Platform: DOS
Genre
- Blood is a FPS (First Person Shooter) game which embraces the theme of horror to create a delightfully twisted and strangely amusing playing experience, with detailed graphics, destructive weapons, fun level design and a whole slew of enemies that create a believable, dark and gritty world for you to traverse. Much like other games in this genre your character is only represented by the weapon in the lowered centre of the screen, hence why it's called First Person, as you witness the events of the game through the eyes of the main character. When compared to other games of the genre, most likely to games such as Doom or Wolfenstein, it has it's own similarities and differences. Similarities start with the engine and the style of play, which is to be expected considering they're in the same genre, but the differences start with everything else, ranging from textures, music, sound effects, weapons, power ups, levels, hazards, enemies, bosses, the main character, the side characters and storyline, to cover the basics. Despite this Blood was relatively unknown and wasn't as successful as the other, more popular games people associated with the genre, but that doesn't make it a bad game. In my opinion it's incredibly fun to play, and it's actually a favourite of mine. The game at least got a sequel, Blood II: The Chosen, which retained the FPS style and updated to a more advanced, 3D engine.
Narrative
- Our main anti-hero, Caleb, was born in Texas of 1847 and was already a merciless gunfighter by the age of seventeen. Seven years onward he happened upon a young woman by the name of Ophelia Price, barely clinging to the edges of sanity in a burned down house as Caleb soon learns her deceased husband attempted to rescind his membership of the cult of Tchernobog. In retaliation the members of this dreaded cult set the house alight and burned all those inside to death, including both her husband and her young son. Ophelia was Caleb's doorway into this twisted cult and the two of them soon enough became elite servants of Tchernobog in what is known as the Chosen, but the two of them also became lovers. In the Hall of Epiphany is where the Chosen are gathered, and it is here that the ties that bind them to their Dark God begin to fade, as all four of them are dragged away into the darkness, their cold, abandoned souls falling through the abyss. An unknown amount of time must have passed by the time Caleb awakens in a grave as a corpse that refused to rot, shattering the stone that imprisons him in the earth below as he vows to find the reason behind this betrayal. The game starts off the moment Caleb is resurrected and the gameplay is driven by this story as you progress through the levels in the revelation that you have to reach the Hall of Epiphany and bring down the Dark God in order to sate Caleb's appetite for vengeance. You also have to attempt to rescue (or at least find) the other three members of the Chosen, Ophelia, Gabriel and Ishmael. Given our anti-heroes backstory it makes the player harbour no guilt whatsoever in brutally murdering everything in your path, and those who want a good, action packed FPS game are going to get it with this beast of a game.
Production Process
- Blood was developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive. Development first went underway at Q Studios, an independent developer who received funding from 3D Realms. Since Duke Nukem 3D was such a big hit the development process of the game was made public and they included weekly updates on their website of how the game was coming along. It was originally meant to be released in early 1997, but Q Studios was acquired by Monolith in 1996. It turns out all of their rights had been sold to Monolith and 3D realms ceased funding to go off and put all their focus into creating Shadow Warrior, another game in the same genre which was going to be released the same year. Blood actually utilises an enchanced version of the Build engine. The world is made on a 2D grid using 2D shapes called sectors and flat objects called sprites which make up the world geometry. This engine also allows the use of voxels, which is a single value within a 3D space, which allowed for certain decorations and power ups, most notably the tombstones in the first level of the game. Two expansion packs were eventually released, one called Plasma Pack, made by Monolith themselves, and Cryptic Passage, developed by Sunstorm Interactive. Since many people became concerned over the amount of blood, gore and grotesque situations within the game, the game eventually had a release of a censored version.
Characterisation
- Caleb might honestly be one of my favourite protagonists, his personality fits this game so well and I honestly don't think shooting down hordes of the undead would have been as much fun as it was without him. He sports a dark black trench coat and a western hat of the same colour, contrasted only by his glowing red eyes. He's maniacal, sadistic and otherwise finds total pleasure in mowing down as many enemies as he can. More often than not our hero will make certain remarks depending on what you do in the game, which range from obvious to sarcastic or downright witty at times, and more often than not these quotes are taken from other movies, mostly horror films, that were out by the time the game came into existence. Caleb also tends to sing lyrics from random songs if you leave him idle for too long, and is quite colourful in his language during certain situations. Most people wouldn't call a giant man eating spider a she-bitch but, that's Caleb for you. If you ever get your hands on this game, give it a try and see how many quotes you can pick out and recognise. Trust me, there's an awful lot of references in there, and Caleb isn't shy of letting you know about it. He's relevant enough to the target audience because he's exactly what they want, a dark, ruthless character that will shoot anything that moves. It's appealing, too, because he does so in the most satisfying way possible and his character is just enjoyable all around. It's extremely fitting to have this sort of character in a game like this because it blends in so well with the atmosphere it just adds to the immersion. You could believe someone like him would be daring enough to go out and take down an entire cult and a God by himself, he's cocky enough to fit the bill. He's also pretty strong character wise, with a solid backstory and his motives for revenge are pretty reasonable, too. It's also rather good to see he's not always such an arrogant and wise cracking protagonist, as, when you finally find Ophelia, crucified on a stone altar, Caleb seems so distraught and enraged at the same time you actually feel sort of bad for him. The side characters, with the exception of Ophelia, don't really have all that much behind them. Even Tchernobog, but you can narrow that down to the fact that he's a God, he's meant to be secretive like that.
