Second Blog entry 12/03/2006 @ 22:40. There’s a Cut-scene in the alternate Magic Box , which explains that I need to go and look for an old Slayers body parts, so as to resurrect her. The level starts as Buffy and you have to protect Sid the Dummy. I spent way too much time looking for stakes and neglected him thus he dies, so I retry and the same thing happens. Try again and manage to get further, which includes breaking down a door and finding some collectables. fficeffice" /> Now the game switches over to Sid as he needs to climb through a vent to let Buffy through. Sid’s a piss poor fighter and has about 3 moves. After a bit of exploring I manage to push some canisters over to a fire which blows open the way for Buffy to come through. So I’m back as Buffy again and it’s nice to be able to kick some arse. I have to negotiate some ladders, fall through, loads of dusting and then it’s find the key card, which opens a lift. Use the lift then I’ve gotta, get out on to a ledge, which I fall off a few times trying to jump to an opposite one. I then notice that you can jump up to another ledge and use it to shimmy along to the other platform. From there I had to get through a window as I’m being attacked. A bit of scrapping and wondering and I soon find a projector, the screens covering a door so I move it and enter the room. Inside I find a body and woo a severed hand for use on a hand scanner. I then had to head back to a fire alarm so that I can get out of the emergency exit. This is followed by a lot of climbing and more dusting. I managed to find a stuck lift which with a bit of a kicking soon drops to show Sid standing there. So I’m back controlling Sid again, a bit more arse kicking (if you can call it that), then through a window and then back round to find a hammer. Woo now he’s got a weapon and he is rather nifty with it. I use said weapon to smash down various boarded up doors and find a canister in one of them, which I use to blow open a door by releasing the gas and pointing it at some canisters behind a door. Find Buffy again and it’s back to controlling her. I use the severed hand again, which opens up some stairs down to the Morgue, again I’ve got to protect Sid from beasties as he tries to find the location of Casandras eyes. Which he does and I collect them and it’s back to the Scooby gang for a Cut-scene and it’s level over. 2 extras unlocked. Save game and switch off @ 23:35   15/03/2006 @ 21:10, Watched the game-play demo whilst waiting for Sy to arrive to have a crack at the Multiplayer stuff. The demo shows all the characters in action and various levels. I then sit through a few of the interviews starting with Giles, which is really good, Tara (who’s wearing a stupid hat), which ok. Then Xander in a white vest jibbering on about his missues, he’s old but very funny. Now the Ethan interview which is a bit dull followed by the Spike’s Voice Over footage which is pointless.   Sy turns up and it’s time for some serious Multiplayering. We start with Survival in the Zoo as it’s the only level open so far. Sy’s ffice:smarttags" />Willow, I’m Spike. The aim seems to be try and kill as many beasties as possible to beat who you’re playing. Various collectable around that either improve reduce your power / energy, as well as a couple of strange ones such as control switch, points switch. Sy gets killed and the scores 5-2 to me. Retry and the result is 31-42 a lot more respectable and good for Sy considering he’s not played the game before but seems to have picked up the controls well. We have another go at it but change characters, Sy’s now Buffy and I’m Willow, I win it due to character swapping and finsihing with energy, score disappeared too quickly. Try Bunnie Catcher again only the Zoo’s open.  Sy’s Spike and I’m Xander. It’s a bit of a strange one this you have to collect colloured bunnies that run from pentagram to pentagram. Each bunny gives you a different score depending on it’s colour. The exact points I can’t remember but I’ll try to include it at a later date. Sy wins 34-23. Try Slayer Challenge Which is like Survival but the second player controls the beasties and tries to stop the main player winning but getting kills. Sy gets 8 kills but loses 5 of them due to pick ups, I kill him. Try Domination then aim seems to be to try and keep the pentagrams lit as long as you can by running over them to activate them. Sy’s a Long armed beastie (looks like Sebulba?!), I’m a guy with knives. Sy wins 174 – 22, we retry and he wins again 118-116 but only coz he got a score swapper. Switch off at 22:16 for some Tekken 5. Which wouldn’t load (straight away) coz of disc read errors so I may well add a Maintenance section to this blog.

