Winterwind digs Bloodlines
Winterwind digs Bloodlines
Review - posted by Spazmo on Tue 15 February 2005, 13:41:43
Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - BloodlinesWinterwind Productions (that's the guys who keep putting out interviews with ex-BIS/Interplay folk including <a href=http://www.winterwind-productions.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=48>ex-IPLY boards webmaster Krazikatt[/url] because they're seemingly obsessed with some games that never came out) have their <a href=http://www.winterwind-productions.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=46>review[/url] of Troika's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines up. They liked the game enough to rate it 9/10.
Interface: The HUD is very good, giving a good and clear idea of everything relevant. A health meter, a blood meter, a visibility meter for when you’re sneaking, a context sensitive use/talk/whatever icon, and a weapon icon that shows you the current weapon you’re using, and how much ammo you’ve got left, if it’s a gun. Add to this an icon that shows the active discipline, and you’ve pretty much covered everything a HUD needs to show. The inventory gives you a clear idea of all the stuff you lug around, and lets you use the items that are usable, and drop those that have served their purpose. Dull, but functional – nothing to complain about. The item hotkeys however (F1 for melee weapons, F2 for ranged, F3 for armour), are bulky to use, and are a real pain in the butt when engaged in combat. However, I can’t really think of a better system than to manually assign hotkeys (which you can also do), and then just sticking to a few select weapons. The quest log works fine, with updated quests glowing green, and regular ones just showing up in white. It also contains all important information, so if you ever get stuck, or just can’t remember what to do, just take a gander at the log. The level up screen looks more than a little intimidating at first, but after a while, you really start to appreciate just how well done it is. If you think that all those skills, talents and so on look like a morass of rules and equations, all you have to do is to hover your cursor over the feat you want to increase, and the skills or talents or whatever you need to increase glow green. For me, that was a tremendous help my first time through the game. All in all, the interface has its share of flaws, but is ultimately a solid piece of work.I mostly liked Bloodlines' quest journal, which was really well made.
Spotted at: RPGDot
Interface: The HUD is very good, giving a good and clear idea of everything relevant. A health meter, a blood meter, a visibility meter for when you’re sneaking, a context sensitive use/talk/whatever icon, and a weapon icon that shows you the current weapon you’re using, and how much ammo you’ve got left, if it’s a gun. Add to this an icon that shows the active discipline, and you’ve pretty much covered everything a HUD needs to show. The inventory gives you a clear idea of all the stuff you lug around, and lets you use the items that are usable, and drop those that have served their purpose. Dull, but functional – nothing to complain about. The item hotkeys however (F1 for melee weapons, F2 for ranged, F3 for armour), are bulky to use, and are a real pain in the butt when engaged in combat. However, I can’t really think of a better system than to manually assign hotkeys (which you can also do), and then just sticking to a few select weapons. The quest log works fine, with updated quests glowing green, and regular ones just showing up in white. It also contains all important information, so if you ever get stuck, or just can’t remember what to do, just take a gander at the log. The level up screen looks more than a little intimidating at first, but after a while, you really start to appreciate just how well done it is. If you think that all those skills, talents and so on look like a morass of rules and equations, all you have to do is to hover your cursor over the feat you want to increase, and the skills or talents or whatever you need to increase glow green. For me, that was a tremendous help my first time through the game. All in all, the interface has its share of flaws, but is ultimately a solid piece of work.
Spotted at: RPGDot
