October 1, 2007 - Every so often, a game comes along and based solely on its concept is able to generate some hype. Vampire Rain is one of those titles that very well may have piqued the interest of gamers by providing an interesting twist to the somewhat stale genre of stealth-action games. A game involving vampires does sound cool on the offset. Adding to this hype is the opportunity for VR to make its mark against established heavyweights such as the Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell series. Unfortunately for fans of those games, VR does not fall into such a category. Instead, you get something that very well might drive you away from the genre all together.

The story behind VR isn’t all that compelling but with the inclusion of vampires, it does stand out from the other stealth action games on the market. An epidemic has broken out where people have begun to suddenly disappear. It is discovered some one hundred years later that these missing people are actually being transformed into diabolical monsters known as Nightwalkers. Added to this problem is that the Nightwalkers are now attacking civilians in an attempt to convert the entire human race into an unstoppable army of vampires. In an effort to get to the bottom of this infestation, a crack team dubbed the Anti-Nightwalker Mission Team is created to put the bite on these vermin and cleanse society of their existence.

You take control of John Lloyd who has the distinction of being the only member of the ANMT to have experience with the Nightwalkers. You are aided by your teammates from mission to mission however your cohorts appear to be lacking in a few areas such as personality, charisma, and in some respects intelligence. These flaws will be distinguishable during many of the games cut-scenes which are both bland and uninspiring. The game tries to be lighthearted on occasion but the only thing truly missing during these scenes is some canned laughter. On a side note at least your character (Lloyd) is easy on the eyes and appears to be the strong and silent type. Compared to other stiffs in the stealth action field such as Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, Lloyd comes off as being a bit of a hunk. You almost feel bad for him having to put up with these so called compatriots. However once you start getting into the actual game, you’ll begin feeling a lot worse for yourself.

VR begins with a few tutorial levels which are good for familiarizing yourself with the basics including the controls and both methods of dealing with the Nightwalkers, either by avoiding them or by taking them head on. The tutorials differ in length and objectives although some come off as being less necessary than others. In one tutorial the main goal is to scale down the side of a building, that’s it. It lasts for about ten seconds. Why this couldn’t be included in another tutorial is anyone’s guess. As for the missions, getting from point A to B, defeating Nightwalkers or helping your team accomplish certain tasks make up many of the missions. As nice as it is to have such variety, getting the S grade which is the highest grade awarded in VR for completing the tutorials and missions still won’t prepare you adequately enough for what awaits you in later stages.

In your quest in hunting down vampire scum you have a few tools at your disposal such as a telescope for long-range viewing and night vision goggles to help you identify your surroundings in the dark. Neither of these items can be considered useful unless you use necrovision first which helps you separate the Nightwalkers from the ordinary folks. This isn’t without its problems because you constantly have to charge it while scanning every nook and cranny and this can leave you woefully vulnerable as well as take up a considerable amount of time. How you deal with the Nightwalkers is essential to how you progress through VR.

Since this game is about stealth action, sneaking your way around to get to where you need to go is recommended over trying to fight the Nightwalkers. If you do confront one, watch out for some of the worst AI the Xbox 360 has seen to date. The Nightwalkers have a peripheral vision in which they can see you. Therefore you can literally creep right beside one (if it is looking the other way) and it will not know of your existence. Another fun thing to try is seeing how much of your clip you can waste by firing in the direction of a Nightwalker. As long as none of your bullets connect, you should remain invisible and can proceed along in relative safety. One thing that works against you while moving around is invisible barriers which stop you from going a certain way, not only does this take away from what should be a free roaming environment but it also makes navigation unnecessarily more linear.