Stealing blood has never been so fun, for me.

Vampires: Bloodlines has an incredible premise, being able to participate in an undead underground and choose which kind of character you wish to be, one still in contact with his humane side or one more influenced by the beast inside it.

Features are Key
The game features an amazing set of atmospheric design elements, which truly drags players right into an in-depth and complex storyline that pits you in a very political environment. The most impressive feature has to be the lengthy voice acting that is ever present in almost every instance of the game. You see, the game is often labeled as an FPS; but this is clearly false. The game uses an FPS engine (Half Life 2’s source engine to be exact), but it is very much a classic RPG, although utilizing certain shooter elements (i.e, first person view and guns). Characters gain experience points and can spend them upon certain attributes which enhance their social skills, fighting skills, spell casting and so forth. Bloodlines executes the RPG elements with deadly precision and effectiveness, but the FPS aspect is lacking a tad bit.

Fighting in the streets
The combat system is mediocre, as it clearly favors melee over ranged weapons (i.e., guns). You see, melee weapons allow you to inflict more damage and knock players down, while firearms appear to be rather underpowered and relatively ineffective. A player finding it rather hard to accomplish a certain quest with firearms probably could achieve it relatively easily with melee fighting. Nevertheless, firearms are pretty fun to use when given the chance for success. The combat system is flawed, but it can be overlooked as it does not necessarily negatively affect the game; but merely renders it a tad harder for those using firearms.

Where the coding went astray
Here is where the problem may lie for some, technical issues. Although the game uses the Source engine and allows players to witness pretty detailed and atmospherically pleasing environments; it does not however allow all players to enjoy the same gaming experience. There appears to be quite a few game engine related bugs, which (depending on the computer being used) can increase loading times, cause sound stuttering (being resolved by Valve, as it is a problem in Half Life 2 as well) and sometimes clunky frames per second. The performance related issues mostly occur in “hubs”, the main areas which lead to other areas of lesser importance, and typically are not problematic when attempting to do quests. That said, some may experience rather lengthy loading screens whenever they attempt to enter or leave a new area, which happens to be a nuisance.

The FPS and RPG equation
Do I believe it is a good game? It clearly depends on what you are looking for, if you wish to play an FPS; this is not for you. On the other hand, if you like story driven and complex RPG games; This is a godly game of which you must purchase. Bloodlines has an incredible story line, immense player interactions, lengthy voice acting and dialogs and an impressive character sheet implementation.

I like RPG games and I was able to overlook some of the performance related issues, I’ve been rather pleased with the experience. If anything, it reminded me of a more dialog, less action Deus Ex game. A must buy for RPG fans, while it should be overlooked by FPS geared gamers.