Bloodrayne Betrayal is an excellent game and is far better than the Steam and critic reviews suggest.
Bloodrayne Betrayal is a fantastic game that features unique platforming and a deep combat system that will be familiar to fans of spectacle fighters, yet its 2D aesthetic makes it play like an old school fighting/beat 'em up game. It's a mesmerising and delightful combination.
Rayne has a standard assortment of sword attacks that can be combined with launchers, sweeps and dashes to create combos. The dash movement is performed with a single button press and gives Rayne temporary invincibility, in addition to allowing her to get close to enemies to continue combos. It can even be performed aerially, which allows for awesome combos.
Naturally, she can suck blood from some enemies to restore her health and she can also infect them. This turns them into a living bomb which can be detonated. This is useful for crowd control and it's even possible to chain explode multiple enemies. Rayne has a magnum revolver (which packs a mean punch!) that helps relieve pressure in combat. Ammo is limited, so you can't spam it like in Devil May Cry.
Combat is the game's strong point. There's nothing more satisfying and exhilarating than combining all of these mechanics and become a whirlwind of blades, bullets, blood and explosions. A typical encounter might have you dash towards an enemy to close him down, then launch him in the air and land a few more hits before relaunching him and chasing after him with some follow up attacks, all while evading other enemies and dishing out damage to them as well.
Combat balance is excellent in that Rayne is very strong but her moves can easily be interrupted by enemies who themselves are quite damaging. Aerial control is quite robust. Each attack in the air staggers Rayne's rate of fall and it's possible to advance forwards and upwards as well. Aerial dashes can be mixed in to enhance mobility and combos, and you can jump off of enemies' heads to stay off the ground and avoid taking hits from damaging attacks.
Some of the more advanced platforming challenges will require you to use all of these abilities to collect Ancient Skulls. Once you have five of them, you can upgrade your health or ammo count. Some of these challenges are ridiculously hard and you will often only have one shot at doing them per stage! I'd recommend skipping them if they frustrate you because you can always replay the stage later and try again.
You are given points for each battle that contributes to your final score at the end of each stage.
The scoring is quite brutal and forces a clinical fighting style where you need to beat all the enemies as quickly as possible, without taking any damage. I ignored this on my first playthrough and just had fun.
The platforming is surprisingly excellent! Rayne can do a weird kind of wall jump, not dissimilair
to the wall jump in Super Meat Boy. Using a single wall, she can rotate and elevate herself up - the advantage of being a dhamphir in killer heels I guess. It looks odd but it makes for fun platforming, especially when combined with her air dashes.
Another unique move is her back flip. It gives more elevation but requires you to run in the opposite
direction to where you want to jump (hence back flip). It takes getting used to but it becomes second nature. It's useful in combat as well, allowing for literal reversal attacks!
I enjoyed the platforming. Just like with the combat, you are given all the individual tools you need,
and are then required to properly combine them. One thing I appreciated was that the platforming and the combat feel integrated. You are able to use all the platforming mechanics in combat and you often have to! It doesn't feel like they're two separate things and as mentioned before, there are times when aerial attacks are required for the platforming sections because they stagger your rate of fall, elevate Rayne and move her horizontally.
It's a little like Bionic Commando Rearmed (and Super Meat Boy) in that you have to learn what is an initially awkward platforming system before becoming proficient at it. The good news is that Betrayal's platforming is nowhere near as difficult but it does require a similar mindset and also tightly integrates combat with platforming.
There are a few sections where you play as a raven. These parts emphasise avoiding traps rather than combat or platforming. It's still fun and is a nice change of pace.
Visually, I generally liked the way things look. There's a Gothic, high-contrast art style that suits the game and movement animation is smooth. There is a bit of screen tearing but my biggest issue is that it's occasionally hard to tell the foreground from the background.
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| Still a better love story than... yeah yeah. |
The soundtrack is killer and fits the game perfectly with its dramatic, orchestral score blended with heavy guitar riffs and solos. There's also the occasional, beautiful piano piece. It was composed by Jack Kaufman who also did the Shovel Knight OST.
The story is unrelated to the previous two games and the game is linear. You'll play through
each stage and do not have the option to backtrack like in a Metroidvania game. You can select completed levels and replay them to improve your score or get any collectible Ancient Skulls you may of missed.
Overall I found Bloodrayne Betrayal to be surprisingly excellent. It's a stylish, responsive and rewarding. The combat and platforming is challenging in an old school kind of way. The
game expects you to pay attention, learn and adapt yet it's still generous enough with its checkpoints. I also enjoyed feeling in control of all the cool stuff that Rayne was doing. This is not the kind of game where you have to dial in QTEs for awesome things to happen.
If you like 3D spectacle fighters like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden, then you'll be at home with the game's combat system and difficulty. If you like 2D beat 'em ups and platformers, then you'll find a uniquely satisfying yet familiar experience. Just think of Bloodrayne Betrayal as a 2D spectacle fighter - a bloody good one!
Pros:
Excellent combat
Great platforming
Challenge is just right
Awesome soundtrack
Cons:
Could use more variety
More boss fights would be nice
Rating: 86%
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