incredibly foreboding. Then you have to face that evil and even eat it, for health reasons. You are a vampire after all, fighting Nazis and evil. EVIL, ok I’m done.

Rayne wields two absurdly long blades attached to her arms that unfold out as she strikes. She can also wield any of the numerous weapons that enemies drop upon death for some shooty fun. As a vampire, Rayne has the ability to slow down time, active heat vision, “zoom” view and of course, suck the blood of her enemies to refill her health. The feeding is both awesome and hilarious as you listen to the sounds of soldiers screaming “Get her off” and Rayne slurps and moans with delight. Enemies GIB in the best ways when you get a critical or an explosion blows them to bits, which when paired with the “slow time” ability leads to some glorious moments. You will face a variety of enemies, mostly Nazis, but also plague monsters, werewolves, other vampires, and these weird flying heads with the spine still attached that gnash at you. The later missions have you tracking down the GGG members but then a greater threat arises and Rayne herself has to utilize the power of relics to stop them.

If you are keen to play or revisit this game, here is a word of warning. The version I played on Xbox suffered from game crashes and a lot of them. Which wouldn’t be the worst thing, but the game itself has a terrible checkpoint system and some awful difficulty spikes. So, you know, the best of combinations. If that doesn’t scare you or you can get a hold of the original game, then enjoy this mindless slaughter fest with some tongue in cheek witticism and Indiana Jones as an overtly sexualized female vampire heroine storyline. There is fun to be had and some good creepy, albeit, not scary, parts of the game.

Learn more about BloodRayne: ReVamped by visiting the official website.

DEVELOPED BY:

Terminal Reality, Big Boat Interactive

PUBLISHED BY:

Ziggurat Interactive Inc.

*This review was originally published in Issue #1 of Fearzine Magazine which was distributed in June 2024.