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[Iowa]

Blood by Monolith
Published by GT Interactive

*all possible views, statements, and biases are solely the opinion of Iowa and are not to be confused with straight fact*

*users may post as many comments, questions, and additions as they'd like*

Blood, at first glance, may seem like any other old DOS FPS [disk operating system first person shooter], but that glance could not be farther from the truth. The nearest comparison for this astounding game is Duke Nukem 3D, as it uses the same engine and has the same feel.

Like DN3D, the sole purpose of this game is to kill everything and anything that moves, breathes, or means to cause you harm in any way. Another note-worthy feature is the dialogue spoken by the main character, Caleb; the speech is intended to be primarily humorous, and does a very neat job of it while still being much less profane than our favorite steroid-pumped killing machine. The voice acting is done very well, and whoever voiced the main character must be at least one sixty-fourth vampire himself!

The story of the game is, to say the least, better than most FPSs. Not exactly a Caldecott winner, but nice nonetheless.

Blood story as taken from the manual: THE STORY SO FAR
In an age and a region renowned for cruelty and violence, Caleb was
legendary. Born in western Texas in 1847, he had sealed a reputation as
a merciless gunfighter by the age of 17. But it was seven years later when
he met Ophelia Price that his hunger for bloodshed took on a menacing new
timbre.

She was already well beyond the bounds of sanity when he found her cowering
in the charred ruins of the burned out homestead where her husband and child
had perished only days before. It was neither her tattered beauty nor her
plight that compelled Caleb to take her in, however-it was the words he
picked out of her virtually incoherent mumblings.

He learned that her husband had attempted to rescind his membership of the
dreaded Cult of Tchernobog and in return cultists had set fire to the house
in the night. Ophelia was filled with rage-not at the cult but at her
husband, whose cowardice she blamed for the death of her young son.

Ophelia was Caleb's doorway to the Cult and its dark purpose. He could not
have known that in time he would come to love her, nor that their service to
the Cult would find the two of them beloved among the Chosen, elite servants
of the dreaming god Tchernobog, the One That Binds, Devourer of Souls.

In the Hall of the Epiphany, a temple that spans the chasm between the
worlds, the four remaining Chosen stand at the forefront of a procession of
worshippers. Tchernobog's presence is felt more than seen-the great, frigid
weight of a hunger that spans millennia. He speaks in a cacophony of voices
stolen from the dead, summoning the Chosen to the center of the sacrificial
ring. They stand before the Dark God, united by a sudden, inexplicable sense
of doom.

A wordless cry rises up from the seething shadows, one voice swallowed up by
many until the hall resounds with them. The members of the procession behind
the Chosen melt away in a gust of ethereal wind, extinguished like so many
candle flames. There aren't even ashes to indicate they ever existed.

The Chosen look to one another in confusion and dread. They can already feel
the ties that bind them to Tchernobog fraying. Why? How have we failed you?

But there is no answer other than the shattering scream that threatens to
tear the universe to shreds. Darkness swells around them, swallows them.
Their cold, abandoned souls fall through the abyss.

And they burn.

Caleb awakens in cold and damp in a body he no longer knows. It has long
lain as a corpse that refused to rot, protected from putrefaction by some
unearthly link to its master. The pain of protesting muscle and flesh
invigorates and awakens him. He welcomes it. It distills his hate into the
maelstrom raging in the center of his mind.

An agonizing cry breaks out of him, shattering the stone lid of the tomb in
which he lies, knocking loose sediment, cobwebs, and the small, unnoticed
creatures that have shared his grave with him. A single word rings out
through the darkness, echoing Tchernobog's lingering howl: "Why?"


DN and Blood part ways at theme, as the latter is entirely horror movie/book based. The very first level starts off with Caled bursting forth from a coffin at a funeral home and screaming "I live...again!". The horror theme is extremely well carried out, featuring cameos from The Shining, Friday the Thirteenth, and many more. Atmosphere within the game is positively incredible, this is definitely not a game for anyone who can't stand the thought of being alone in an old house manifest with spirits, zombies, and the general living-dead.

The graphics of this game are one of the things that completely astounded me though. Never before in my life have I seen so much detail in a sprite-based game! If you don't believe me, take a look at this:
[attachmentid=3553]

Yes, every one of those shells was fired by me, and will stay there for quite some time!

