Vampire Rain is a game I really wanted to like. Here is the description from it’s Amazon.com page:

“As a member of a black ops unit, your mission in Vampire Rain is to secretly eliminate a growing population of deadly vampires known as Nightwalkers. Your hands will sweat and your heart will pound as you use stealth, strategic thinking, and specialized weapons to face your supernatural foes. Be careful out there—because if you make one mistake, you’re history.”

Sounds pretty cool! It’s not. I spent the first 30min or so sneaking around to avoid vamps. Not once did I get to shoot my “…specialized weapons…” at the creeps. After a bit, I was fed up with the NPC I was following that I almost shot him, just to see how the guns worked.

The game really discourages you from actually using your guns. The part about “…making one mistake and your history” refers to actually trying to kill a vampire. Don’t bother unless you are at least 200 yards away, a full clip in your rifle and don’t miss. It took 23 bullets to take one down early in the game. If one of the Nightwalkers catches you, your done. One hit and down you go. Press restart and try again. Don’t bother running if one sees you and gives chase. Just wait for the restart menu.

There is nothing wrong with a stealthy game (see Metal Gear Solid series), but I felt like I was being punished when I needed to shoot a vamp to get to the next mission waypoint.

Now there were a few things I liked about the game. There were lots of ways to travel from rooftop to rooftop. Climbing drainpipes, sliding down wires, fire escapes and running through empty buildings. The controls were straight forward and had no real learning curve. You also have a sort of 6th sense when you walk into line of sight of a vamp. Your controller rumbles and you have a few seconds to go back into hiding. Neat concept, but does not make up for the punishing combat system.

My rating: 38%

Prof. Venatus, Exorcising my 360 on hallowed ground