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 enlarge | From: Vivendi Universal
Category: Video Games
List Price: $17.99
Buy Used: $12.74
You Save: $5.25 (29%)
New (4) Used (22) from $12.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 2773
Platform: Playstation2
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Playstation 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8 x 6 x 1
MPN: 72105
UPC: 020626721059
EAN: 0020626721059
ASIN: B000095ZH2
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Back to the bargin bin with ya! January 5, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Don't be tempted when you see it in the bargin bin. It's there for a reason. I read reveiws before buying it, but figured for $20 the problems people consistently mentioned couldn't be THAT bad. So, I got this game for my girlfriend who loves the show. I like the show enough that a game based on it interested me.
Good news: The story and dialogue are exactly what a Buffy fan would want from a Buffy game. The ability to play as Sid is great -- except that it only lasts one level. I liked playing as different characters, since playing as Buffy got repetative.
Bad news: The game uses backtracking to increase the amount of time you spend playing. By the zoo level, we lost our patience and found a walkthrough online. I guess we were supposed to know that we had to grab the top of an automatic fence as it lifts up to get to the other side of a room??? Yes, my girlfriend and I got a cheap thrill by 'beating' the game by cheating. By that point we were tired of the game's poor camera and ditzy fighting engine, which makes the game approach 'unplayable' at certain points. In fact, the camera is so disfunctional that it prevents you from even using the many fighting moves that the characters all have. Since the camera was always changing, so were the directions I was supposed to be pushing on the stick.... And don't even get me started about trying to use an item in the middle of a fight -- scrolling thru the inventory while being punched in the head by toothy, spikey demons is as hard -- and annoying -- as it sounds.
Rent this game and spend a week playing it to unlock the extras. It's a shame that the extras are better than the game, but I guess hardcore Buffy fans might not care (though, my girlfriend did).
Fun - but not as thrilling as other reviews imply.... January 3, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a little startled by the reviews for this game - because although Chaos Bleeds was fine - its not the fantastic experience that the other reviews imply.
I think some of the reviewers are a little biased because the Buffy name is on it. And I'm a major Buffy fan, so that says a lot.
I think overall the game is good - but it didn't reach its potential. It was cool to see the majority of the actual cast do voice-overs, and some of the graphics are cool, but there are still numerous problems with the game.
There is entirely too much pointless running around. A fair amount of the game is running around places and opening doors.
The inventory system is intolerable. You have to shift weapons during actual game-play - you can't pause the game to shift to a new weapon(s). Ridiculous when you are in actual fight.
There is a time-delay and motion lock with moves. Sometimes character will become 'locked' into a fighting move - so ofttimes you find yourself hitting air or an inanimate object when in a fight. And while this is happening, you are getting whaled on. Again, ridiculous.
Finding clues are a bit obscure. I had to consult a cheat sheet for the last few levels simply so I could complete the game and no spend an inordinate amount of time on a level.
If you are a Buffy fan - its worth checking out - but please take it with a grain of salt. If you are a gamer and not a major Buffy fan - you might not find the payoff all that worth it.
 Those Dead Guys, They're So Fragil! November 29, 2004
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Alrighty, let me just say that I am waiting to get my X-Box so's I can play the original "Buffy" game, which in turn, got rave reviews. Now, onto the "Chaos Bleeds" review...
My one huge "Grudge"(tee-hee) about this game is that it isn't about Buffy. Well, it is, but it isn't, you know? You HAVE to play as the other cast members, which gets kind of annoying. Willow cannot fight, and remembering the whimpy spells is boring, but I suppose it "boasts the difficulty level". And, thankfully, there are a decent sized portion of Buffy levels.
The graphics are insatiable. I mean, the way the stone door in level 2 looks is amazing. I mean, the shadow of the trees reflect on it and it is just immaculate. Whew! And, Buffy looks like Buffy. Willow looks like Willow (kind of) but her eyes look like bug eyes. Faith is cool looking, too.
There's nothing scarrier than alternate dimensions, and thankfully, Vivendi Universal and Eurocom have captured Sunnydale perfectly and destroyed it (referring to the "Downtown Sunnydale" level). I mean, it looks just like the TV show! I love the school level (except for the fact it's a Xander level). And, the way you can end a Vampire's life is awesome. Whether it is the old-fashioned Stake to the heart or your throwing the Vamp onto a broken bench, you can almost bend the enviornment to meet your slaying needs. It's really awesome.
