Vampire Night

Game:

In this (supposedly) light-gun compatible shooter for the Ps2, you get to mow down folk who dress like Hot Topic employees. (And believe me, that’s satisfying!)

Comments:

Right off the bat, (tee-hee!) I have a huge problem with this game. While the guncon control works well in the first level, it thereafter refuses to operate. I don’t think it’s a problem with my admittedly cheap-ass second hand light gun, as it plays other games of this nature like ‘Resident Evil: Dead Aim ’ without a hitch. (Though admittedly, it could be. More of a simple nerd than a techno geek, I’m not actually sure how these things function. My best working theory involves goblins.) Therefore, while I can only assume that the game is at fault, since I haven’t read similar complaints concerning this problem I will not detract much from the control score. I’ll simply note that I was forced to play yet another shooter game with a standard controller, which while lame did afford a reasonable level of precision.
Either way, like all arcade shooters, the action flies a little too cheap and fast for you to fire efficiently.  

As standard issue for trigger-twitchers , the voice acting is just horrible. The dialogue suffers from stilted “engrish” translations, and many of the characters are shrill and annoying. The graphic quality is a bit lower than what you’d get from a modern production, but still on par with other shooter games of its period. As it stands, the environments are rich and colorful, and the character models are fair enough. Though not as scary as ‘House of the Dead’, a few of your opponents (such as robed figures and scythe-wielding midgets) are memorable, and the vampire-disintegration animations are satisfying. Unfortunately, the enemies on the whole are uninspired and lack panache. (Though the game does posses some nice touches, like forcing you to shoot the parasites off of zombified villagers.)
Between the atrocious voice acting, and the fey nature of the bosses in general, this game ain’t gonna be scaring anyone over the age of three. 

Did I mention that the voice acting is awful? 

There seems to be a backstory here I’m not quite grasping. Maybe it appears in the game manual, but I haven‘t seen it and can‘t comment. All you need to know is that there are a gang of vampires ravaging the vaguely European countryside, and it’s your job to send them back to the grave. Your avatar and the undead seem to have some personal baggage with one another. (Especially the one wearing the big fruity fur collar. He’s pining over some chick, and you seem to be involved somehow.) It doesn’t really matter; their only motivation now is to keep you from destroying their leader, Count Vampire. (Which is either the slyest reference to Stoker’s original character name I’ve ever witnessed in a Japanese light gun game, or just a case of unforgivable laziness. You decide.) In any case, playing this game for me was like walking in on a play halfway through the second act. 

The fact that this game is just a rip-off of ‘House of the Dead’ with vampires replacing the zombies, is simultaneously its greatest strength and a huge drawback. As a horror-themed shooter it does what it does fairly well, but what’s the point when it’s all been done a hell of a lot better before? The game’s one innovation is that after playing through it once, you can play through it again to complete mini-missions which earn you points so that you can buy weapons to kick more ass the next time you replay the game. Cute enough, but who in the hell wants to trudge through this imminently forgettable title over and over again?

 I’m sorry if this review seems a little short and shallow, but so does the game. It can easily be completed on its lightest setting in 40 minutes, and it really doesn’t offer anything new. In the end, ‘Vampire Night’ is deservedly obscure.

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