Perhaps the real name of this game should be Dark Angel: No, not the TV show, because thats what I always found myself saying after telling people what I was currently reviewing. Though the two are totally separate entities, the one thing that they have in common is a shapely protagonist, but thats where the similarities end. Unlike the show, which is a boring hour, Vampire Apocalypse manages to provide a couple hundred hours of boring, repetitive, non-story driven gameplay. While theres no way in the world that Id be willing to commit the time required to beat this game, it can be a pleasant diversion, albeit for a tiny portion of the 200 hours it would take to beat it properly.

Conventional wisdom states that if you are going to make a game that is going to require such an insane amount of time to beat, that youre going to put some sort of plot behind it. In this case, that line of thinking would be dead wrong, because this game has very little going for its story line. Impatient gamers who bypass the instruction manual and head straight into the thick of things, will have difficulty discerning any semblance of a plot altoghether. You control Anna, a Champion, who protects against the forces of evil (Thats word for word what the manual says - sounds riveting!). Your job is to weaken the evil armies in Gothos, teach the townspeople to defend themselves, and defeat the vile Shadow Lord, all in one years time. This involves going from town to town and interacting with the town folk, who will sell you items, and ask you to go on quests for them, and then going out and killing more people than a holy war.

After heading off on a quest, you go to one of three dungeons or an above-ground area like the Ancient Forests or the Frozen Wastes, all of which are randomly generated. Once inside, the killing begins and it doesnt stop. Ever. Monsters with heinous, intimidating names like: Vampires, Fiends, Ghouls, Ghosts, Hunters, Crawlers, and several more attack in waves, trying to kill and dismember you. Each above-ground area or dungeon does not contain all of these creatures, rather they are populated by tribes such as The Undead, The forgotten, and The Mutants. Hordes of monsters fill each room, and attack you from near and far, but the attack styles vary little between species of creatures. After killing enemies theyll sometimes leave new weapons, gold, or other items. These items can then either be used, or sold to the townspeople who will make use of the items to help defend themselves.

There are some RPG elements that try to add some depth to the game, but they are poorly executed, and do little to help the cause. Like any standard RPG adventure, killing monsters will raise your level, there are different weapons to gather, and all sorts of magical and spiritual items are available that are effective against different types of monsters. The variety of weapons available is nice, but other than their effectiveness against certain creatures, there isnt much difference to how they feel or how they handle. Its not difficult to obtain stronger weapons or armor, and theres very little to do in the way of item management due to the enormous load you can carry. If the RPG aspect of the game was deeper or more developed, it would have gone a long way towards improving the game, but instead we are left with a glimpse of what could have been.

Dark Angel falls squarely in the middle of the road when it comes to its graphics. It has some very nice particle effects, but it doesnt have any other graphical attributes that stand out. The game is viewed entirely from an isometric perspective, which lends itself well to the style of game, but having a stationary camera for the whole game contributes to its repetitiveness. The game moves quite fluidly, and maintains a steady framerate regardless of how many enemies find themselves on screen at the same time. Of course, fluidity isnt too difficult to achieve when the environments are completely devoid of any creativity and artistic flair. Other than slightly different textures and colors, each level looks just as bland as the next.

There are a fair amount of enemies which you will be required to kill, but the sheer number of times that you fight each one makes it seem like there arent many different kinds at all. The characters all look decent, and they are all smoothly animated. The particle effects I mentioned earlier are smoke effects from shooting a gun, and sparks that fly from bad guys that shoot electricity. The electricity also shows off some nice lighting, something that Metro3D seemed to pull off quite easily. I say this because your character is illuminated throughout the whole game by a light that follows her at all times. This was a nice touch because it kept the bulk of Annas surroundings dark, but it made it easy to see what was going on up close in all of the battles.

Dark Angel features some bizarre music, and while it is bizarre, it fits pretty well with the game. Heavy Metal, and other rock music with heavy drumbeats, are just some of the styles that youll hear in your many hours of gameplay. The music also takes a while to begin on some levels, and after a few minutes of playing it drops out, only to return in a few seconds. I wouldnt expect the music to loop forever, but the time it takes to reload (30-60 seconds) is excessive.Unfortunately there just isnt enough variety of music to keep things from getting repetitive after a few hours. The sound effects are standard fare; weapons clank, vanquished foes scream, and guns fire loudly. Other than that, theres not much to listen to, so youll probably be looking for your Discman to give you musical inspiration to keep going.

Just because it take a long time to beat a game, doesnt mean that it offers lots of gameplay value, and Dark Angel is a prime example. I had fun hacking and slashing at the undead and mutated for about an hour, but once I realized that the game was so simple, I quickly grew tired of it. Go to a town, go to a dungeon, kill zombies, complete objective, go to town, sell things, buy things, go to a dungeon, kill zombiesits mindless. This isnt the worst game that Ive played on the system (that honor goes to Primal Image) but its down at the bottom of the heap. Please, Metro3D, finish the game next time or dont even bother releasing it. That said, there are people that will enjoy this game more than I did. Maybe theyll get into it for 5 hours, 10, or even 15, but there will be some people that dig this sort of thing. If you are into Diablo or Gauntlet, you might find this to be an intriguing rental, otherwise avoid it like you did girls when you were in 3rd grade.

Lastly, since when was the PlayStation praised for having consistency in "plot and animations [sic]?" Obviously, you haven't played "Klonoa 2," "Dark Cloud," and the unflattering "Zone of Enders."

In researching this game, I came across Metro3Ds message boards which I found rather interesting. While browsing the boards, which Metro is good enough not to censor, I found many, many people that were not happy with the game. Theres a major bug in the game that can make it impossible to beat a dungeon, (but you can still beat the game) and the general consensus there is that the game was unfinished and rushed out the door. While Metro3D seems to acknowledge many of the games flaws, they are quick to point the finger at other games that have had bugs (Final Fantasy VIII is one game used as an example), or they feel were just as devoid of plot as this game is. The idea that Klonoa2 or Dark Cloud are as lacking in plot as this game are quite laughable. Sure they might not have had great plots, but they actually had opening cinemas, and they tried to advance the plot as the game went along. Much to my amazement, there were a number of people that have beaten the game, or were on the last boss. The fact that there really are people that enjoy this game, and have put in the insane amount of hours that are required to beat it helped me focus on the games few bright spots, and helped me see it in a slightly more positive light, believe it or not.