17.3.06 11:39 Permalink / comment

My first rolling review... INFO BLAST: Developer: Eurocom Entertainment Software Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games Website: www.buffygame.com Date of Release: 2003 Price on Release: £39.99 Place of Purchase: Cash Converters Current Price: £19.99 Age Rating: 16+ Date of Purchase: 07/03/2006 Widescreen: Yes Price of Game: £4 Online: No Trailer: Multiplayer: 1-2 players (1-4 player with Mulit-tap) Disc Type: DVD-Rom Surround: Pro-logic Screen Resolution: 50Hrz only Save File Size: 40k min   Start of gaming: 08-03-2006 @ 17:48fficeffice" />   The game loads with a usual Fox Interactive intro then kicks into the TV shows familiar theme tune. I listen through it then enter the menu screen. Just your standard menu screen with options for Single and Multiplayer as well as Options and Extras. I took a quick look at the Extras menu and see that 5 are already open so I watch the TV series trailer, then exit. I enter the options menu and change nothing but the sound onto Surround, which makes the music go a little flat. Then it’s back to the Main menu to start a new game, which it saves. Then greeted by a cast photo with a loading bar at the bottom. The game starts in The Magic box with Buffy kicking some vamps arses in a movie. It then occurs to me are the actual actors from the series actually providing the voices or is it other people. I soon realise that ffice:smarttags" />Willow (not a bad impersonation) and Buffy (strikingly not Sarah Michelle-Gellar) are being voiced by other people. Maybe they’re just too famous now? The surround does seem to be working well now though.   Into the game and I start by controlling Buffy. It takes a bit of time to get a hang of the basic controls but I’m soon kicking / dusting vampire butt. Now the control switches to Willow who doesn’t kick arse in the same way but does have magic spell at her disposal. I got a bit confused as what I was supposed to be doing, then the music changes and I’m staking away quite merrily. Now the control switches to Xander and I’m completely confused coz he’s no where near as hard as the previous two but there are a Cross-bow and Axe in the room which I pick up just before I’m killed for the first time. Retry and within a couple of minutes I’m dead again mainly due to the fact that I couldn’t work out how to access things in the inventory and use them. Suddenly I suss the controls and I’m soon onto playing as Spike. Spike’s much easier to control and I’m getting to grips with the controls so before long I’ve freed Anya and Tara. A quick bit of ‘dusting’ with Buffy and  it’s level over. With 1 secret found.   Second level starts in The Graveyard, where Buffy’s got to patrol and kill beasties. A change to the previous vamps as I’m now fighting mummy zombies who’s body parts come off. I really need to learn to use the block button coz I’m getting a bit of a kicking. After finding some stakes Buffy says “Just what a girl needs, a nice shaft! No wait that didn’t come out right.” Which gets a giggle out of me. Pick up a shovel and start whacking the un-dead hard until it breaks and becomes a spike. I’m getting the hang of using combos to knock them on their backs and then staking them when they’re down. After killing everything I wander around trying all the doors and find one that opens. I get attacked by a mummy and do a quick block puzzle and collect part of sundial. I leave and find a tomb that I can climb on and smash a window and I’m in another room. A bit more collecting then it’s into the church yard. Place the two pieces on the sundial and wander around for ages trying to find the final piece as well as killing the odd bad guy. Find the final piece at the back of the church yard and the door opens. Into the church where there’s a few bits to collect whilst I’m being attacked. Now through a door and it’s down the stairs. Attacked by some spiders and killed. A quick retry and I’m soon past them after having to clear the church again.   It’s now 18:52 and hunger and toilet calls so I decide to take a break and rest my eyes, pausing the game at the point I’m at.   Un-pause at 19:10 and resume playing. I come up against a new monster , now make that two new monsters. I have to find a fuse and fix a broken box to be able to move a bridge to get to another part. It’s takes me ages but it finally clicks and I find the fuse at the opposite side of the bridge and put it in the fuse box, then switch the bridge on. I get a phone call at 19:40 for 10 minutes so I put the game on Pause again.   