Vampire Rain

It was inevitable, really. Sooner or later, someone was bound to try and mix Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid to create a horror game where players can either go in with both guns blazing or tiptoe around the monsters instead. On paper at least, Vampire Rain looks promising — Nightwalkers, a type of super-vampire, are taking over the world and only a crack squad of special agents can rid the planet of this new menace. Perhaps not the most original plot but enough gore can compensate for many things. Yet it all goes awry right from the very start. Vampire Rain makes some absolutely astounding decisions, which result in the game being hugely disappointing during the first couple of hours. Instead of plunging the player into the bloody world of vampire killing, it settles for sneaking around, trying not to be seen. However, this isn’t a sophisticated Splinter Cell-esque type of stealth game, this is a very linear, "only one way to crack an egg” type of game that is equal parts boredom and frustration. The sad thing is that the frustration really rears its head when players attempt to stray from the path and the result is almost instant death. Yup, these vampires are so deadly that a mere two hits will kill you dead and fighting back is pointless because the initial weapons lack any power — unloading a complete clip of bullets still won’t dispatch a Nightwalker — so the only real option is to avoid detection and follow the designated route and that gets very dull very quickly. When the game finally does start handing out the cool weapons, the tone of the game changes for the better but by that time, it’s too late and all the stealth kills in the world won’t save it. Add to that painfully scripted cut scenes, average graphics, irritating controls and an unhealthy number of clichés, and the result is a hugely disappointing game that manages to ruin two different genres simultaneously and, unfortunately, that’s Vampire Rain’s greatest achievement.