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Vampire Chronicle (without "s",
contrary to what many people seem to think) is a game that
raised a lot of questions before its release. As usual, Capcom
tried not to provide much information to the media so that the
final product would be a surprise. Many people thought this game
would be the fourth episode of the Vampire/Hunter/Savior
series... But it is not. After some time, Capcom described VC as
a "compilation of the previous Vampire games", which made
most fans happy because there had not really been an
arcade-perfect port of any Vampire game before: the closest to
that would be the Saturn versions.
This 2d fighting game series has never been very popular outside
of Japan, and even there it never became a major tournament
game, partly because of its crazy aspect (Marvel versus Capcom 2
never became very popular there either). To make things worse,
Capcom decided to make this game a Japan exclusive and to only
distribute it through their Internet D-Direct service, meaning
that the number of copies is quite limited. The reason why the
company released the game at all is because they wanted to
satisfy the customers who had subscribed to their Online Play
network. But remember that this feature is only available in
Japan: it is not possible to play VC online in the US, for
instance. Most hardcore fighter fans know or at least have heard
of the quality of this series that is considered by many experts
as the big C's best fighter series after the almighty Street
Fighter. One big question remains, though. How does this game
compare to the recent fighters on Dreamcast today?
Warning: this game will not work on a Japanese or PAL system
without an RCA cable -the one with the yellow, white and red
plugs- which is usually sold with the console. This means that
it is impossible the play Vampire Chronicle using an RGB cable
to obtain a clearer image. To my knowledge, the only game which
has a similar problem is Super Street Fighter 2 X.
gameplay 8
As you probably know, this is a Capcom game... They have a lot
of experience in fighters, and know how to make games with
perfect controls. There is really nothing to say in this
department, the characters are very easy to control, but as
usual playing with the regular DC joypad is a chore. If you have
a decent joystick, however, you will be in heaven.
The engine is very simple and newbie-friendly, but at the same
time there are many things to master. The reason why this game
is considered as a compilation? All the characters from the
series are in it, and you can choose your fighting style between
the 3 episodes of Vampire. This brings a little variety to the
game since they are vastly different: rounds or straight fight,
normal damage or regaining of life…
People usually either love or hate Vampire Chronicle's gameplay.
I absolutely love it. As with any recent fighting game, the
characters have normal, special, and super moves. But the series
inaugurated two new features in fighters: a generic combo
system, and EX moves. The combo system can be mastered by anyone
in virtually no time: most normal attacks will combo as long as
you use attacks from the same damage value and then use a
more damaging attack. For instance, with Morrigan, Light Punch,
Light Kick, Middle Punch, High Punch will connect. The EX moves
are in fact powered up special moves which take off a bit of
your power bar but do more damage or have more priority. Some of
these EX moves are in fact nothing but super moves. The combo
system has been copied by the "Versus" series since, and the EX
moves have been reintroduced to the gamers in the SF3 series.
There is no problem in character balance even though Morrigan
and Jedah seem to dominate slightly.
graphics/animation 6
It is always quite hard to judge a 2d fighter in this area,
especially when it is a classic, which is the case here. Please
do not disregard this game just because I gave it a 6: it does
not mean that it does not look good. I personally think it looks
very nice, in an old-fashioned kind of way. Sure, it pales in
comparison to Guilty Gear X and Third Strike, but does that mean
it is hideous? Not by a long shot. This game's beauty is not to
be found in the quality of the sprites or the special effects.
From a technical point of view, the backgrounds are nothing
special either.
So why do I seem to like it, you ask? The answer is simple:
character design, and creativity in general. What makes this
game different from most Capcom fighters is its weird ambiance,
its crazy characters, and this feeling of
"politically-incorrect" that you sometimes resent when watching
it.
"Wow, did this guy just rip his own head off?"
One thing is for sure: if this game ever came out in the US, it
would either have been censored or it would have an Adult
rating. Vampire Chronicle has a lot of adult content, with a lot
of blood and disturbing things (but the series has a succubus as
one of the main characters, so then again who would be
surprised?). I have yet to see anyone complain about this aspect
of the game though... In some way, it seems Capcom's developers
went crazy when they made the original games and put all their
ideas into it.
