BloodRayne (video game)
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- For the film of the same name, see BloodRayne (film).
| BloodRayne | |
|---|---|
| BloodRayne box art | |
| Developer(s) | Terminal Reality |
| Publisher(s) | Majesco |
| Engine | Infernal Engine |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, Mac |
| Release | 2002 (BloodRayne) 2004 (BloodRayne 2) |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
BloodRayne, developed by Terminal Reality, is a franchise of two horror-themed third-person action video games (with at least a third on the way), a movie and a series of self-contained comic books. The mainstream appeal of its unique blend of action, horror and sex has allowed it to transcend the video game genre and enter other forms of media, like several other video game franchises such as Resident Evil and Tomb Raider.
Influences
BloodRayne appears to be heavily inspired by Nocturne, an earlier third-person survival horror game by Terminal Reality. The character of BloodRayne is similar to a character in Nocturne called Svetlana, another half-vampire supernatural hunter. In early beta screenshots of BloodRayne, BloodRayne's appearance and costume was almost identical to that of Svetlana's. Additionally, some enemies in BloodRayne (such as the Daemites and bat vampires) originally appeared in Nocturne. The final act of BloodRayne also takes place in the same location (Castle Gaustadt) as the first act of Nocturne. Finally, the concept of the Brimstone Society is very similar to the Spookhouse in Nocturne; and the voice of the Brimstone Society agent from the BloodRayne introduction movie is done by Lynn Mathis who also did the voice of Stranger, the protagonist of Nocturne. Originally BloodRayne was intended to be a sequel to Nocturne, but the producers thought it would sell better under its own name.[citation needed]
Both Bloodrayne and Svetlana may have been inspired by the character of Durham Red from the comic book 2000 AD (comic). In the comic, Durham Red is a vampire mutant with red hair and a tendency to wear skin-tight black leather outfits.
Story
The BloodRayne franchise has a storyline that runs from World War II (BloodRayne) to the 2000s (BloodRayne 2). There is also a movie about BloodRayne, but this movie is not part of the BloodRayne timeline, and cannot be considered a part of the series.
Video games
BloodRayne
BloodRayne, developed by Terminal Reality, is a horror-themed third-person action video game released on 15 October 2002 for Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC. A Mac port was done by Aspyr and released on 6 May 2003, but was plagued with technical problems not seen in other versions, which caused fans to be upset and reviews to be harsh. While the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions were completely uncensored, the versions for PC and Xbox had all Third Reich symbolism (especially swastikas) removed.
It is set in 1935, just before World War II. As an agent of the Brimstone Society, Rayne is sent to a variety of locations (a small swamp town in Louisiana, a Nazi fortress in Argentina, and an ancient castle in Germany) to battle supernatural creatures as well as the Nazi army.
BloodRayne 2
BloodRayne 2, developed by Terminal Reality, is a horror-themed third-person action video game released on 12 October 2004 for Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC.
It does not follow on directly from where BloodRayne finished; instead, it takes place sixty years later, in a contemporary 2000s setting.
Rayne's father, Kagan, a vampire and influential Nazi collaborator, was killed in an accident near the end of World War II. Denied the pleasure of killing him herself, Rayne spent the sixty years after the War seeking out and destroying Kagan's other offspring. These offspring - Rayne's half-siblings - have banded together to form a group called the Cult of Kagan. The Cult has created "The Shroud", a substance that can render sun rays harmless to vampires, allowing them to surface at all times of the day, and twists nature into a nightmarish perversion. Using "The Shroud", the Cult has pledged to create a new era of vampire supremacy, continuing Kagan's legacy.
BloodRayne PSP (working title)
Majesco has announced that one of their upcoming games is a BloodRayne game for the PSP. Almost nothing is known about it yet, except that it supposedly takes place immediately after BloodRayne 2, and will feature a two-player co-operative mode, making it the first game in the series to do so. The game will supposedly cover Rayne's unknown history, and return some old characters (the dead ones, i.e. Mynce, Kagan, etc.) and developed new characters as well.
However, the game has been cancelled due to financial difficulties.
Movies
BloodRayne the Movie (2006)
On 10 August, 2004, a BloodRayne movie was announced. Terminator 3 star Kristanna Loken signed on to play Rayne and Majesco confirmed to GameSpot on August 10th that Ben Kingsley had signed on to play Kagan. The plot for the movie as reported by GameSpot is: "Set over two centuries before events in the game, the film will follow BloodRayne's quest to stop Kagan's nefarious schemes to slaughter mankind."
