Bloodrayne: Betrayal XBLA / PSN (2D castlevania clone)

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Dev Diary http://www.destructoid.com/bloodrayne-b ... ml#comment

Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T08FG0Uvpg

I originally thought this game was 3D untill I watched the vid, what a nice suprise. Im hoping its the oldschool castlevania game what console owners should of had by now.

[nem]

Knew nothing about this title before, watched the trailer. 10 seconds in thought this has to be developed by WayForward, and lo and behold, it is!

Looks superb

[Ghegs]

I am liking the look of this, I just hope it's not too combat-centric. Should be a good Summer of Arcade this year again.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I just hope it's not too combat-centric.

Thats what im hoping, although the trailer does show platforming sections so its a bit more then a beat em up with a jump button.

[Daigohji]

This is the first time the franchise has looked interesting!

[evil_ash_xero]

Have you guys played this yet? I just played the demo on PSN(I'm gonna buy it on XBLA), and it feels like a direct mix of Castlevania and Murasama. It's pretty damn good, and quite beautiful. You can call it derivative, but I like it better than any Castlevania game, since DOS, and I like it better than Murasama. Now, if the game doesn't live to the demo, then I take it back. But you should give it a test run.

Some reviews have complained of the difficulty. I think we have an "old school" vs. "new school" thing going on here. I didn't have any problems with it.

[iconoclast]

The XBLA version should be up within the hour, so I'll probably pick it up after I give the demo a shot. Hopefully it's as hard as some people are making it out to be.

[evil_ash_xero]

I got a real kick out of it. Like I said, I just played the demo, but it was pretty kick ass.

Maybe it can get that film out of my head...the horror...the horror....

Oh, and how the hell is this rated T??? It's a bloodbath.

EDIT: After reaching stage 7, I have certainly found some flaws. Repetition. Now, not so much in combat, but in design. The whole castle looks about the same, and I have run into just about 6 different types of enemies. And ONE boss, that I had to fight twice. So, that's an issue. It's a lot of fun though.

Oh, and I think it's only got 4 songs or something.

[evil_ash_xero]

Would some of you bastards check this out? Don't make me go to the 2D Forum....i'm not even sure where that's at anymore.

[Ghegs]

I played the trial and wasn't as impressed as I hoped. It's quite combat-centric and it has one of my greatest pet peeves in action games: forcing the player to stay in an area until all the enemies have been killed. In some other games there's at least some mystical barrier or something that magically prevents the player from moving on, here the screen just will not scroll forwards until the last enemy is down. Really don't like those.

Judging from videos the stage design does get more interesting later on, but at least the trial's first stage was a bit bland and the enemy encounters got repetitive. It was sort of fun, but maybe not 1200 points worth. Think I'll wait for a sale unless someone has tales of utter awesomeness beyond the trial.

[burgerkingdiamond]

what is this bullshit about the video not being available in my country.

[iconoclast]

EDIT: After reaching stage 7, I have certainly found some flaws. Repetition. Now, not so much in combat, but in design. The whole castle looks about the same, and I have run into just about 6 different types of enemies. And ONE boss, that I had to fight twice. So, that's an issue. It's a lot of fun though.

Oh, and I think it's only got 4 songs or something.

I feel the same way. The game's okay so far, but I don't think it's anything special. I'm also on chapter 7 or 8, which is like half way through the game, and there has only been a single boss that they've already recycled. That's disappointing, to say the least.

On the bright side, at least the scoring system seems decent. It kinda reminds me of Ninja Gaiden Black: each level has a few sections where you fight several waves of enemies, and you have to kill them as quickly as you can in order to get the maximum amount of points. And at the end of each chapter there are [huge] bonuses for time spent and damage taken, so getting S-ranks on every stage should be a good challenge.

The game's decent enough I guess, but I'd probably like it a lot more if it were $10 instead of $15.

[Ganelon]

To future 2D sidescroller developers: no more taking cues from Moon Diver please. This game is unquestionably smooth but not very exciting.

[evil_ash_xero]

There's tons of potential here. It just needs more.....bosses, and enemies, and varied backgrounds. And music. It just seems so repetitive, in that regard. The battle system is quite fun, and you can do some interesting things with it, as the game progresses.

I know WayForward can do better, in the background and enemy department(see Contra 4). Maybe it was a matter of budget?