The graphics are quite detailed, but some of the sprites are
pixilated. It is also interesting to note that they look rather
small nowadays compared to other fighters: that is because of
the recent trend in fighting games to always make the characters
bigger and bigger. But it is not a bad thing, because it gives
the player more opportunities to see the beautiful backgrounds.
Well, they are basically the same as in Vampire 3 with different
colors, so you might already know them. But with the 2d power of
the Dreamcast, they look better than ever. I really like them
because they are very original: you will get to fight in the
surroundings of a frightening castle, near the Sphynx, in a
torture chamber, in a destroyed city after bombings (!), in
hell... And they are all very well animated, of course. Capcom
should have included the backgrounds of all the Vampire games
-one of the reasons why this game cannot be considered as a true
compilation- but the ones that made it are still good enough and
varied. The same could be said of the 18 characters, who are all
unique and interesting such as Demitri the vampire, Felicia the
cat-girl (my personal favorite), Lei-Lei the Chinese ghost,
Sasquatch the bigfoot, Victor the Frankenstein clone, Donovan
the vampire killer and of course Jedah who is simply the coolest
boss ever. Keep in mind that I am using the Japanese
names here.
The animation is extremely smooth even compared to the most
recent 2d games on Dreamcast. The characters have many different
frames and a great number of win poses. You will surely be
impressed by the insane number of details in the animation of
the fighters... It is very special, and in my opinion more
impressive than the animation of Marvel versus Capcom 2, for
example. This reminds me that if you are not familiar with the
Vampire characters yet, you might have seen some of them in the
aforementioned game: Morrigan, Felicia, Anakaris and Bulleta.
The overall presentation of the game is quite simple and
disappointing, apart from the gorgeous introduction that mixes
artworks and various transparency effects. The menus are poor
and do not match the intensity of the game. There is not any
other artwork in the game except the winning screens that are
not very nice anyway.
music 7
The tunes range from greatness to horrible. While some of the
songs shine by their originality and the fact that they are not
just repetitive patterns, some others just hurt my ears. I
especially like Lei-Lei's theme -Vanity Paradise-, Jedah's theme
-Fetus of God-, and War Agony. As usual, most songs are
reminiscent of techno music, but some of them sound extremely
dark, which is interesting. Too bad some of the tunes sound so
stupid.
story 3
I am very keen on this series' story, I think it is refreshing
and interesting contrary to the storyline of most fighting
games. However, there are only 2 generic endings in this game,
and I personally think it is a shame especially since the Saturn
version of this game had them. So you can consider that this
game has no story whatsoever. The story is not the primary
reason why you play fighting games, but when you will see how
much potential the characters have you will understand. I still
give a 3 to this game because of its wonderful ambiance.
replayability 7
There is really nothing to unlock in this game. The last boss is
selectable from the start and there are no endings. There are
codes to unlock a few hidden characters -who are just palette
swaps, though- and an extra option menu, but this is not what
will keep you playing. The arcade mode can get boring after a
while, because the opponent's AI is not particularly fun to
fight against and it only makes you fight a few characters. If
you really want to understand what this game is about, you will
need to find someone who will play with you: that is when
playing Vampire Chronicle becomes really fun. As any
other good fighting game, its replay value is infinite if you
can find some competition.
buy or rent?
This game is an import, and your local store is not likely to
have it available for rent since it is quite rare. The thing is
that this game is not only becoming hard to find now, but it is
also becoming very expensive (more than sixty dollars last time
I checked). So, is it worth it? Most people I know who have it
are happy with their purchase. But then again, most of them are
"hardcore" fighter fans. What is sure is that this is not
the best fighter on Dreamcast, but it is still very good and
would deserve to be released in the US. But that will never
happen; the game is already too old and Capcom has not announced
anything concerning it. For newbies, Vampire Chronicle is
probably not worth it; get a cheaper and better game. But this
should be in any fighter fan's collection, especially if you
still have not played a Vampire game yet: trust me, this series
is very underrated. If you already have Vampire 3 on Saturn, I
do not think you necessarily need to purchase this game because
it is very similar. But if you are a big Vampire/Capcom fan... |
