| Vampire Rain | |
|---|---|
NA Boxart of Vampire Rain |
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| Developer(s) | Artoon |
| Publisher(s) | AQ Interactive (Japan) Microsoft Game Studios (Canada, United States, PAL Territories) Ignition Entertainment (PlayStation 3) |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 |
| Release date(s) | Xbox 360
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| Genre(s) | Stealth action, Horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-DL (Xbox 360) Blu-ray Disc (PlayStation 3) |
Vampire Rain is a video game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 retitled as Vampire Rain: Altered Species.[1] It was released for the Xbox 360 in Japan on January 25, 2007 and in North America on July 3, 2007. The PlayStation 3 version was released in Japan on August 21, 2008 and in North America on September 2, 2008.
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Vampires, known as "nightwalkers", were found to be responsible for the disappearances of civilians in the United States and in other countries. The American Information Bureau (AIB) raises a black ops special forces unit which is deployed to the streets of Los Angeles.
Throughout the game the player was haunted by a vision of a young girl. It was later revealed that she was a girl that the player saved in a previous mission. Eventually the player found out that his team leader also saw her.
Later on it was revealed that the AIB, acting on their own accord, wants America to enter full scale war against the Nightwalkers. They sent their human/nightwalker hybrids to kill the player's group to get rid of the evidence, and send the rest against the Nightwalkers' headquarter in the city. The player defeated all hybrids and vampires in the way, eventually meeting with the leader of the vampires to try to keep the peace. Unfortunately the leader also wanted full scale war against the humans by changing the whole city into nightwalkers. The player were forced to fight and defeat him.
However it turns out that head vampire isn't really the true leader of nightwalkers in the city. He was led by two nightwalkers who were naturally born as vampires. They both can survive in the daytime. The player fought and killed the first. The second, true leader of all the nightwalker in the city, didn't resist and let the player kill him, claiming that the future of the nightwalker race will soon be revealed to him.
After the player has left, the haunting young girl appeared. She poured blood onto the ash of the leader, and he got resurrected.
Vampire Rain is a stealth-action game similar in nature to the Splinter Cell or Metal Gear series. Players are tasked with navigating their character through city streets, while avoiding the vampire enemies that patrol the streets disguised as ordinary human citizens. Players will often have to take alternate routes, such as climbing onto rooftops or through alleys, to avoid enemy encounters.
Unlike most stealth-action games, Vampire Rain places heavy emphasis on pure stealth. Enemies are extremely fast and can kill the player in one or two hits; additionally, for the first third of the game, players lack any weaponry that can kill vampires effectively without spending a large amount of ammunition. In effect, most attempts to initiate combat generally results in the player's death. Also, unlike most stealth games, there is usually no effective means to hide or escape once an enemy has spotted the player, which results in the player dying soon after being spotted. Successful completion of many missions thus generally requires total avoidance of enemies by figuring out the correct route to pass through the mission area without being detected.
Later in the game, players are given high-powered weapons which prove more effective against the game's vampire enemies. Also, there are a few pre-scripted action sequences that involve fighting against multiple enemies, generally with the assistance of teammates or special environmental hazards. The player's arsenal includes a handgun, sub-machine gun, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, anti-armor rifle and a UV Knife used to stab an enemy from behind for an instant kill.
Online multiplayer involves up to eight players in standard modes such as deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag, as well as the unique mode which allows one to become a nightwalker and fight opponents with extreme speed and power. All the firearms are available online and the gameplay is handled like in single player.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Game Informer | 3/10 |
| GameTrailers | 3.6/10 |
| Official Xbox Magazine | 3.5/10 |
The game was poorly received. Reviews ranged from the lukewarm to the scathing. GameStats tallies the review average as 3.6/10;[2] GameRankings tallies the review average as 40%;[3] and Metacritic tallies the reviews at 38/100.[4] ScrewAttack gave it the 2007 SAGY award for "Worst Xbox 360 Game of 2007" after receiving over half of the final total votes.
The reviews criticized Vampire Rain's enemy AI, controls, health meters for both the protagonist and enemies, and multiplayer modes. The game was also criticized for having elements derived from Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell but with much less appeal.[5] The game was criticized for being too hard and for the linear level design. The game was complimented for its eerie music.[6] Vampire Rain: Altered Species was also poorly received. A GameSpot review admonished the game for not undergoing major changes from the Xbox 360 version.[7] IGN calls the Altered Species game "a trainwreck".[8]
In Japan, however, the game was better received, with Famitsu granting the game a score of 30/40.[9]