0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Blade

      

Blade is a licensed third person action shooter/melee game developed by Hammerhead and Published by Activision. The game is based on the 1998 film of the same name and the Marvel Comic. The game released on both the Playstation and Game Boy Color, releasing on the 20^th of November 2000 in North America for the GBC, and three days later on the Playstation.

The game would release the following month in Europe, with a December 8^th 2000 on the GBC and the 13^th of December on the Playstation. Neither system releases was that well received with critics having issues with graphics, camera, controls, voice acting and the general lack of spirit of the movie all being problems for critics.

 

While Blade may not have been a very good game, it certainly had plenty of talented people who worked on it, and many have gone on to bigger and better things since. Starting with the large number of staff who moved onto the Lego series of games that have been going strong for over a decade.

The staff members that moved onto the Lego series are Paul Hunter, Chris Stanforth, Ray Donnelly, Nicola Daly, Simon James, and Charles McNair. With the exception of Ray Donnelly all the aforementioned team members worked on a Lego title as recently as 2017.

Many more staff members from the Blade team went on to things other than Lego, Lee Hammerton went on to work on the Formula One games for several years, before joining the Haze team as Senior Engine Programmer. Following that he worked on Crysis 2 and 3 and most recent Homefront The Revolution.

David Worswick who worked as a Programmer on the game, worked on the Project Gotham Racing series from 2003 until 2007. Largely since then Worswick has been working on the Dirt and Grid games, remaining on the programming side of things, including Network Programming.

Jamie Egerton following his work on Blade as an Artist he worked as a Wolverine Animator for the 2003 release X2 Wolverine's Revenge. Two years later he is credited with being an Animator on Ultimate Spider Man. Largely since then he has worked on the Call of Duty series, most recently in 2015 on Black Ops III.

When playing the game, at the bottom left of the screen in a circle, you ammunition level of the weapon you are currently using is shown, an image of the ammo is shown along with a number below. Directly next to this along the bottom of the screen is your health bar, ranging from red on the left up to pale green on the right when you are at full health.

When you have taken a hit from an enemy weapons, you’re health bar will decrease, around the various levels you will be able to find pick ups, these included health pick up to replenish your health, also included in these pick ups are various ammo types and weapons.

Health boosters, and medi-kits are considers single use items by the game, these two items restore 33% and 66% of your health respectively. In addition to these two healing items you can pick up coagulant which will fully restore your health.

The game has a stamina system, with moves such as strafing using up Blade’s stamina, the player can replenish Blade’s stamina by three different pick ups that can be found around the levels or dropped by enemies. These are a small serum and a large serum, these will restore 25% and 50% of your stamina, while an energy drink will fully restore your stamina gauge. Sometimes these stamina restoring items can cause the stamina gauge to turn red, when this happens blade will have a temporary boost in strafing and backing up speed.

 

The game features four different ammo types, these are Standard, Carbon, Silver Nitrate and Explosive rounds, the latter only works with the Explosive MultiLauncher rounds. Standard rounds are only affective against human familiars, to take down a vampire the player must use the Silver Nitrate rounds. Carbon rounds are only affective against monsters, while the explosive round work on any of the enemies.

The game has a total of six weapons to choose from, the first is Blade’s trusty swords, the next is a standard pistol, this weapon takes either standard or carbon round only is useless against vampires this weapon has a normal critical hit speed. The Machine Pistol does use Silver Nitrate rounds as well as standard and Carbon round, like most sub machine guns however the chance of a critical hit with one is limisted.

The shotgun of course is excellent for getting critical hits and is the fastest of the three main weapons to do so, the shotgun also takes all three of the main ammo types so is great for dealing with all three kinds of enemies, the MultiLauncher is the only weapon that allows you to fire explosive rounds. In addition to these weapons Blade has access to standard grenades that damage all enemy types, as well as UV grenades that are excellent for taking out Vampires.

 

There are a variety of enemy types in the game, ranging from your basic enemies in Cops and Familiars, these are broken down further with cops coming in either skinny or fat variety, the same goes for familiars who are either wearing blue or green body armor.

The more dangerous enemies such as the fast moving Upier, which uses powerful melee attacks which can kill in just a couple of hits, there are three varieties of Upier, either a green shirt, blue shirt or shirtless Upier. Upon defeating enemies funds are dropped by them, these funds are used by the player at resupply points, these points allow you to resupply yourself with ammo and health items, these points appear as a spinning blue star on the ground.

