Blood Wake
Ever since VR Sports Powerboat Racing and Rapid Racer got released for play on the Playstation I eagerly awaited the launch of a new boat racing game. And I got spoiled again. Not only Does Blood Wake combines Water and Speed, but also trail-blazing action.
As every Shooter (I call this game a shooter, would First Admiral Shooter be accurate?) the game has to have a story, well, it certainly isn’t that important to know the story since this game plays very obviously. Gameplay and Graphics are certainly set on mass-destruction mode, because that’s what they’ll do to you.
When i first heard of this game, i was dazzled with it’s water effects. It seems like many games that feature water and waves are equipped with the most extraordinary water & wave effects ever. Blood Wake is one of those games. Needless to say that the graphics are state of the art.The landscape, the water, the ship, the explosions, the sinking ships, … everything seems so very accurate.
Storms, clear days, early-morning fog, .. all brought down to you screen as if you were right in it, I played the game standing in my shower and i got the thrill of my life (while gaming that is). Your boat experiences the physical torment of the waves, 5 meters high or plain-diarrhoea-flat, like never seen before (except in real life).
Game modes and multiplayer modes are tied up very close to eachother with the exception of the choice of difficulty modes: Ensign (easy), Captain (medium), and Admiral (Hard). You can play the standard “story mode”, which is the single player game. Complete missions throughout these levels and earn the possibility to race extra ships, as well to be able to choose them for a multiplayer game.
Controls are again configurable, i really love this option, every game i played up until now has this option integrated. The 8Gb harddisk in the XBox really shows off here.
The sound in Blood Wake is nice, nothing more, nothing less, it’s not annoying but neither does it make you enjoy the game even more but then again, Dolby Digital 5.1 will make the explosions come from every corner of your room.
My final thought would be, since this is one of the titles i awaited ever since the press release, this is a must buy for every action gamer. If you’re going to purchase the XBox for your own without any extra controller(s) i recommend you to buy an extra controller anyway. Blood Wake’s multiplayer is just too much fun
9.0