Buffy The Vampire Slayer Chaos Bleeds PS2

Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes her PlayStation 2 debut in a game written by comic book authors and novelists Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski. Played from a third-person perspective, the title emphasizes hand-to-hand combat against a variety of vampires and demonic entities. Being the resourceful lass that she is, Buffy can stake her foes using whatever means are at her disposal, from chairs found at the Magic Box to shovels at the local graveyard. The storyline takes place around the time period of the fifth season, which means Spike is now an unofficial member of the Scoobie Gang and Willow is well on her way to becoming a full-fledged witch.

Things take a turn for the worse when Sunnydale undergoes a temporal shift, thanks to the dabbling of one mischievous Ethan Rayne, causing an instability between time and space. Ethan has awoken the primordial evil known as The First, and now Buffy and the gang must find a way to prevent the world from plunging into chaos. Not only will players fend off werewolves, vampires, and zombies while trying to prevent the next apocalypse, but also villains like Adam and Kakistos. Players will battle through such familiar locales as The Magic Box, Initiative Base, Sunnydale Hospital, and downtown Sunnydale through 12 levels of action.

Players will experience levels as Buffy, Willow, Xander, Faith, Spike, and even Sid the Dummy, a character first introduced during the television show's first season. Each character possesses distinct abilities and attributes, such as Willow's power to cast spells, as the gang begins the daunting task of cleaning up Sunnydale's tainted streets. Rather than choosing different characters at the beginning of each stage, players will have to follow each level's storyline using whichever character the game requires of them at any given time.

Chaos Bleeds also includes support for up to four players. Multiplayer game types include Survival, Bunny Catcher, Slayer Challenge, and Domination. Survival is a deathmatch variant, with various pick-ups available that can help or hinder characters. Bunny Catcher is a race to collect as many bunnies as possible, with different colored rabbits worth a varying amount of points. Slayer Challenge has a character summoning vampires and then trying to dust them, with the other players controlling the enemies. Domination, however, has characters vying for control over magical pentagrams.