19:50 resume play and within a couple of minutes I’ve completed the second level, with 2 extras unlocked. So I save my game and put The Bill on the box.   09/03/2006 @ 00:00 Start level three with in a Blood letting factory playing as Xander because Willow has cleared off after Ethan to find Tara, who’s being held hostage by him. As Xander you have to first stop the blood machine, then collect some stakes and kick the vamps in that appear. Then free another hostage who for some reason just stands still when freed silly bint. A bit more running around freeing hostages, I manage to pick up a cross-bow which I need to shoot at the power supply to switch off and electric fence before I can climb onto and over it. Managed it and I’m off freeing more hostages. I then manage to kill one of them who’s trapped in a cage by dropping her next to a vampire, d’oh. Retry and get through it without much trouble, manage to find a super-soaker weapon?!   Pause game for Don’t watch that, watch this  BBC2 at 00:20-00:50. Un-pause, I’m now controlling Willow which (no pun intended) is rather easy until I hit an annoying jumping puzzle. Get killed by a load of spiders. Got pasted them on second attempt, freed Tara only to be killed by Ethan. Easily done with a retry and level complete, with 2 extras unlocked.   A cut scene back at The Magic Box, had to run around dusting vamps and looking for Giles who seems to have done one. After much wandering around dusting I manage to find him outside in the cellar trapped by Gargoyles. He sends me off to find his magic spell book, which I’d seen earlier, then back to him. Another collection mission this time for some kind hand thing?! Which I need to find the venom to make stakes with. Job done and it’s back to Giles, who send me off to kill the beasties. One of them manages to do me in but with a retry I’m soon passed it. I now have to protect and escort hop-a-long Giles as he makes his way out of the cellar. Cut-scene Faith shows up with Ethan and explains what they’re doing there then it’s level over, 2 extras unlocked.   Giles laid in hospital bed, the rest of the gang threatening to kick Ethan’s arse. He explains that it’s all about The First and that he’s in his own dimension and the Dagger of Hope is need to do him. Ethan teleports everyone to that dimension, Buffy has to go looking for them around a slightly alternate version of Sunnydale.  Pick up some stakes and it’s on with the dusting. Enter the cinema and observe that there are movie posters all over the walls (Alien, Planet of the Apes, The Fly, Fight Club and Titan A.E.), find a room with a fuse and some ammo. Found Willow in a locked room and she explains that I need to get round to her to get the key-card. Picking up a ticket stub I head back down and through the turn-style by using it. I then find a broken pump leading into the sewers and find the entrance to the sewers go down, find a spark plug, return it to the pump and head back down. Through a door and back up to where Willow throws me the key-card. Pick up a pitch-fork and smash the lock off the gate. Back to free Willow, taking out vamps on the way. Find her and send her back to The Magic Box with some potion. Back out on to the street and I find a shutter that requires the fuse I got, so it’s in a bit of dusting, flick a switch and it’s over to Xander. Potion again, to send him back and it’s back out again. Then getting bitten by a vamp on the way out. Retry from where Xander was. Spot a button on the back of a lorry, push it and it opens so it’s in and through the door. More scrapping and I’m into the bar where I find Spike and potion him up, a bit of collecting and then I’m out of there to find Faith. I have to break in somewhere with a bit of pulling and climbing, more dusting then I’m stuck I can’t work out what to do so I decide that it’s a good point to quit. I return to Extras to have a gander. Cast Hightlight is very short; Cast Photo Gallery exceptionally posey but high res images; Joss Whedon Interview a good length and quite interesting; James Masters Interview I’d forgotten he was American, then disaster strikes as the footage gets stuck and even ejecting the game doesn’t fix it. So it’s switch it off and go to bed at 04:11   09/03/06 at 22:57 I can’t have saved coz I’ve started back on level 4 again bugger. Done by 23:13 with 3 secrets unlocked, which is a bonus. So I’m back playing as Buffy and going back through level 5. This time it takes less time to get back to the point I got stuck at last night. It’s now 23:52 and I’m totally frustrating me until by mistake I press the lift down button again and I’m in the cellar which is where I needed to be. More dusting and I pick up a flashlight. Back up to the dark room and find the combination for the vault in the basement. So it’s back down again and free Faith. Then it’s quick jog back to The Magic Box and a cut scene with Sid the Dummy and it’s level over. 2 extras unlock and switch off at 00:28   To be continued…

10.3.06 13:19 Permalink / 4 Comments / comment

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