The most amazing part about the game however, are the weapons. These are the most awesome weapons ever concieved for use in a video game!

The weapons (in numeric order) are as follows:

-Pitchfork
-Flare Gun
-Sawed-Off Double Barrell Shotgun
-Thompson Machine Gun
-Napalm Launcher
-Dynamite Bundle [!]

• Proximity Dynamite
• Remote-Detonated Dynamite

-Spray Can and Cigarette Lighter [homemade flamethrower]

• Molotov Cocktail

-Tesla Coil [electric mini-gun]
-Life Leech [no way to describe this, completely rips the life out of enemies]
-Voodoo Doll

You may be wondering as to why I separated the Molotov from the Spray Can, well this brings up another great Blood innovation: there is an alternate fire on [almost] every weapon!

the spray can can either be sprayed like a flamethrower...
[attachmentid=3554]

or you can light the entire can on fire and make a large firebomb.
[attachmentid=3555]

This alt fire option is great becase it lets you choose which type of fire you need to solve a situation. For instance, the double-barrelled shotgun can either be fired one barrel at a time, or both at once for some extreme stopping-power.

What will keep the user going through Blood untill the very end, though, is the masterfull level design. With the exception of Id Software's "Quake", I have never seen such shocking and unpredictably made levels. You could be walking along, casually mowing down your enemies with a machine-gun when all of a sudden, BAM you're hit with a trap and are instantly killed.

A word of warning though, Blood is, as the name says, not intended in any way for children under fourteen. The game is filled with blood, gore, lifeless corpses [most still breathing], and some truly intense violence.

All in all, this is the second best computer game i've ever played, only losing out to "Quake". I would give the game 9.7 out of ten.

It's worth a try for anyone who can stomach it. go out to a consignment software dealer or browse Ebay for it, because when you put that CD in your drive and slide it in, you'll almost be able to hear the wonderful sounds of gunfire and screams that will follow soon after.

~Iowa~

[guesst]

Well, thank you for that review. I now know enough to not ever need to play it. FPSs are not my thing. Ever since Halflife where the point was NOT to mow down any enemy you fire against, nothing else has really lived up. Even Halflife 2.

But I'm glad you're excited by it.

Just a word. Try finding a hosting service for your pictures and you won't be using up your Abandonia attachments. Plus it can look better haivng imbedded picutres. I recomend photobucket.

[Shunk Eat Enemy]

I remember i would get so scared and throw the keyboard when one of those hands said "I'll swallow your soul" and then launched onto my face it was so fast and horrific. This is a good reveiw btw. The game it'self brings back memories.

[velik_m]

Originally posted by Iowa+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Iowa)</div>

Have you ever played Hexen?

<!--QuoteBegin-Iowa
What will keep the user going through Blood untill the very end, though, is the masterfull level design. With the exception of Id Software's "Quake", I have never seen such shocking and unpredictably made levels. You could be walking along, casually mowing down your enemies with a machine-gun when all of a sudden, BAM you're hit with a trap and are instantly killed.

i don't see this as a plus, i see it as annoying.

[Iowa]

While it is sometimes annoying, I see great traps and innovative level design as fun challenges to overcome.

[Cloudy]

I remember playing the demo of this years ago, I never got the full version though.

Very cool though. I had forgot about the "I live... again!" bit at the start. And the pitchfork! Will need to give this one a go sometime :P

[Iowa]

You definitely should, if you don't you'll be passing up hours and hours of sheer happiness!

[Blood-Pigggy]

Blood is really one of my favorite games, and good review by the way, you were dead on with most of your points.

Ignore people who criticize your review, I haven't seen one valid point.

BTW, thanks for including full sized screenshots.

[Iowa]

Well, Guesst had a point when he said that the main focus is killing without caring. Some people just like games where you don't neccesarily kill every single living thing...I prefer the slaughtering though...

Thanks for the praise though, I like to know that i'm writing a good review...maybe i'll write another.

[InsaneFury]

I couldn't agree more with this topic, Blood obtained a special place in my heart as well... As for it losing from Quake, I'd say in my book, Blood's gore and easter eggs easily surpasses the feeling I got with Quake. I think of all DOS FPS'es I've played, I consider Blood and Doom 2 to be the best ones around.