although the development of the shooter genre began with the release of Wolfenstein 3D but still 1997 was a truly landmark year for the computer games industry in general, and for the shooter genre in particular. A year ago, the masterpiece and instantly snapped up for quotes, Duke Nukem 3D, was released .
We’ll talk about the jokes of “Duke I’m Nailing on Everything” another time, but today we’ll remember another colorful character from the “Great Three”. On May 31, 2019, old Caleb turned twenty-two years old. Despite the fact that today it is almost forgotten, in its time the action movie Blood was a real hit.
I’m alive! Again!
Reckless and cruel, Caleb led a life full of fights, duels and robbery – a standard, in general, package for a daredevil from the Wild West. But one day fate brought him together with the charming Ophelia, who radically changed his life. And they would have lived happily ever after if Ophelia had not been an adherent of the rather dark religious cult of the Cabal, which worshiped the deity Chernobog.
Our hero liked the ideas of the cult, which consisted mainly of bloody sausage and expropriation of what he had acquired through back-breaking labor, and he gladly joined the ranks of the sectarians, gradually receiving magical abilities from the deity, and transforming into a real Dark Lord. Chernobog was pleased with such a zealous follower, and the deity, appointing Caleb as the “chosen one,” ordered to present our hero before his clear eyes. Of course, through sacrifice.
The sectarians carried out the instructions of their superiors with commendable zeal, sending Caleb and his three friends – including Ophelia – straight into the mouth of the deity. The trick was a success, Chernobog arrived on Earth and began to create absolute chaos with mass murders and gargoyles. Meanwhile, Caleb, who for some reason didn’t really like being a corpse in a coffin, digs himself out of the grave. Taking with him a nearby pitchfork, he begins his bloody path of revenge.
There was also a place in the Winztercasino.uk game for Duke Newcam.
Even death can die.
It may seem that “Three Great Shooters” is in complete trouble with its plots. This statement is only partly true. The game Blood is a concentrated cocktail of black humor, cruelty, gore and action movie atmosphere translated by Volodarsky. The game simply included all the then popular cliches – revenge, love, resurrection from the dead, shootouts and jokes in the spirit of "Die Hard".
The game begins with the main character climbing out of his own grave, armed with a pitchfork and a lighter.
Judge for yourself – what other game begins with the main character crawling out of his own grave, armed with a pitchfork and a lighter?? In what other game are we immediately handed a bunch of dynamite and asked to throw it into a crowd of cultists shouting something unintelligible – with the corresponding bloody and meaty result?? Where else could we extinguish enemies with a flare gun: when hit, the enemy would first spit out blood, then suddenly burst into flames and run around for another ten seconds, screaming heart-rendingly and cursing desperately? The game Blood from the very beginning set a very high degree of madness happening on the screen, and did not slow it down until the very final battle.
In essence, Blood is an ordinary shooter “powered by the Duke Nukem engine”. Ordinary, but extraordinary. The game invited us to walk through the most unexpected places where the End of the World happened. How do you like showdowns with crowds of fanatics and hordes of demons in the middle of an amusement park?? How do you like the prospect of capturing and clearing a train, with its subsequent redirection simply to the center of a busy city?? And fights with gargoyles in the middle of a pastoral summer camp, on the territory of which the corpses of boy scouts are scattered everywhere? Blood was the first game to abandon the traditional “secret military bases”, “Alien nests” and “space stations” in favor of very specific everyday places.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Isn’t that the smell of gasoline??
The arsenal matched the style. This never happened before or after Blood. Twin Thompson submachine guns easily and cheerfully turned into mincemeat every living thing within sight. The flare gun gave us many pleasant moments, killing most enemies on the first hit. The sawn-off shotgun very quickly increased the lead content in the bodies of all nearby enemies to a critical level. Mines, dynamite, napalm thrower, aerosol can – Caleb combined it with a lighter, just like action heroes. Voodoo doll, poking with pins into which enemies made bo-bo. In a word, it was easy, pleasant and incredibly fun to destroy evil spirits with the help of the Blood arsenal.
And there was so much evil here. Moreover, unlike later shooters, Blood did not have traditional “whipping boys” – the weakest enemies that can be killed with one sneeze. Even the most ordinary cultist could, based on the situation (remember, it was 1997) choose a weapon for himself – from a shotgun to a machine gun, from explosives to a flamethrower. At first, the demonic opponents killed Caleb with one blow – until you get the hang of it and develop tactics against them. What is the automatic health recovery?? What are you talking about? And then there were small copies of Caleb, jumping out of any broken mirror and running across the floor on the fingers of a human hand, which could strangle our hero.
On top of that, Blood was also great for its online mode. In addition to battles with other players, it was possible to go through the story campaign together – this mode supported up to eight players. With a corresponding increase in the number of enemies, ammunition and weapons. I still remember missions where five or six Calebs stood back to back, fighting off waves of enemies. This is where the sense of community was developed!
Twin Tommy gun – because two are better than one.
Finally, a few words about the technical side of the game. If you had a sound card in 1997 (still a luxury in those days), you could enjoy a very good soundtrack by composer Mark McWain. The level design deserves all sorts of praise – the developers did not allow Blood to have a single uninteresting corridor. Bloody stains, corpses, traps, destroyed houses and crucified civilians – literally every centimeter here reminds you that a bloody bacchanalia is happening in the world. Finally, Caleb himself constantly commented on what was happening, making caustic remarks about enemies, weapons, locations and even the player’s actions. The very case when the game had a real “soul”.
The first part of Blood was virtually devoid of flaws and sold great. After a short time, a couple of additions were released for it with new levels and weapons. Finally, in 1998, the second part, Blood 2: The Chosen, was released. The sequel showed us better graphics, dumber AI of the enemies who were simply chest-thumping the gun, lost its charm, and got rid of the lion’s share of black humor. Finally, these two components have completely disappeared from the game about blood and cruelty. And they forgot about the great game. In 2008, Blood’s “father” Nick Newhard went to work for Big Fish Games, a company specializing in casual games, so there is practically no chance of reviving the imperishable hit. However, it is possible that, like its main character, one day this Great Game will rise from the grave and heartily pour modern crafts.
strengths and weaknesses of the project
+Black-dark humor
+Hundreds of references to popular culture
+Thousands of Easter eggs
+Well-developed arsenal
+Great level design
-Unbalanced opponents
-The hero’s arsenal does not carry over to the next mission
-Unevenly distributed ammunition
Game rating: 4.8/5