BloodRayne: The Terminal Cut

Recently I took to playing older videogames, and I've just finished Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It was a lot of fun and I thought I'd revisit another favorite; BloodRayne - specifically the Terminal Cut.

A Sequel that never Happened

So, where did BloodRayne get its start? Well, it was originally meant to be a sequel to a game called Nocturne. I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let's take it back, shall we?

Terminal Reality was a company that built its reputation on flight simulator and racing games. These games were successful, but they didn't get too far and the company wanted to make a hit. That hit came in the form of a little title called Nocturne.

When the game was released it was a huge success and left fans clamouring for a sequel. Sadly, that sequel would never happen. The publisher, Gathering of Developers, would go defunct shortly after the game's release. After the original publisher went under, another company, Majesco Entertainment, picked up plenty of Terminal Reality's titles. However, as they hadn't worked with Majesco before, Terminal Reality was reluctant to part with the IP rights to Nocturne.

With that in mind, a sequel to Nocturne pretty much died and the company instead decided to make something different. This led to the development of BloodRayne.

Developing BloodRayne

The development of BloodRayne took place over a period of about two years and had a budget of around $7 million. BloodRayne was released for PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and XBox in 2002 in North America with European releases following in 2003. The game was subsequently released for PC and Mac OS in 2003.

Reception to BloodRayne was mixed to positive and it subsequently spawned a whole franchise including 2 sequels, 3 films, and several standalone comic books.

A remaster of the game - which is what we're looking at today - was released in November of 2020 and was given to players who had purchased the original games. No, I'm not kidding, I thought it was a joke when I read that the games would be free for players who already owned the originals. Imagine my surprise when I opened my Steam library and found all three remasters in my library!

The Story

The story follows a dhampir (human/vampire hybrid) named Rayne as she works with the Brimstone Society - an organization that deals with supernatural threats - to stop a Nazi operation to search for ancient, powerful artefacts.

Pros: What Works?

• The early 2000s graphics are rather dated, but I quite like them. Something to keep in mind is that the game came out at a time when the console mark
• The soundtrack is great, ranging from cold and industrial to a more tribal sound - depending on where you were in the game.
• The combat is pretty satisfying. The melee combat is a bit stiff, but that made things more complicated.
• Performances were pretty good all-around, Laura Bailey is tons of fun to listen to.

Cons: What doesn't Work so Well?

• The pacing is a bit rough as gameplay is broken up by loading screens between areas - again, this is a holdover from the PS2 hardware limits.
• Combat, while mostly satisfying, is a bit clunky.
• The levels are expansive, which is great but there's a lot of backtracking and it's easy to get lost which can be frustrating.
• You can't manually aim your firearms. Rayne automatically locks onto a target, this makes things easy - for the most part. The problem is that most of the time you can't manually aim your guns and hit specific targets which is especially a problem in the final boss fight.
• Speaking of the final boss. Beliar is BARELY in the game - makes sense in the context of the game, but he has little to no impact on the overall story and instead feels kind of tacked on at the end. Jurgen Wulf, while still the stereotypical, megalomaniacal Nazi villain has a far greater impact and presence. I felt they should've stuck with just having him be the final boss using the various supernatural artefacts to make things difficult for us.

Best and Worst of BloodRayne

As we near the end of our journey, I wanted to share some of what I consider to be the best and worst bits of the game.

Best Character: Rayne

Our protagonist is popping off one-liners constantly, and mixes flirty playfulness with brutality. Critics at the time of the games release weren't too keen on her, saying she lacked character, but I respectfully disagree. Her character comes out in her dialogue.

Worst Character: Beliar

I mentioned it earlier, but the big-bad of the game - Beliar - has barely any presence in the game. He has two lines of dialogue and a lot of malevolent laughter and that's it.

Best Fight: The Krieger Brothers

While in Germany, Rayne encounters twins Simon and Sigmund Krieger. Throughout the fight, there's flirting on both sides and, depending on which brother dies first, Rayne will give them her name. I like this one because it shows a more compassionate side to Rayne than we've seen before.

Worst Fight: Mobile Armor Brawl

I'm not going to talk much about this one. The movement is awkward and clunky, and it's so SLOW!

Best Line:

"Quiet baby! What would the neighbors think?"

This line, I think epitomizes Rayne's way of thinking while she fights. She's like a kid playing with her food - so to speak.

Worst Line:

"Good girl."

This is Mynce's line whenever Rayne does something correctly in the training bit of the game and it's just weird to me.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, BloodRayne is a game to kill time with on a weekend when you're looking for mindless action. It's got its fair share of problems, but the game is still a fun bit of 2000s schlock.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope you all enjoyed the review. Let me know in the comments section what you think of the game. Have you played it? If not, are you likely to play it? I want to know all about that.

Until next time everyone, take care!