When it came out in 2004, I barely knew about VMB, except that it had a big ad in a gaming magazine I had, which was basically the box art featured above. I remember thinking it was pretty scary when I was about 10 years old, and honestly, it still is.

Years went by until 2008, when I was looking for something new and unique. I only remembered this game when I stumbled upon some reviews of it, which ranged from luke warm to awful, not because it was a bad game, but because it was riddled with technical problems from the start, which made the game even unplayable for some. Apparently Troika, the developer who has since closed, made a reputation for themselves for having extremely buggy, unpolished games, even though they only actually released three games in total.

A few patches were released by Troika before they went broke, which addressed some of the issues but many bugs, some even game-breaking, still remained. The crazy thing is, like crappy movies from the 70′s or 80′s, all three of their games have developed cult followings, and dedicated programmers who still release mods, and unofficial patches. Fortunately, I came to this game late, and therefore, a lot of the bugs have since been ironed out and I can enjoy this game for what it was meant to be.

And what is this game exactly? Well, in case you haven’t already realized, the game is an RPG about being a Vampire. You might call it…a Vampire simulation. The campaign starts with a sex scene involving you character and an unnamed woman, who you discover is a vampire, and turns your character into one. Suddenly, a motley crew bursts through your bedroom door, and takes you both prisoner. You soon learn that this unsanctioned action of converting someone into a vampire goes against the vampire creed, and she is executed.

However, you are spared, and given a chance to do the Vampire prince’s bidding.

Character customization is minimal in anything other than stats. In fact, you might say there isn’t any at all. You can choose from one of a handful of vampire clans which will give you unique abilities and stat boosts, and it will also determine your physical appearance, which is disappointing. It takes hours of playing to even unlock some new clothes, and even those are overpriced, and not worth it for the looks. They are essentially upgraded armor, with things like a leather jacket having more protection than a t-shirt.

The actual gameplay feels a little like Oblivion. It is the first game, other than Half-Life 2, to use the Source engine, which allows you to play in either 1st or 3rd person (I guess in 2004 that was pretty mind-blowing). Even the HUD works in more or less the same way. You have a life meter. You have a blood meter. This is essentially your mana meter, which you fill by drinking the blood of unaware people, or even animals. If you run too low, there’s a chance you could go berserk, and kill innocents around you, therefore violating the Masquerade, which is the code that all vampires abide by.

This brings up another point: Humanity. Humanity is the game’s morality system, and as you do immoral things, ranging from cold, bloody murder, to calling a poor old lady a c*nt for no reason, your humanity drops. You have a certain number of humanity points, and once they get to zero, you’re as close to an animal as the rats you feed on. This means that once your blood meter gets lower and lower, you’re more likely to lose control of yourself and kill innocents, which breaks the masquerade. You only have a few masquerade points, and if you run our of those, the game is over. So, if you haven’t noticed, all these things are cleverly connected, and if you aren’t careful with your choices, your character could end up on a downward spiral like an emo whose best friends are Myspace and a teddy bear named Titin.

I’m on the fence about it, because for being a dark, very, very violent game, it ironically really discourages the player for being morally bad. Whereas in other games, morality is meant to reflect real life, where often times it is harder to be good and generous than evil and selfish, Vampire flips the formula and makes sure that being evil reaps absolutely no positive benefit.

Also, I found that the inventory system was way too clunky. Selling things, unequipping them, or dropping them, were all a chore, and I usually tried to avoid using it. This means that a lot of crap is going to build up in your inventory, and you’ll find yourself, being the badass you are, packing a few watches, some blood packs, and the occasional bottle of estrogen pills. To this day I’m not sure what they do, as I’ve never used them.

Combat is also a bit of a mixed bag but for the most part, I like it. It’s all in real time, and a shotgun blast to the head is just as damaging as in any action game. However, I made the mistake early on with mostly developing my melee attack skills, when you should really be depending more on ranged attacks. Trying to go toe to toe with some of the tougher, supernatural enemies can be grueling, and I probably found the boss encounters to be the least fun of most of the levels, because it always seemed like I would just barely survive with a sliver of health left and running on blood fumes in the tank. It’s best to focus on your endurance, and gun skills first, because that’s what you’re going to want to use. Also, try to go for some lock-picking skills early, because while they aren’t completely necessary, they’ll make your life a hell of a lot easier.

What I love about this game is that it just oozes atmosphere. I’ve played a lot of horror games and almost none of them are nearly as great at making you feel like your surroundings are truly dark and disturbing. The deep, fleshed out world and characters really suck you in (no pun intended) and I absolutely love games that succeed in having characters so well written that you feel an emotion towards them, like appreciation if they help you, or trust, or even loathing. If you’re willing to save any of the characters’ lives whether or not it will benefit you, you know the story is top notch.

The graphics are from 2004, so admittedly, it’s not great to judge them in late 2009, an age when we can see every pore on every character’s face. I have to admit, it’s not a bad looking game at all. It’s not to my standards because I’ve been a little jaded, but as you play and get more immersed, the graphics are never a problem, and you forget about them. The occasional blurry texture can be tolerated when all the characters can be read by their facial expressions and body language alone.

The audio is all decent. They went the extra mile and added an in-game radio station that plays on the radios in bars, or cafes. The voice work ranges from passable to pretty top notch. Smiling Jack is probably my favorite character. It’s implied throughout the storyline that he is much, much older than he lets on, and is rumored to have been an actual pirate from the days of yore. Now, he’s an old biker, a wise elder of sorts, and his voice suits perfectly. It’s deep and raspy, as if those hundreds of years have passed by, and he’s seen absolutely everything, which is why he seems to find the protagonist’s dilemmas more amusing than troublesome.

Your loving mentor, who may or may not have been a scourge on the high seas

The problem I have with the audio is that some of the voices sound altered, as if they were talking through a funnel. It sounds projected in a bizarre way, and I’m not sure why. I’m not sure if it has something to do with my computer (it only happens with this game), or if one of the patches, or unofficial patches, have altered it in some way. Therefore, it can’t really factor into this review.

This game takes absolutely forever to beat! Although I played it almost exclusively on school nights, which would make it feel never ending. That said, I think it would realistically take 50 hours of rushing through the game to see all it has to see, maybe more. I was glued to this game either way, in fact, it might have been one of my biggest game addictions, second only to Mount & Blade, which I basically spent a summer playing.

Your mentor, sharing some helpful wisdom. But hey, if you only drink blood, wouldn’t you get scurvy?

Despite some of the technical issues that dragged down review scores, you need to see past them, and download all the patches (both official and unofficial!!) and just play this game. It’s rare to find a solid RPG out there like this one nowadays, and even Fallout 3 was way too short in comparison. It was shot down by big review sites, but to me, it’s right up there with Oblivion, and definitely has a warm spot in my heart.  It’s an 8 out of 10, and earns a spot in my Trial By Fire section.

Rating: