BloodRayne Xbox Retro Game Review

Platform	Xbox
Release Date	3/18/2003
Developer	Terminal Reality
Publisher	Majesco

Bloodrayne is an interesting series to tackle. That is because it exists in half-game form, and half-film form. There are three decent games, Bloodrayne 1, 2 and Betrayal. Then there are three films made by Uwe Boll, and they are universally awful. I will not be talking about them, nor linking to them. Their filth will not sully this site. Anyways, here we will tackle the first game, the second will come in a later review. Also note while the title and table says Xbox, I actually played it mostly this go around with the Revamped version for Switch, which is the same game with a better color palette.

You play Rayne, a half-vampire who is hunting her vampire father, and is recruited by the mysterious Brimstone Society. You start off in Louisiana fighting mutated rednecks. Then you move to a bunker in Argentina, where you fight Nazis. Finally, you go to a castle in Germany, where you fight more Nazis and ride in Nazi Mechs. I’m not spoiling much as most of this is in the revamped marketing blurb. I am spoiling the mechs, but that should give you more reason to play through the game. That section is awesome.

Honestly, the most I can say about BloodRayne is, it is fun. It was fun then, and fun now. The fighting is fast and furious, and works well. You have guns and your swords, both are effective. You even have bullet time here, which makes more sense here than it did in Max Payne.

My only complaint is the Louisiana section is awful. You are platforming above water, which hurts you, more than half the time. When you get to Argentina and Germany, there is a whole lot less water to worry about, and more fun firefights.

Bloodrayne’s sex appeal

And now for the elephant in the room: Bloodrayne could not get green lighted today, at least not in her original outfit. You could even seen this in her Betrayal design, which covers more up. Rayne’s original design is what some will call sexist. I call it, using sex to sell the game.

Women at the time were not lining up for gory action games, and for the most part don’t now. Not that there aren’t women who play these games, but its mostly men, let’s be honest. Having a sexy, eye-catching heroine helped sell the game. And, her design is now iconic, with tons of Bloodrayne cosplay out there. I frankly think, if she was generic looking, nobody would remember her.

Revisiting The Game

But Bloodrayne would have been nowhere if the first game wasn’t good. It’s not spectacular, but a very solid game, provided you can stand the first area. So should you go back for the original version, or the Revamped version? I’d say it is up to you, they are virtually the same with Revamped having some graphical upgrades. The game was not broken to begin with, so they really didn’t need to fix it. I would’ve liked less water in Louisiana, but I’ll deal.

Stay tuned for the my review of the second game, which will come soon.