There are environmental props and hazards to deal with in the game as well, things like ladders, buttons and wall switches can be interacted with the action button, doors will open automatically, when you walk Blade into them, if the door is accessible, some doors will be locked an require a key to access.

 

Certain glass in the game can be punched, shot or stabbed causing it to break, wooden boards will sometimes block your path, these can be cleared by using Blade’s sword. The classic exploding barrels make an appearance in the game, breakable pots will also be dotted around the levels, these sometimes contain useful items, one of the main hazard other than the vampies and their cronies that are trying to kill you is fire, this needs to be avoid or will cause damage to Blade.

Basic controls for the game, the D-Pad or left analogue stick is used to move Blade around the levels, if you are wanting to perform an action, such as activating an object the X button is used. When in melee combat the circle button is used to kick enemies, Blade can also jump using the triangle button and strafe using us the R1 button and either left or right on the D-Pad.

 The game also has a lock on mechanic, this is not automated the R2 button is needed for this, it will also face you in the direction of your nearest enemy, as well as allowing you to cycle through enemies. To arm yourself the square button is used, this button is also used to disarm yourself.

When you are wanting to access your inventory the L1 button is used along with the D-Pad. You can change weapons by using the L2 shoulder button plus either up or down on the D-Pad, changing of ammo is done with the L2 shoulder button as well, but with either left of right to scroll through your ammo.

While the game is based on the 1998 movie of the same title, the title being pretty much the only link between the two. The main antagonists of the film make no appearance in the game instead the game tells it’s own Blade story. With main antagonist of the first film Deacon Frost relegated to a short description that has to be unlocked.

The games story is centred around the Vampire clans of Gothic city, who are once again locked in a bitter blood feud for eternal dominance with the Pallintine clan, who are determined to resurrect the a vampire deity of unimaginable power and evil.

The house of Erebus one of the 11 ruling tribes of the Vampire nation, also known as the blue bloods or pure breeds are struggling to for control with the bloodthirsty and frustrated Pallintine on one side and the equally dangerous and calculating Drogonetti on the other

Critically Blade struggled for the most part, with the exception of the one glowing review it received which was a 91 rated review, largely however the game peaked at a decent level, with several more review scores in the above average range. The game did however have it’s fair share of poor review scores, with around eleven reviews falling to 40 or below.

Anyway on to some of the actual review, and as usual we will be starting with the best of them, which comes from games xtreme who scored the game at an impressive 91. The review admitting they like the game, with it being damn good fun with hours of entertainment, even though the review admits it can be a pain in the arse sometimes.

The review was having issues with the boss characters in the game, calling them the biggest, cheating bunch of butt-heads I’ve ever seen. The review knowing bosses are suppose to be hard, but found them to take the piss mostly however.

The review did have plenty of praise for the game, especially the layout of the levels, calling them extremely well done, with a few secrets thrown in as well, the reviewer also praised the games music as well. Controls for the review were only okay, the review finding them a little stupid at times, also an issue for the review is the changing of weapons, which pauses the game, even in you are in the middle of the fight, the reviewer found this to be slightly cheap.

Concluding the review had this to say. So, the moral of this little tale ladies and gentlemen is if like me, you have a fuse almost non-existent, make sure anyone in your household who doesn't like swearing isn't around. Because, if you're anything like me, there should be quite a bit.

For the second review of the game, we take a significant drop in review score as well head over to Germany, and the publication 4Players.de, who scored the game at a decent 72. The reviewer finding the existing fun with the game is stifled by the poor looking graphics engine.

Good control, a clever level design and fresh approaches that would have made Blade stand out from the competition and even made a success without attractive names in the title made possible, are downgraded, the review finding this a real shame as Blade could have become one of the first really good movie translations.

PSX Nation are next up with their 69 rated review, the reviewer finding in the end that Blade disappoints, with its frustratingly cheap gameplay, that offers little fun. The reviewer finding the game had the right intentions, but cannot overcome all of the miniscule problems that ruin the experience.

Playstation Illustrated rated the game at an above average 68, the reviewer commenting that Blade is not the worst game they have played, by a long shot. The reviewer continued by saying, but there are many more third person actions titles I’d rather player before this.