The film is directed by Uwe Boll, who is responsible for two other video-game to movie adaptations House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark which were ill-received by critics. Like its predecessors the film received poor reviews upon its January 6, 2006 release date. The film also was declared a "debacle" according to Variety magazine: "The film's production company (Romar) had said that the film would be shown on 1,900 screens, however Romar failed to book that many screenings and instead ended up shipping several hundred prints to cinemas that had not asked for them, and thus refused to show them, as a result BloodRayne was initially released on only 985 screens."
This film is currently ranking at #42 on IMDb's bottom 100.
Comics
There is a series of self-contained BloodRayne comics set to be published by Echo 3 Worldwide. The first comic was released at the end of 2004.
Characters from BloodRayne
Rayne (Rayne Kagan?)
Rayne (sometimes, though quite rarely, referred to as "BloodRayne") is the protagonist of the franchise. She is a fictional, yet a classic pale beauty-blood red hair and piercing eyes- bloodthirsty American dhampir, born c.1915 after her mother was raped by her vampire father. In 1932, she spent her teenage years trying to hunt down and kill her father. It was a search that led her to Europe, where she committed a series of murders along the way before being apprehended. Claiming that her victims had been vampires, she was quickly disbelieved by the authorities, but eventually managed to escape from them and continue her hunt.
She was recruited into the mysterious Brimstone Society via an invitation. The Brimstone Society sent her on missions to eliminate supernatural threats to the world. One of these missions required her to use her vampiric powers against the Nazis, who were on the verge of using magical artifacts to bring Hitler to power. Rayne also learned of a plan to use demonic parasites called Daemites against the enemies of the Nazis, after they had been tested on prisoners. The background to the story is influenced by the existence of various historically real Nazi occult groups such as the Thule society.
In the video games, Rayne is highly athletic and versatile, thanks to her half-vampiric nature as well as a lifetime of training. In addition to her ability to jump more than 20 feet into the air, she can also fire one gun in each hand at different targets (and is strong enough to dual-wield assault rifles one-handed), use her aura vision to detect mission-specific targets, pull her foes towards her using a wrist-mounted harpoon in order to feed on their blood, heighten her reaction time using dilated perception, and zoom in on distant targets with one of her eyes like a sniper scope. Aside from the guns she would pick up from fallen enemies, she was equipped with blades mounted on her forearms and metal stilletos.
While Rayne has vampire-like strength, she also shares at least some of their weaknesses. For example, standing in water burns her, causing her gradual damage (it immediately incinerates full-blooded vampires). On the other hand, she seems unaffected by holy items and only mildly annoyed by sunlight, doing the same damage as water.
Rayne's character design is highly sexual in nature, her outfit in BloodRayne is a highly revealing, black and red leather corset, and in BloodRayne 2 she wears a variety of different, very revealing costumes. In both of the games she is always seen in 6+ inch metal stiletto heels which also add to the sexual factor of Bloodrayne greatly.
Rayne is the first videogame character that appeared in the Playboy Magazine, in the October 2004 U.S. edition as part of an article entitled Gaming Grows Up.
She has also made appearance in MTV in which a music video portrayed her performing Evanescence's song "Everybody's Fool". In the music video, Rayne swayed and sung as various enemies from the game were shown playing the instruments.
Profile: Eyes: Green Hair: Red Blood type: unknown Weapons: Dual blades, harpoon, dragon guns Powers: Dilated perception, Aura Vision, blood rage Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m); 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) in her heels Measurements: 36-22-36 Heritage: Dhampir (Half human, half vampire) Hobbies: Hunting Nazis, arcane occult rituals, martial arts Favorite food: Blood sausage Turn-on's: Men in uniform, big blades, leather, bite marks, Stiletto heels Turn-off's: Sunlight, hairy backs
Jurgen Wulf and the Gegengheist Gruppe
The antagonist in the first BloodRayne game, Jurgen Wulf was a fictional German military officer who fled to South America after managing to escape from punishment for his crimes during World War I. He founded the Gegengheist Gruppe (GGG), a group that aimed to bring Hitler to power through the use of the occult, specifically by obtaining and reassembling the remains of Beliar.
A fairly stereotypical Nazi, Wulf wears a monocle, and constantly has a cigarette holder hanging from his mouth.
Although an old man, Wulf has super-human strength and powers due to the fact that he has spent the past 30 years systematically finding and implanting the pieces of Beliar into his own body. At the time of the first BloodRayne game, Wulf possesses Beliar's eye, hand, ribs, and teeth.
In the game, Wulf's powers include being able to run significantly faster than a normal human (much faster than even Rayne), breathing fire, and creating flames in his hands. He is also completely immune to physical damage, being only vulnerable to Rayne' Bloodrage attacks and the claws of the demon Beliar.
Other notable members of the GGG, who appeared as bosses in the game, included High Priest Von Blut, Infantry General D. Mauler, Dr Báthory Mengele, Kommando, Sigmund Kreiger and Simon Kreiger.
High Priest Von Blut
He called himself a Thule High Priest and wore a white robe with a hood resembling that of the Ku Klux Klan. Thoroughly deluded, he believed that Aryans were descended from the people of Atlantis, and that Beliar was that nation's greater leader. Although he did not have any obvious super-human augmentations like the other members of the GGG, his pulpit was armor-plated and equipped with a Maxim machine gun.
Infantry General D. Mauler
A brute whose physical size and strength were greatly enhanced by the Nazis. He was twice as tall as a normal human being, and covered with cybernetic augmentations. He told Rayne the truth about Beliar's identity, adding that Von Blut (whom Rayne spoke to and killed earlier in the game) knew nothing but lies. Mauler hit very hard (his punches were strong enough to smash through walls and pillars), but he was also quite slow and lacked any sort of firearms.
Dr Báthory Mengele
Also known as the Butcheress, she was the one who fed prisoners (and several of her own soldiers) to the Daemites. She also took pride in being a descendant of Elizabeth Báthory, and attributed her powers to a tradition of "human vampirism". Báthory fought with stiletto heels and a pair of surgical instruments mounted to her forearms, and had similar superhuman speed and fighting moves as Rayne. The game designers obviously designed her after Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS and took her surname from the infamous German Nazi physician, Josef Mengele.
Kommando
A mysterious GGG officer, clad from head-to-toe in steel armor, who never spoke a word and concealed his face behind a metal mask. Fought with an assault rifle. Kommando used flashbangs to escape from Rayne whenever she attacked him, but eventually fell to her blades. However, he apparently was only injured and not killed, and managed to make his way to the lower levels of the base only to be possessed by a Daemite parasite.
Sigmund and Simon Kreiger
Also known as the Doppelganger Twins. A pair of narcissistic twins. Conjoined at birth, they were later separated (with the result that each of them has only one arm). They each fought with a throwing star that served as both a melee weapon and a boomerang. The twins were quite taken by Rayne's beauty, skill and sharp tongue and seemed more interested in courting her than killing her. The twins and Rayne both threatened and flirted with each other during the fight. Although they were apparently strong enough to slaughter a horde of feral vampires, they fell quickly to Rayne's blade. When one of them was hit, he would be unharmed, but the other twin would suffer damage. When one of them was killed by Rayne, the other died as well. Depending on which one you kill, you get a slightly different death scene. The best of the two for many fans is Sigmund's, where he asks Rayne to tell him her name as a last request.
Mynce
A Tibetan-born dhampir from the Brimstone Society, she had the same skills as Rayne and was the one who introduced her to the ways of the vampires, as well as giving Rayne the harpoon which would become an important part of her arsenal. At the beginning of the first BloodRayne game, she and Rayne went to Louisiana to investigate the grotesque mutations of the residents. Mynce was attacked from behind by a spider-like demon called a Maraisreq and swallowed up whole before Rayne could save her. She was then believed to be dead.
However, Mynce resurfaced as the second-in-command of the GGG during Rayne's mission to stop Jurgen Wulf. She did not give an explanation as to the means by which she survived being swallowed by the Maraisreq or the reason that she betrayed the Brimstone Society, and attacked Rayne since she was an enemy of the GGG. Mynce fought with the same superhuman fighting moves as Rayne, but proved to be extremely weak, only having about as much health as a regular GGG officer. Rayne sent her falling off a cliff, apparently to her death, and proceeded to eliminate the Kreiger twins. To her surprise, Mynce returned once again and revealed that she was a double agent, having taken out the rest of the GGG's officers and leaving only Wulf.
While the dhampirs were on their way to find Wulf, they were separated by a steel barricade dropping from the ceiling. Wulf emerged with superhuman speed, plunged his hand into Mynce's chest and ripped out her heart. That was the last time Rayne saw her mentor.
Hedrox the Infinite
Hedrox is an ancient and powerful vampire shaman from New Guinea. Instead of a human appearance, Hedrox's form is animal-like, with black fur and large, clawed hands. He looks a bit like an evil, man-like tiger.
Hedrox has two powers. The first power is that he can gain the knowledge of another person by devouring their brain. Like any other feral vampire, each of Hedrox's claws has a circular mouth in its palm, and he uses this to decapitate victims and devour their heads.
Hedrox's second power is that he is infinite. Any damage dealt to the vampire heals away within seconds, represented in-game as Hedrox's health bar constantly refilling, at a rate so fast it is impossible for Rayne to empty it. Whenever one of his body parts is severed, it grows into a new Hedrox. The Hedroxes apparently share a collective consciousness, often speaking alternatively or in unison. This makes fighting Hedrox with conventional weapons futile, as slicing him or shooting his limbs off simply creates more Hedroxes to fight. The only way to defeat him, as it turned out, was to ignore him and focus on attacking the battle area's support structures. Collapse the arena, and all but one of the Hedroxes fall into water, which is lethal to vampires and dhampirs alike.
Beliar
According to the first BloodRayne game, Beliar was the original ruler of Hell, but was usurped by a fallen angel called Mephisto (better known to us as Lucifer). He was torn to pieces, and his body parts were scattered across the Earth as unholy relics. Each body part will instinctively merge with the first person to discover it, and will confer upon that person part of the supernatural power of Beliar. Although Jurgen Wulf acquires most of the body parts through the course of the game, Rayne ends up unintentionally merging with one of Beliar's eyes, turning one of her eyes blood red and allowing her to zoom in on distant objects.
Beliar's heart is the most powerful of the relics (it is the Yathgy stone from Terminal Reality's earlier survival horror game, Nocturne), and merging with it will cause Beliar to be reborn from the body of the heart's host. In the game's last level, Hedrox foolishly merges with Beliar's heart, resurrecting Beliar. Upon awakening, Beliar is intent upon reclaiming his body parts from both Wulf and Rayne, initiating the game's final three-way battle.
Beliar has a skeletal appearance, looking much like a dead tree with pieces of torn red flesh hanging from it. His body is elastic, and he attacks by growing sharp tentacles from his chest or arms to impale his enemies with. In the game, the only way to deal any damage to Beliar is to attack his heart. Additionally, If Jurgen Wulf is killed by Beliar instead of by Rayne, Beliar will reclaim his body parts from Wulf and re-gain the ability to breath fire (Beliar's fire breath is several times larger than Wulf's).
Finally, Beliar will constantly be growing throughout the final battle. Although he starts out just slightly taller than a normal human being, he eventually grows up to several stories in height. If Rayne cannot kill him before he reaches the ceiling, the game is over. He grows too large and powerful for Rayne to kill, so he steps on her, and begins his conquest of Earth.
New characters in BloodRayne 2
Kagan
Rayne's vampire father who worked with the Nazis. Rayne tracked him down just as he obtained a magical artifact called the Vesper Shard, but she had to flee when a grenade went off, supposedly killing Kagan. He mysteriously returned many years later when Rayne waged war against her half-siblings who had formed the Cult of Kagan. The pieces of the Vesper Shard had bonded with Kagan's arm and the side of his head, presumably giving him powers beyond what he already had, (though the actual effects of the Vesper Shard on him were not elaborated on in detail). He also appeared to have been blinded in one eye.
Kagan is the final opponent in BloodRayne 2. His attacks include firing giant beams of light and swinging a large sword that inflicts a lot of damage. In the large room where players fight him, there is a pool of blood that he, and Rayne, can use to heal themselves. Rayne eventually managed to kill him by decapitation after a long battle.
Severin
Rayne's sidekick from the Brimstone Society. His role in BloodRayne 2 is about the same as Mynce's in the first game, he is a vampire or half-vampire, by the quote he said at the end of the game.At times, he even appears to be cowardly, yet he somehow always manages to show up in places not normally accessible to humans. Severin provides Rayne with information about the enemy by radio, as well as advice on what to do next when there is a dead end.
In the very end of Bloodrayne 2, Severin claims that the Brimstone society will have drawn their lines carefully, waging war on all vampire kind, including people such as himself and Rayne. Actually, there was a hidden FMV in the game in which Rayne explains that she took Severin away from Ephemera before she could turn him.
To access this hidden FMV, enter the cheat code WANT THIS DARK REALITY TAINT QWEEF. Go to 'Extras' then 'Movies' and select 'Show all movies'. It is after the FMV that involves Ferril and Ephemera after you kill Slezz.
Zerenski
Zerenski is Rayne's annoying, Dracula-impersonating half-brother and the first boss of the game. He owns a huge mansion and has an important social position. From what we can gather, he's also a playboy. Daniel Zerenski also mentions Belinda, one of his sisters, which Rayne had previously killed. He is a generic vampire, and his sole ability is turning into a flock of bats. He is possibly the easiest boss next to Slezz.
Ephemera
Ephemera is one of Rayne's half-sisters. She is very difficult to kill because of her ability to dive into shadows and heal herself; in fact, as long as there are shadows in an area, she is invincible. Ephemera is dressed in BDSM-style black leather, has pale skin and no visible eyes. There is a theory which says that she is actually blind and the shadows which surround her have a role similar to a cat's whiskers. Also, she is presumed to have an aura vision superior to Rayne's (she's a full blooded vampire after all).Her long hair constantly floats around as if she is underwater. In the game, Ephemera is one of the more prominent villains, and is possibly Kagan's favorite daughter. It is implied that she is also a full blooded vampire much like most of Rayne's siblings.Just like every member of her vampiric family, Ephemera likes to boss people around, using a commanding and despising tone ("blow the charges or I'll slit you!"). Also, she has little consideration for the rest of her family: she's not affected by Zerenski's death (even though she calls him "our dear brother" when talking to Rayne), she despises Xerx ("my mongoloid brother") and wants her father dead. Ephemera's concept has some Asian influences: her minions strongly remind of ninjas and they use swords and shurikens. The final battle between Rayne and Ephemera takes place in a Japanese-inspired garden. She is clever and calculated, not the direct type; she'd rather wait in the shadows and plan a deadly strike--both in combat and in life. Ephemera is also Severin's old love and master, but Rayne took him from her, eight years before the events in Bloodrayne2. However, she seems to still be interested in him: she asks Rayne about him several times ("Is that my old love, mister Severin? [...]I'd like to pay him a visit. See if we can rekindle an old flame").She even betrayed her sister Ferrill and stabbed her then threw her off of the Shroud tower.
Ferril
Ferril is another of Rayne's several half-sisters. Her first appearance in BloodRayne 2 is with another of Rayne's sisters, Ephemera. Ferril has her own special powers just like Rayne. She has an appearance much like a supernatural cat of sorts, with sharp, extended, clawlike fingernails, continually-shifting marks upon her skin, and eyes that are completely white. Ferril's temperament matches her feline appearance, as she has incredible speed and a wild temper. During the course of the game, Ephemera stabs Ferril in the back and throws her from a tower. In a manner befitting a feline creature, Ferril manages to survive this tremendous fall, returning later to meet her demise by the Sun Gun. Ferril has a problem with her temper (although most of it comes from hubris, she continually wants to be the best; quote: "Remember sister, I am the strongest and the fastest..."), much like the Dhampir myths, even though she is apparently a full blooded vampire, unlike Rayne.
Xerx
A sophisticated mad scientist who invented The Shroud. He is one of Kagan's vampire children and created various high-tech weapons to be used against Rayne, including the Sun Gun that killed Ferril near the end of the game. He's the one who put Kagan back together after the detonation in 1939 in the Brimstone HQ in France, after which Kagan was thought to be dead. Xerx has an unusual appearance, resembling a more human-looking version of Frankenstein. He fights Rayne in a giant bio-mech suit with weaknesses that are not immediately noticeable, and attacks with the deadly Sun Gun.
Slezz
Slezz is a huge, ancient pot-bellied vampire known as a Shakab that lives in the sewers. She has a rather mutated appearance, vaguely resembling an insect. She is not Rayne's sister, but is a "baby-machine" for Kagan who 'borrowed' her children to use as his henchmen. Slezz apparently is in love with Kagan, calling him "my love" in a conversation with Rayne preceding their fight. While in battle, Slezz slings her henchmen towards Rayne and detonates them with bombs. Despite her immense size, Slezz is rather weak and can be beaten fairly quickly.
Other Dhampir
Throughout the game, Rayne encounters a number of other Dhampir, which leads to the conclusion that all other Dhampir, or most, are evil. In fact, Zerenski and Kagan have a number of Dhampir under their control, although it is not clear if they are Kagan's offspring as well. The other Dhampir wear black and red suits, the females use blades similar to Dark Rayne (an alternate costume for Rayne in BloodRayne 2), and the males use large scimitar-like swords. All of them have green eyes, although none have red hair like Rayne's. Another noticeable difference are the heavy facial tattoos on all of Kagan's dhampirs.
Kestrel
A group of Asian Dhampir assassins that worship birds. Rayne has to kill four of them during one level. They are armed for full-scale combat; spikes on the back of their boots, shuriken and bird-wing shaped blades on each arm, and they also wear ninja-like body armor.
In BloodRayne 2, the Kestrel have a larger role than the aforementioned Dhampir in black and red suits. They are in charge of bringing humans to the Shroud tower, where their blood will be used to create "The Shroud". While Rayne thwarted their mission by killing all of them, Ferril and her henchmen finished the job.