The cast of the TV show does the voices, but Sarah Michelle Gellar is missing. >tear<. Thankfully they had a wonderful stand-in (Giselle Loren. Whom, by the way, is rumored to be supplying the "Buffy" voice once again in the upcoming animated "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series). I mean, on some lines, you can tell it isn't Buffy. On countless others, you have to REALLY listen to note the difference.
All in all, this is a really great action/adventure game. I LOVE the "Buffy" tv show, and I love the "Tomb Raider" games. They have found a way to cross-breed these two. It is very fun, very detailed, and very intresting. I recommened this to anyone who does/doesn't like the Buffy-verse. HOWEVER: I advise anyone who just wants to play only as the blonde-bombshell of a Slayer herself to at least rent this to see if it craves your Buffy appetite. Trust me, you might get disappointed if you only want Buffy. This game does justice to the show in it's prime, and fans of the show agree, we wouldn't want it any other way!
This game is like a lost episode of Buffy! November 5, 2004
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This game was so0o0o0o0o0o fun, well ya, i obviously got it because i love Buffy so much, but it was so0o0 fun it play. it took me about 3 days to beat, but i was glued to it for 10 hours aday! The Graphics were great and the vocies were good but sarah michelle gellar didnt do buffys vocie. ( to busy acting!)if you love buffy and or action, then this is the game for you!!!!
Garbage game design, good acting and script. October 24, 2004
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds plays, well, much like an episode of the TV show. The scripting is sharp and the characters lovable, but in terms of a video game, the mechanics and progression of this game are just about rock-bottom.
First the good points: With the involvement of Joss Whedon and a large number of cast members from the show (including Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Nicholas Brendon and Anthony Stewart Head), it's not surprising that the script and acting are substantially more enjoyable than that of most video games. The voice actress standing in for the absent Sarah Michelle Gellar does a fine job, though Alyson Hannigan's replacement just can't nail that elusive Willow charm. Perhaps they should have tried approaching Amy Acker (Fred in the show Angel) for the role instead? However, I agree with a previous reviewer -- the dialogue is very poorly paced. Huge gaps of air permeate the lines, in direct contrast to the brisk and enjoyable comic timing of the show. I suspect this was because of the overly slow subtitles, which are routinely one to two seconds behind the spoken dialogue.
But if I was having fun watching this game, playing it was another matter. Yep, we have another franchise game whose mechanics were underdeveloped. The camera in this game is horrible, whizzing around and around, blasting 180-degree axial shifts so that your controls get completely reversed. The designers don't seem to realize that in a 3rd-person fighting game, you can't have moves that require both analog-stick and button combinations because the game engine becomes constantly confusing. For example, to execute the multi-hit flying kick, you have to hold up and then hit a button. What if you're facing right instead? This practically means you can only execute this move when you're facing an enemy that's "above" you in the 3-D environment, and with the camera firmly out of your control, that's impossible for the player to orchestrate. And your character moves at about half the speed of your enemies. The moves just don't allow for much player control, and since this game always pits you against at least two (sometimes four or five) enemies at the same time, it feels like every character is fighting like Tara. Oh yeah, and there's no way to break blocking enemies short of using a weapon. So if your weapon broke before a certain fight, you're basically screwed, because later enemies will delightfully block you to death while its comrades beat you to a pulp. Most fights also require that you switch between items in your inventory all the time, and this game has one of the most awkward inventory systems I've seen. Items shift in position as you tap the D-pad, so you always have to look desperately for what you want. Inexcusable.
The levels are overlarge, and incredibly repetitive. I'd thought Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain made you run around a lot, but it's no comparison to this game for backtracking. I finally lost my patience during the "Xander High School" level where after playing the level for an hour and a half collecting UV filters, fumigation bombs, "alien gun" ammo, magic hats, keys, key cards, passwords...only to be unable to beat the final boss of the level. And thanks to the lack of true save points ("continue points" only work until you turn the machine off), I know I'll have to replay the entire dreary level the next time I put this game on. And that is just enough to make me send this game to the second-hand bin.
My last gripe is with the graphics. This game looks like it's one or two generations behind the competition. The cut scenes look cheap and pixellated, as if they'd captured the footage using too low a data rate. To give them some rope, they'd included a good amount of video footage from the making of the game into this disc, so maybe they ran low on storage. The bonus materials, consisting of interviews, voice-over sessions and outtakes of the cast of the game, are a blast and essential viewing for Buffy fans, so perhaps it was a reasonable tradeoff.
So this game really plays more like an unusual edition of the show. While there's fun to be had on that level, as a video game, this one really leaves plenty to be desired.
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