BloodRayne: Betrayal (XBLA): "A Game That Will Have You Seeing Red"

Majesco recently released their third installment of the BloodRayne video game series on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This newest game titled 'BloodRayne: Betrayal' is different from the 3D styled games you may have played previously. Majesco's decision to make the game into a 2D platformer definitely appealed to me. I love 2D platformers, and the cel-shaded anime style they chose to go with caught my undivided attention. As far as the story goes, I'm not quite sure if this is a continuation or not since I have never had the opportunity to play the other games in the series. It did seem like there were some story elements that suggested that the plot was connected though. If you've played BloodRayne, or BloodRayne 2 then you'll likely be familiar with what is going on despite the change to 2D gameplay.

BloodRayne: Betrayal follows the story of Rayne the Dhampir (half vampire, half human hybrid) as she works with with an organization who wants to put an end to the Vampire Lord Kagan. There are plot twists, and a mysterious male character involved in this latest installment of the series. As Rayne you will experience the 2D bloody carnage first hand as you make your through level after level of Kagan's minion plagued areas. Kagan's cohorts are numerous, and you will face several bosses on your way to end his savage reign. Finding out the truth of the matter at hand will also be a task that you must face. You'll find that betrayal plays a huge part in the story, just as the title suggests.

This game definitely holds true to it's title with buckets of 'blood', and and countless opportunities to spill/drain your enemy's red source of life. The creatures in the game feature male vampires, various types of female vampires, and demonic looking creatures of different types. As you make your way through the game's levels new enemies will be made known to you, and figuring out how to kill them best is the key to survival. Aside from the normal variety of vamps, and creatures there are also some boss battles. I found some of the boss battles in the game to be rather challenging, but beatable. One thing for certain in this game is that you will often times be faced with numerous foes at once. Learning how to deal with them best will save you from an untimely demise. Finding the best tactics for defeating the boss creatures will also save you from having to repeat the encounter again.

Rayne's tools, and abilities pretty much stay true to what you may have seen in BloodRayne or BloodRayne 2. At your disposal you have a gun, and your dual arm blades. Rayne can pull off devastating hack 'n slash combos as well as take out enemies at a distance with her gun. As a Dhampir, Rayne can also drain the blood (by holding down 'B') from certain stunned enemies to refill her life. Simply biting a stunned enemy (by tapping 'B') will only infect them. Infecting an enemy in the game will turn them into a walking bomb that can take out a chain of foes in the explosion. This tactic is helpful when when you are being attacked by multiple creatures/enemies. Infecting an enemy is also used gain access to switches/triggers (via explosions) that are hidden behind rock. Rayne's moves include a backflip that allows her to reach higher places, a dash for quick movement, and a head stomp that can be used in different ways. I found Rayne's fairly large array of abilities to be quite overwhelming at times though, and making past certain areas with the moves at hand was sometimes difficult.

BloodRayne: Betrayal features a control setup that is not really user friendly. The way that the controls were assigned made it difficult for me to make it past certain areas. The backflip move was more difficult to pull off than it should have been as well. The game actually does a good job of easing you into the controls though, but executing them sometimes can prove difficult. I experienced a lot of hit-or-miss instances during my playthrough which made for some unpleasant experiences. Rayne's movement was also very sensitive at times which made for some awkward gameplay. The combination of assigned controls, and Rayne's sensitive movement hindered my progress through a lot of the game's areas.

After doing my playthrough of BloodRayne: Betrayal I felt a little let down. I encountered quite a few issues with the gameplay the halted my progress on several occasions. My issues with the game mainly involved making it past certain parts of certain levels though. I remember repeating the last part of level 8 numerous times before I finally made it to the coffin that wasn't very far away at all. The timing required to make it past some of the game's areas left hardly any room for error. You had to time your jumps, dashes, and head stomps just right or you would find yourself repeating that area numerous times. What really got to me was the midway point in level 13 where you had to head stomp your way across flying parasites while dodging saws, and flying projectiles. The distance to the other side of the area was too far away in my opinion, and there was no save fountain when you made it to the other side. I spent about 30 minutes getting past that part. I ended up giving up at the next part after spending another 30 minutes attempting to make it past that area. The gameplay elements in these areas just ended up making the game more difficult than it should have been. By the 13th level I wasn't having fun anymore which was greatly disappointing. I can't honestly say this game is worth the points, but if there was some way Majesco could patch it I think it could make a huge difference. I really wanted this game to be good, but in the end the extreme difficulty was just too much for me.