not having an xbox i was waiting for a buffy game that i could play. boy was i relieved when 'chaos bleeds' was released. when i bought it i really didn't care it was buffy-related and i could be spike. that was incentive enough for me. after starting the game, i was sucked in real quick and wrapped myself up in the story like it was an episode of buffy. the writing is superb and as well is the voice acting. at first listening you'll notice that it isn't alyson hannigan voice when willow speaks but within moments you'll completely forget. also, the voice for buffy is dead on with smg except for one second when she says tara wrong...but its all good.the controls are tight. when you're playing as either buffy or faith, you can bring up a slayer handbook with alott of combos that might take a while to memorize. willow also has a spell guide that you can call up to learn a spell. also, willow learns spells when tara periodically tells what to do. the camera is kinda off but its definitely one of the best for a 3rd person game that you can rotate it around and see any direction you want. but its kinda hard to do that in a tight space.
the surroundings are fantastic and resemble their actual locations in the buffyverse. also, one of the funny things in the game is in the movie theater in the sunnydale level. you'll see posters for fight club, aliens, alien resurrection and so on. the levels are huge and the tasks hard if you don't know what to do and for first time players most of the levels might take well within 90minutes or so. each character has their own strengths as well as weaknesses but the majority of them show no weakness. the only 2 might be xander & willow. xander being the norm of the group but he handles just fine. willow doesn't kick at all. she punches and does magic. as for the magic most of the time you'll call up the fireball, sunspell and homing missile [well i do].
the multiplayer is sweet. it has about 20 characters or so. you start off with 4 characters and one level to play with. as you progress through the game, you'll find secrets and unlock levels and players. one of the gripes i have is the lack of multiplayer levels and the femal vampire isn't the one wearing plaid pants. but those are all minor gripes here.
the game is solid. it'll suck you in if you're a hardcore buffy fan. all in all, its one of the best games i've ever played. i hope they can continue this tradition and make another.
Just got the game today. I had gotten the comic several months ago but totally forgot there was going to be a game. I am glad that I found it though.I have played only one level as of now but I already know that it rocks. The story line starts off like a Buffy episode and has got that feel to it as well.
The in game cinematics looks really good and the actors resemblance is striking. I really like Willow, to me she looks gorgeous. But Buffy looks just like the real deal. I have not seen Faith yet but I am sure she looks great too.
Sadly Sarah Michelle and Alyson Hannigan have not provided their voices for the game. But their replacements are good. Giselle Loren makes a very good Buffy. Not as good as Sarah but as perfect as you can get from a different person.
I had read in a review that Alyson's stand-in was awful but she sounds ok to me. Granted, it does not sound 100% like Willow but I have played game in which the stand-in actors did not even remotely sound like the real actor so that is no big deal to me.
The graphics of the game are good. The characters look good in the game as well and that is what matters most. The game looks really good.
Controlwise it is nicely done. The moves are easy to perform and according to the manual there are lots of them. Each character has her/his own moves and strong and weak points adding real depth to the game.
The camera does not follow you automatically but you can steer it using the right analogue stick which is just as good. That way you can choose which way the camera should look. Shoddy camera's can be a huge pain with these games so this was a great option.
And last but not least, the characters make hilarious one-liners. They may be repetative but I have not played enough of the game to know this yet. In any case, I do not mind since that is the case with almost every game which uses voice clips.
The comments are really funny such as Xander commenting that he makes dusting vampires more rewarding by pretending that they are all Spike.
In closing, I feel that for any Buffy fan this game is a great buy. Non-Buffy fans may not like it as much but that is always the case with games based on a tv show or movie. But unlike most of those games this game is not purely made to make more money off a popular franchise. No, it is really good and you should at least give it a try.
