User:Tchernobog/archive/BloodvsBlood2
Blood versus Blood2. How do they compare?
When I first started running the mailbag on PlanetBlood, one of the first comments I received was saying how much better Blood1 was than its sequel. While I don’t share that particular opinion, I do believe that both have their place in gaming. Both provide a contrast of gameplay and ideas. Both flow in their own separate ways, giving a different spin on an alternative reality each time you play them. The question so many people seem eager to answer is whether or not one is "better" than the other. Hopefully, the following pages will shed some light on how they differ, and how they compare.
[Disclaimer: The first thing I want to get straight with this article is that it is not and shall not focus on Monolith. What I mean is that when I come to discuss the two games and their highs and lows, I shall not cite "poor support from the developer" as a negativity. Monolith have a chance to rectify this situation and I hope they will. The fact that I have to mention this is fairly distressing in itself, but I have faith in Monolith still, and hope they deliver what the public want and rightly deserve.]
Blood: The Original
Blood was released in August of 1997 or thereabouts, and it utilized the Build engine, which Monolith licensed from 3d Realms. The engine was fairly old and flaky when compared to the polygon beasts of today, and many reviewers discounted what Blood had simply because of the technology it was based upon. Despite these initial impressions, Blood was full of ideas and this is what so many simply overlooked in their bid to find a new 3d shooter to take the crown away from Quake.
When you go through the various aspects of Blood and compare them to other games, you realize why it did develop a cult following (no pun intended). The flow of ideas and entertainment is what a computer game should bring you. And Blood did it with style.
Blood2: The Chosen
Blood2: The Chosen was released in December of 1998 or thereabouts, and it was constructed on a 12 month cycle. It used the impressive Lithtech engine and offered 30 levels of twisted humour and playability. The graphical edge was there, as was the impressive development team and the engine to back them up. At the time, Quake2 and Half Life were kings and this little upstart wasn’t going to chase their crown. Instead, it was going to provide a worthy sequel to the biggest claret-red moment in gaming history.
Gameplay
Of all the arguments I’ve read in favour of Blood, very few have touched on how it actually handles and plays, despite the necessity to look into it. Blood uses the Build engine as discussed, which means that keyboard control, ala Doom, or keyboard and mouse control were the favourites. The problem with the keyboard and mouse configuration was that it lacked the smoothness and reliability of other shooters of the time (Quake is a good example, again). People wanted to control their character in true 3d with all the bells and whistles attached, and the Build engine simply didn’t have the capabilities to allow Monolith to provide that.
Despite these somewhat niggling inadequacies with the technology they were to use, Monolith strove to showcase their talented and quick-humoured game, by creating a Shareware episode to woo the public. That it did, in many ways. The sheer number of additional touches and ideas made users come back again and again, to the shareware at least. Ideas like being able to kick around the heads of dead zombies, and the multitude of movie references made Blood into a game of humour and exception.
The levels in Blood were well constructed, advancing the Build engine again. The sprite based engine looked anything but in places. The architecture of the game’s sometimes labyrinthine maps was obviously inspired by horror movies and stories, with references to the movies themselves popping up at opportune moments. The weapons and monsters were well placed and spaced across the various episodes, and you always felt like you were progressing.
Even with all this, the gameplay aspects of Blood were overshadowed by the limitations of the Build engine, and despite the ingenuity and adventure Monolith put into Blood’s creation, they couldn’t rip it away from its 2d origins. And that hurt Blood. A lot.
Blood2 used the Lithtech engine, and that meant a full 3d environment. And a way of finishing off what Blood started in a very highbrow way. The blood in videogames issue was practically ignored by the developers, and it oozes from every pore of every beast in the game. It’s obvious what Monolith wanted you to experience.
The demo was a poor choice of levels. If its intention was to bring the Blood fans of yesteryear back, then it failed. Because of the level choice. The great thing about the demo though, was that it showcased how the Lithtech engine was going to control the Blood universe, and it was very impressive in that respect.
The level architecture in Blood2 was very different to Blood. The neo-gothic textures and style were gone in favour of a techno-inspired look and feel. Blood2 plays as though it were Blood inside a cityscape.
Weapons
The grounds upon which most 3d shooters are judged nowadays is not always on how they play. If the engine is well-known (as the Build engine was), then the weapons and monsters are what the game needs in order to survive. Thankfully, Monolith went to town on both. The weapons consisted of several small pistol-like guns, such as the Flare pistol, and some larger "akimbo" weapons, such as the Flame-thrower, as well as the magical voodoo inspired weapons, such as the Voodoo doll. All were nicely drawn and had alternative modes of fire. Many could be picked up twice for multiple weapons scenarios.
They could be found spread all over the game, and their placing helped to pace the game magnificently.
The weapons in Blood2 were much bigger and more brazen. If you compare the shotgun in Blood and the shotgun in Blood2, they look very much the same, but due to the physics of the engine, the shotgun in Blood2 does more interesting things, and therefore becomes more enjoyable to use.
Another aspect of the weapons in Blood2 was the way they could be kept in any order you liked, allowing you to have them ready and waiting. An example of this would be having the flare pistol as choice 2 for lighting the way in the back alleys, and the Barettas as choice 3 for switching to when you encountered trouble. This was something very new, and very exciting for people who want to get the most out of their single and multiplay.
Monsters
The monsters in Blood were a varied bunch, often very horror-flick inspired and they all had their own lines and comic moments. The Zombies, for instance, crawled out of the ground, moaning "Brains" and trying to get at yours. A few smacks around the head with the fork and they were decapitated, leaving you to play football with their disembodied heads. There were fanatics, bloated butchers, gargoyles, spiders and even rats. Each monster could be killed in some amusing way and often there were things you could do to them once dead, just for the hell of it.
The monsters were limited by the Build engine again though. This time because they were flat sprites, like cardboard cut-outs. The polygon based monsters in Blood2 were another thing altogether. They were well animated, better than most other shooters on the market in any respect. They were styled similarly to Blood, with their own lines of speech for different moments of the game.
They were well spaced throughout the levels as well, often hiding behind pillars and doors to catch you unawares as you steamed through their environment.
Artificial Intelligence
The monsters topic really leads onto this one, the artificial intelligence levels of the bad guys in Blood. They all had their own patterns and actions, and the coding seemed sound enough to allow them to convey this in a very believable way. The Zombies randomly clawed toward you, as you might expect, while the Fanatics and Cultists sat back at a distance, firing at your with their shotguns and Tommy guns.
When you compare the AI in Blood to what we were led to believe Blood2 would include though, you had a right to feel impressed. The point is, however, that when you compare the AI in Blood2 as it is, to what it was promised to be, you feel hard done by. Where is the quick thinking, the running away in fear, the ducking under rockets, and all the nuances and claims that were made to us? They are not there. What we are left with is a bunch of very pretty, but dumb monsters. And that’s not what the public wanted.
Overall
If I was asked to pick a better game, I would go with Blood2. Despite the niggling AI problems, technologically, it is a much better game and one that is much easier to control than its predecessor. If Blood were remade with the Lithtech engine’s technological advances, I would probably have to rethink my decision, but as the matter stands, there is only one sensible outcome to this argument, and that is that Blood2 is a better game.
- Mugwum