They continued by saying, the controls suck, the graphics are weak and the game itself is repetitive. They also found the  The voice-acting and atmosphere don't quite pull Blade out of the singing abyss that it's fallen into. Concluding the review had this to say. If you're a die-hard fan of the movie or comic book, you may want to pick it up, but the rest of us can find better things to spend our money on.

Next we head over to Germany again, this time to the publication Video Games, who scored the game at an above average 61. The review commenting on there being games that you really want to like, and Blade is one of them. The comic is awesome and also the film conversion had its charm. Both together offer more than enough options for a successful action game. 

The reviewer however found that unfortunately the implementation has been a disappointment, neither technically does Blade meet the requirement of a PS title in 2000, nor does real vampire hunter tension. They continued by saying, to make matters worse, that the battles are often due to the rather sluggish and imprecise control more by chance than by the skill of the player.

The last of the top end of review scores comes from All Game Guide, who rated the game at an above average 60. The reviewer finding that fans of the movie can still have some fun with this title, the review even arguing the plot could even make for a better videogame than the movie. They concluded by saying, as long as you are not expecting a technical masterpiece, you’ll be able to tolerate this world of the undead.

Heading to the other end of the review scale, we find the final 40 rated review, this is one of many the game received, this one comes from GamePro (US) who summed up the game with one sentence. Blade is a kick-ass hero in the comics and movies, but take away the kick and what are you left with adequately describes this game.

Da Gameboyz are next up with their 39 rated review, the reviewer finding the game just doesn’t work, the reviewer found it hard to explain their issues, but for them Blade simply doesn’t gel properly. The reviewer finding there is a sort of intangible loathing that emanates from it. They continued by saying, It may sound very weird but, if you play the game, you will understand.

Concluding the reviewer commented on the release date for the game being well after the movies release, the reviewer saying had It releases around the same time of the movie it would have probably done better, as it is the movie is old and so is the games appearance.

IGN were next up with another drop in review score this time down to a disappointing 35. The reviewer finding that there may have been potential for a game here at some point, but it disappeared some while ago. The reviewer finding the game to have many technical problems as well as a poor artistic execution. The review also found the gameplay to be devoid of original or playable ideas. Concluding the reviewer recommended you go and rent Metal Gear on more time or play through one of the Syphon Filter games, or do anything other than paying money for Blade.

VicioJuegos.com were next up with another 35 rated review, the Spanish reviewer warning fans of Blade to refrain from playing this game, finding it to be a waste of time and money. They continued by saying, the action adventure genre has kicked out much better games than this one, concluding they said. We are sorry to the legions of Blade fans out there, but you have to leave this one alone, and lets see if they have more luck with the next one.

The penultimate review comes from Gaming Age, who rated Blade at a disappointing 33, while they did praise the cinematics used in the game, saying they are done quite nicely, and do a good job of creating a prequel to the movie storyline. The reviewer however found the rest of the game to be a mess, that even hardcore action games will think twice about ridding the world of vampies.

Lastly we have Game Revolution who also rated the game at a 33, their review finding nothing to justify Blade’s development, with the reviewer finding every aspect of the game has been done before, but only better. They concluded by saying, If you are a big fan of the movie, then by all means buy it. The movie I mean. You wouldn't like this game if you were The Daywalker himself.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who will give you $2 if you are looking to trade in you’re copy of Blade. If on the other hand your are in the market for a copy of the game from Gamedude, you will be looking at an outlay of around $7.

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk we find one copy of the game available, this copy which is in mint condition and is still factory sealed, will set you back £15. Which converts to around $20.94 in the US and €16.97 in Euro zone countries.

Next we head over to eStarland.com where we also find this title listed, however the game is currently out of stock. When In stock the game has a usual price of between $7.12 and $12.95, also on offer at eStarland.com is a trade in, with eStarland offering up to $6 for a complete copy of the game.

 

Lastly we head over to Amazon.com where we find a decent number of copies of Blade on offer. The first copy listed for this game is in fact a complete copy in good condition, this copy is priced up at $10.24 once you have added in the shipping costs.

Another copy, this one in very good condition can be picked up for $11.99 again this comes complete, another good condition copy is also available for $13.94. A reasonably priced like new copy of the game can be picked up for $17.94, this copy is well priced considering the other three like new copies on the market are priced over $30.

Also available from Amazon.com are a handful of new copies of the game, with one of these copies significantly cheaper than the other three. This cheaper new copy is priced up at $43.98, the remaining three new copies start from $73.98 with prices rising to $77.98

Written by

P J Gibbon