Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

Buffy and the gang battle an undead army determined to cast the world into darkness.

NA release: 8th September 2003
EU release: 24th October 2003
JP release: N/A
Developer: Eurocom
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
NGC Magazine Score: 70%
Mods Used: None

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show I’ve enjoyed a lot, so I was curious about what this game would be like. One notable thing is that they did get most of the cast for the voice acting, although the two characters with by far the most characters – Buffy and Willow – have sound-a-likes filling in. Buffy isn’t too bad, although her sass comes off as far more awkward, but Willow is horrendous. To be fair, the voice itself does sound like Alyson Hannigan, but every line she reads is like she’s surprised and confused at the same time. It’s like when a character someone is playing is supposed to be acting surprised but poorly, for every single line.

And the characters talk far too much. Not in terms of story dialogue, but when picking up items or trying to interact with objects. They say a line every time and there aren’t many versions, so quite often you’ll be trying a few doors and the same voice clip will repeat itself before the first one has finished. The game itself is a fairly standard beat-em-up with plenty of moves (although the basic combos are enough), with the unique aspect that many enemies need to be stabbed with a stake to kill them, handily swapping to this weapon and attacking is mapped to the Z button for quick use (although you then have to use the D-pad to return to your previous weapon). One issue is that you often start levels with none of them, so you have to run around and smash boxes before you can take out any enemies. Something made even more annoying with Buffy’s repeated lines saying she never leaves home without them.

The story itself is set during season 5 of the show, although ignores the actual plot of that season (Dawn, for example, is only mentioned as “staying with a friend” in the tie-in novel), and instead focuses on a new plot involving alternate reality versions of previous villains, with the scooby gang getting sent to a dark dimension to take on The First Evil. Throughout the story, you’ll take control of different characters, who mostly play the same other than Willow, who has various magic spells to blast enemies with.

What really lets Chaos Bleeds down, though, is the level design and puzzles. The levels feel like mazes and you’ll have to find item sand use them with other objects. The problem is that the game doesn’t make it clear what you can interact with. There’s a ton of static objects and nothing highlights when you get close to an object. If you want to use an item, you have to select it on a d-pad and keep using it until you land on the precise spot, you just have to run around the object you think you need to interact with and mash the use button and hope something happens

This turns what could have been a simple linear beat-em-up into a game where you spend hours aimlessly waking around, mashing buttons in the hope that something happens that will let you continue. It’s especially frustrating when you finally look up a puzzle and find out that it was something you already tried, you just didn’t stand in the exact right spot.

Poor

There aren’t enough in-game tips, and although you can check the mission objectives at any point, they are so brief as to be next to useless. Other stumbling blocks were so minor that, individually, it would be churlish to dwell on them, but they’re sufficient to irritate.
Tom Mayo, NGC Magazine #86

Remake or remaster?

The levels and puzzles would need to be re-designed.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds.