Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Critic Reviews

The use of the Source engine gave Troika the ability to use their talents on fleshing out the incredible storyline and remarkable atmosphere.

The amount of choices you have to "do it your own way' are impressive. Things get even more open when you learn the art of intimidation, persuasion, seduction or domination.

With a comprehensive RPG structure, exciting action elements, and an engrossing story rich with gothic flavor, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is one of the best PC games of 2004. You're going to love the original characters and the quality dialogue and how it all comes together in one of the best narratives of our time.

Bloodlines manages to deliver an enjoyable RPG experience, while at the same time providing high-quality visuals, excellent audio, and a truly fantastic story. If it hadn't been for the bugs, this game would have been one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

It's an absolutely beautiful game and really sucks you right into the world. I don't know that I've been as immersed in an RPG since "Knights of the Old Republic."

Yes, Troika has delivered an action-RPG that's on par with the System Shock or Deus Ex while delving into a unique and compelling setting.

From downright creepy to challenging, Vampire: The Masquerade ' Bloodlines has an immersive story and maintains a foreboding tone throughout.

The game has a great fun feel too it, from little quirks like an arcade filled with Activision classics such as Pitfall, Call of Duty and River Raid, to a school girl outfit wearing nymphomaniac vampire and her power hungry business woman sister who continually fight and bicker; moronic ghouls (vampires grunts), cheating doctors that you can blackmail for some easy cash.

With the chance to play a myriad of characters in many different ways, this is my favorite RPG of the year.

Whoever wrote the music for Bloodlines deserves a solid pat on the back; the creepy music really adds to the ambiance of the game and the action music is just great for drinking blood to.

The roller-skate movement and shooting are poor, but the adventures and melee fighting are lots of fun.

A game that has one of the strongest single-player campaigns to ever appear in an RPG and it possesses a world so lush that you will literally want to sink your teeth into it.

Had the melee combat been more refined, the engine used to its full capabilities and the niggles ironed out, then you'd be looking at perhaps the finest RPG of all time. As it is, it'll have to make do with the accolade of being one of the deepest, most engrossing and entertaining PC games of 2004.

A fantastically cool game for the people that love a good mix of FPS action and RPG adventure. The game has a good story-driven flow to it that is fueled by the gothic themes usually associated with the vampire stigma.

If the combat were handled a little better, then Bloodlines would be a real RPG benchmark. As it stands, the battles will prove a bit frustrating to both RPG and action gamers.

If you were disappointed with the recent FPS titles and their somewhat lackluster plot and linear storylines, then you will probably find Bloodlines to be a refreshing change, however on the other hand, a few technical and design issues let it down.

It more than makes up for the mediocrity of the first Vampire PC game, and will satisfy even the most diehard bloodsucker.

Sure, it has its minor problems that any big game with new technology has, but the overall play is simply fantastic. I sweat in the fights. I get anxious when I am hiding from the police, and I actually feel some fear when my life is in danger.

Perhaps one of the deepest and most satisfying games I've played to date. Unfortunately, it is also perhaps the most bug infested final release I've played to date; not a good combination.

To put it bluntly, the game is also riddled with bugs.