Presented in Retrovision: Bloodnet
One thing I rarely talk about is Computer RPGs. It is not that I am against them, but, simply put, the ones I enjoy are few and far between. I was introduced to the world of computer RPGs with games like Ultima, where players are subjected to tedious level griding, open-ended game play and little in specific story to follow from the beginning. Fortunately, not all games of this category are bad, and one in particular shines in my memory. This game is BloodNet by MicroProse.
When I was 12, my family and I moved deep into rural Missouri. This was not all bad, because we at least had the family computer, our Super Nintendo and a pile of games. Because of this, my cultural suffocation was at least tolerable. My family and I had this deal, we would get an allotted amount of money based on the letter grades of our report cards, whereby higher grades achieved a larger dollar figure. This bargain was a failed attempt by my parents to get my brother to, "Straighten up and fly right." Being a young opportunist, I made it abundantly clear that I should be included.
After a report card netted me a hefty sum of cash, the family took a trip to the local mall. My brother had, at this point, started going into his goth phase, following the release of the movie The Crow. Additionally, he began getting into role playing games, White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade in particular. After arriving at the local Babbage's, I picked up some random PC title, which, at the time, was a must have. My brother, with his slightly less substantial quantity of funds, picked up the then marked down game BloodNet.
BloodNet was booted the second we walked through the door, much to my dismay. My brother, with his demeanor and larger stature, made sure that I would not be playing my game for quite some time. He casually installed the game from the small pile of 1.4mB 3.5" floppy disks, our 12mhz Wang 386 happily cranking away as the text percentage bar slowly moved from left to right.
My brother started his game while I sat on the sidelines fuming. Much like a b-horror film, BloodNet opens with a spinning MicroProse logo that bleeds away to a large, red, digitized bat flying over a the game title. The intro introduces Ransom Stark, our protagonist, getting propositioned by a cloaked woman.
He is offered an unspecified job and his skills make quick work of it. Ransom is not one to work for free, and he quickly sets off to collect his wage of $50,000. To do so, he climbs to the cloaked woman's penthouse estate and is subsequently seduced. Suddenly, a man by the name of Abraham Van Helsing walks in and reveals his plans for Ransom: To turn him into a vampire, to use his friend Deirdre Tackett and her enigmatic "incubus" project for his own agenda and, of course, world domination. As extreme as this sounds, he gets off to a good start by biting your neck. Ransom's descent into vampirism is stopped short with the aid of an implant at the base of his skull by Deirdre. This implant restores Ransom's deteriorating brain, which is inflicted with, what the game describes as, Hopkins-Brie Ontology Syndrome.
I'm not much of a fan of the whole vampire thing. Honestly, I could take it or leave it really. The cyberpunk elements, however, are more appealing. The game takes place in the dark, futuristic New York City of 2097. The environments primarily consist of prerendered 3d backgrounds, which, for 1993, were the cream of the crop. Ransom's quest mostly consists of randomly walking throughout various rooms, talking to people, and, every so often, battling them in a turn-based fashion. Battles are free form. Players navigate the rooms much like the conversation mode, and each team (enemy and friendly) takes turns exchanging gunfire. The game also takes an early '90s interpretation of cyberspace, whereby cyberspace is a bleak, purple nexus with random geometric objects floating around. Players then can select destination WELLs, the game's designation for any location in the virtual space.
The learning curve is immense. Immediately after the introduction, players are met with no less than 20 player stats with little description of what they do. The interface is tedious, and it takes a good amount of time just to figure out how to pick items up and where they go after they are in your inventory. Additionally, the game is extremely open-ended. When you finally gain control of your character, you have almost no idea of where you are suppose to go. Interestingly, the game is not driven by flagged plot points, but instead through probing people for information. Once you learn about a location, you can go there freely at any time. The game events are primarily timing based. Much of the game consists of being at the right place at a reasonably right time. There are also personal vendettas. Members of your party can start fights with other people on the screen, which changes the game dynamic based on who you hire and who you allow to join you.
These difficulties aside, the game is extremely fun and highly dynamic. Even if you're not into the whole, "Goth vampire scene," the dark, cyberpunk story and solid RPG elements more than make up for it. BloodNet is a nice distraction if you ever feel like playing an old computer RPG.
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 10 January 2008
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: Bloodnet, Cyberpunk, Goth, Microprose, Open Environment, Presented in Retrovision, RPG
That looks like David Bowie to me.
The Ultima series is widely regarded critically as a masterpiece of the genre, just FYI. Bloodnet was... not.
BloodNet was awesome! Although on the face of it you'd think the Vampire bits would make this game too cheesy to stomach, the cyberpunk not-so-distant future was really elaborate and well done.
Unlike a lot of other cyberpunk games they worked hard at creating original content instead of rehashing rehashes of recycled William Gibson material. To this day it remains my favorite cyberpunk game.