UPDATE: Holy crap, I fought a new boss, and now i'm in the RED part of the castle. Well, there's a welcome sight.

[Sumez]

Why is it western developers tend to dislike including awesome bosses in their games?
Typical symptons of western developed games include:

• No bosses whatsoever, or just a single boss halfway through the game apart from the end boss. Some don't even have an end boss

• Recycling a boss, typically you'll fight the same boss throughout the entire game, and when they have to up the previous boss, they just include two of them

• Degrading a boss into a regular enemy after its first encounter. So you thought you just fought an actual miniboss? Well get used to it, cause you'll see it a lot.

• Bosses that are merely variants of regular grunts with fancy armor and more hit points

• In general, there are no tricks to defeating a boss, they are just stronger enemies that take longer to kill

I'm not saying this applies to EVERY western game developer, but definitely most of them, even the ones I respect a lot. But it seems to me their games could ALWAYS be improved with exciting boss fights.
I mean, seriously, who ever thought the final boss in Uncharted 2 was a totally fun boss fight?
I don't think I ever met anyone who'd rather be without interesting boss fights, and they fit into nearly every genre apart from puzzle and sports games (and even some of those have had them with great success)

I know WayForward can do better, in the background and enemy department(see Contra 4). Maybe it was a matter of budget?

Their hand held games had graphics made entirely by Henk Nieborg of Amiga and various 16+32 bit fame.
Obviously the fluidly animated HD 2D graphics are a lot more demanding for their graphics department, and this is obviously a budget title, so yeah I bet it's a budget issue.

[Khan]

gonna sooo get this been itching for a new 2d castlevania type game ty for bringing it to my attention.

[kid aphex]

Played the trial today. Not sure what it is, but I hate the look of the game. It's not just the western art style, it's something about the coloring of the characters that makes it feel cheap ... Blaz Blue bothers me in the same exact way.

[GSK]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/281220/

Out of nowhere, a Steam port! Game's not very good, but I figure some of you will wanna give it a shot anyway.

Arc System Works is publishing the game in Japan soon, too.

[CKR]

Arc System Works had a countdown site that ended up being this game. I was hoping for an Arc System developed Bloodrayne game, instead I got an Arc System published Wayforward game. Woo-hoo!

[Mischief Maker]

Was the Bloodrayne series EVER synonymous with quality?

To my knowledge, the two best metroidvanias with involved combat systems available on the PC right now are:

Fortune Summoners

and

Valdis Story

[CKR]

Was the Bloodrayne series EVER synonymous with quality?

To my knowledge, the two best metroidvanias with involved combat systems available on the PC right now are:

Fortune Summoners

and

Valdis Story

No, Bloodrayne is an average game series, but Arc System Works is a fantastic developer.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I'm really disappointed that the countdown didn't turn out to be an Arc-developed Bloodrayne game. I was hoping to see them make an action game again.

[BulletMagnet]

Abstraction is listed as the developer; it's also named next to Double Dragon Neon on Steam, though Wayforward is also mentioned there, but not here. Anyone aware of how the porting job turned out with the former game (though I'm aware it's not particularly well-liked around here either)?

[GSK]

Was the Bloodrayne series EVER synonymous with quality?

To my knowledge, the two best metroidvanias with involved combat systems available on the PC right now are:

Fortune Summoners

and

Valdis Story

Betrayal isn't a metroidvania, just to be clear.

[Mischief Maker]

Bought this for $2 on sale at gog.

I still feel ripped off. Slow animations, no ability to cancel attacks, screwy jumping mechanics, just awkward all around. I rate it below Shank.

Crossing my fingers that Aztez delivers!

[iconoclast]

Yeah, I bought this when it came out on the 360 and thought it was total shit (after playing more since my previous post lol). That's when I figured out that I really need to stop playing WayForward games.

[BrianC]

Yeah, I bought this when it came out on the 360 and thought it was total shit (after playing more since my previous post lol). That's when I figured out that I really need to stop playing WayForward games.

Why? WayForward has a few stinkers, but they still make some awesome games. Shantae series (especially Pirate's Curse), Contra 4, Xtreme Sports, Mighty Switch Force, and Mighty Flip Champs are all good stuff.

[Mortificator]

Your argument would be stronger if you didn't say "Contra 4."

[evil_ash_xero]

Contra 4 was awesome.

[Squire Grooktook]

Contra 4 was awesome.

Correct.