Gameplay
- Kill anything that moves. Short and sweet. It's such a simple concept but for some reason it's incredibly fun to play and is a prime example of how FPS were back then and how well they still hold up today (at least in my opinion). The original game has you proceed through four episodes which all continue on from one another and all of them gradually increase in difficulty so it's not exactly recommended that you dive straight into the last episode, for the gameplay and storyline's sake. The challenge is definitely present during gameplay and you have to be engaged otherwise this game will beat you left right and centre, but luckily it's simple and fun enough to get engrossed in if you're into this sort of stuff. This intuitive design of what makes old FPS games so great really does add to the game's success. The further you go into the game the more weapons you get to test out and new enemy types are sure to appear, too, which is one of the many ways the game manages to get your attention and keep it. The narrative drives the gameplay, and that goes as followed: Episode 1 is entitled The Way of All Flesh, in which you must locate Ophelia and take down Cheogh, a stone gargoyle who so happens to have an envious attitude towards Caleb for his higher status within the cult. Episode 2 is called Even Death May Die, which takes place in the frozen north as our hero hunts down Shial, the mother of all spiders, whilst trying to find Gabriel at the same time. Episode 3, Farewell to Arms, is set in a desolated and bombed city as Caleb attempts to hunt down Cerberus and recover Ishmael from his clutches. Episode 4, the final set of levels in the game, has the protagonist finally reach the Hall of Epiphany and eventually to Tchernobog himself. Turns out the Chosen were cast down because the Dark God knew Caleb would gain such power to come back and face him again, and Tchernobog wanted that for himself. The game also features five difficulty settings: Still Kicking, Pink On The Inside, Lightly Broiled, Well Done and Extra Crispy. Keys are necessary to get past certain points in the game. There are six in total and all have their own symbols, which are flames, a skull, a spider, an eye, a moon and a dagger respectively. Weapons wise you have a huge arsenal at your disposal, including Double-barrel Shotguns, Voodoo dolls and Tesla cannons. You can also find power ups such as various armours and health boosts throughout the game, such as Life Seed adding one hundred extra hit points to your health, or Reflective Shots, which does what it says on the tin. Extra items that can aid you in certain situations are often hidden throughout the levels, like Jumping Boots for higher elevation or Guns Akimbo, which gives you two of any weapon you currently have. Look me in the eyes and tell me that dual wielding napalm launchers isn't awesome. I dare you.
Target Audience
- The game definitely seems male orientated. Guns, blood and gore are often associated with boys by presumption and being that the main character is a boy it's also slightly relatable on that regard. I'm pretty sure that was the target audience back in the day, but it wasn't that specifically with the other apparent variables thrown into the mix. Horror fans off all kinds were probably more than happy to see the countless references and easter eggs hidden throughout the game. You can find a tombstone with the epitaph of "Draven" engraved onto it, which is a reference to The Crow. The "Miskatonic Station" is a reference to H.P Lovecraft, too. They really don't wait to throw you into these easter eggs, knowing Episode 2 starts off straight away with Caleb saying "you're going to need a bigger boat" as you stand on a little ship going over the frozen ocean. The entire level called "Overlooked Hotel" is a reference to the Shining, where you can find the frost-bitten corpse of Jack Torrance in the garden maze. One level named "The Haunting" is a reference to exactly that. There's also a silhouette of a person in the window at the end of one of the levels, which is a reference to Norman Bate's mother in Psycho. In the third episode you can find a baby carriage that contains a single clawed hand hanging over the edge, which is a reference to It's Alive! and it's box art. You can also find a room in one of the bombed buildings which has a ton of pine tree air fresheners hanging down from the ceiling with the word "SLOTH" written in blood over the bed, which is a reference to the film Seven in which a killer murders his victims in relation to the deadly sins. In the fourth episode you can find Freddy Krueger's hat and sweater on the wall in the level "Charnel House" and you can also find Jason's mask and machete along with his mothers disembodied head on a nearby desk in a cabin in the level "Crystal Lake". There's also a secret level called "Mall of the Dead" in which you can kill countless zombies and beasts to looping, overly happy elevator music and is a reference to Dawn of the Dead where the survivors take refuge in a shopping mall. It's also intended for FPS shooter fans, too, with only one major easter egg catering towards them that I know of. I mean, in what other game could you hear the protagonist drawl out the words "Ooh, shake it, baby" as he swings the dangling, mutilated corpse of Duke Nukem from side to side on a rusty old chain?
Platform
- This game was only ever released on the computer and as such the controls are as followed: the arrow keys are used for movement whilst the spacebar is used for opening doors and using items. Shift can be held for running and pressing Caps Lock can either enable or disable auto run. Alt strafes, where the , key is used to strafe left and the . key is used to strafe right. Ctrl fires your current weapons primary fire and X fires your current weapons secondary fire. A is used for jumping and Z is used for crouching. PgUp and PgDn look up and down respectively. Home also aims up and End aims down. Backspace is used to turn around and both square brackets ([ and ]) are used to cycle through inventory items. Enter is used the selected inventory item and B is to use Beast Vision as a shortcut if you have it. The same applies for the Crystal Ball with C. J is used for Jump Boots, M is used for the Doctor's Bag, P is used for the Proximity Bomb and R is used for the Remote Detonator. Tab toggles AutoMap and F toggles map follow mode. You can also configure these keys in game if you want to alter your controls at any time.
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