During my original playthrough, I focused heavily on melee and ignored firearms and special powers, and as a result, I ended up in a tough spot later. There’s also four basic forms of combat in the game: Brawl, Melee, Firearm and Special Powers (like vampire magic, sorta). Along the way, you’ll gain experience points which you can spend to upgrade your skills, like a traditional RPG. You can also outfit your character sheet any way you see fit. You get to choose which vampire clan you want to belong to, which gives you different abilities and weaknesses. I decided I was going to finish the bloody game this time, so I download a strategy guide from GameFAQS to use in case I got stuck, and then set to work.Īs I mentioned, when the game starts, you set up your character. Gameplay was fluid throughout, the graphics were excellent and the atmospheric gameplay really sucked me in like never before. The experience this time - from a technical standpoint - was totally different. Several folks mentioned Bloodlines, which reminded me that I should give it a whirl again - especially with my brand new computer in the house. Well, a few weeks ago, I was surfing through an online message board and saw a discussion about good games of the past three years. I played the game a little more than 50% of the way through before putting it down and never returning, although I’m not sure of the exact reasons why I gave up. Back then, the game pushed the limits of my computer, and in fact ran a bit choppy in many areas.

My friend Pooch got me Bloodlines as a Christmas gift a couple years back. Seriously, it may sound goofy, but it’s quite engaging - and very entertaining. Similar in mechanics to Deus Ex, Bloodlines casts you in the role of a vampire in modern-day California, where you become embroiled in the secret underworld of vampire politics and intrigue. The first title I’d like to celebrate is Vampire – The Masquerade: Bloodlines, an FPS/RPG mix by Troika Games, which sadly went bankrupt and dissolved last year. Whereas in our last Retro Gaming Month I featured titles from the late ’90s, this time around I’m into newer stuff - vintage 2003 or thereabouts. I’ve been revisiting several classic PC games lately. While my previous attempts to celebrate an entire month filled with wacky, antiquated PC gaming fun were aborted shortly thereafter, today I decided to pick up the torch and run with it again, if only for a short ways more. I did this once before, almost three years ago (has it been that long? geesh). Hello all, and welcome to Retro Gaming Month, Mark II.

Which vampire clan are you