No Boredom for Me!!

Blood was one of the first FPS games i owned, before i found my 'niche' so to speak in 3rd person adventure games. I don't really like the way FPS's have gone recently, except for FarCry but there's a reason i can't discuss that :)

This game uses the Duke Nukem Build engine for its graphics and rendering, and follows the standard 'W,A,S,D and mouse' controls (not mandatory, but highly recommended and functional in this way), and was released in 1997 by Monolith.

In keeping with my horror theme mentioned earlier, this was the first FPS to actually approach the true 'classic' horro theme, with hanuted houses and scary ghosties and long-leggetty beasties all over the shop, and a suitable macabre storyline to plot.
Basically your character, Caleb, have been decived by a demon (and the help of its handmaidnes) into following his cult, then slain with the rest of the cult for some unkown reason. 100 years on and Caleb rises from his grave and wants revenge. With your help, he will get it. At least i count it as revenge; this is one of the most nasty games of its time and adds a much more unusual feel to a very popular genre.


(ABOVE) Caleb is one of the most sinister looking 'heroes' of his time.

Instead of your standard 'pistol, shotgun, machine gun then laser' upgrade routine, Blood employs somewhat more realistic tools of the trade. Instead of grenades we have dynamite, instead of a flame thrower we have a simple aerosol can and a Zippo! There is a standard pistol (that can be angled to the side for that 'gangsta' feel) and probably the most creative, the Voodoo Doll. Yes, stab it in front of an enemy and they will know about it.

This gives the game a much more rustic feel, as you can relate better to the weapons involved because chances are you have actually seen them, as opposed to looking at them and thinking 'thats big, what does it do?'. Also there are different fire modes that can dispose of enemies quicker, but at greater cost to ammunition or accuracy meaning that marksmanship tactics are encouraged, as well as overpowering and positioning your character.

(ABOVE) Enemies ignite and run around screaming 'It burns!! It burns!!'

The plot thickens pleasnatly throughout, and the levels are organised well and have all the characteristics of your gothic horror movie, dangling lights and looming stiarcases, freaky fair-ground and spooky castles. Couple that with the extreme gore and the agressive frenzied enemy attacks (and they DO get you eventually) makes for a solid and rather disturbing FPS experience.

There is little improvement available for this title, I feel it took advantage of the gaming world rather well, in terms of innovation, technological capabilities and creativity. A sequel, Blood 2, was released in later 1998 in full 3D. I have yet to play this other than a brief demo and would be interested to see how they have improved on this title. However, 8 years later and no sign of a sequel, i doubt it was anything significant.