BloodRayne 2

I'm A Scantily-Clad, ample-breasted vampiress (you'll have to suspend your disbelief for a second or two). With my two razor-sharp swords, I've just sliced and diced a burly henchman while simultaneously pushing him through a window. Look and you can see a camera shot from below, as his head detaches from his body and splinters of glass and jets of crimson arc through the air in balletic slow motion.

As you might have surmised, BloodRayne 2 is terrifically gory. The sequel to 2003's third-person action-adventure starring a sexy garlic-hating heroine revels in the on-screen ultraviolence that had me guffawing merrily throughout. If you're as sick as me (Alot possible - Ed), you're going to love the ability to finish off enemy vampires and foes in a variety of ways. BR2 conjures up more than 60 combos for hacking off limbs, and you can cleave bodies clean in half and lop off heads while quipping, I'd put that in ice" above the screams.

Seeing Red

Whereas the last game had the Dhampir (half-human, halfvampire) Rayne fighting German jackbooted bloodsuckers in 1935, BloodRayne 2 jumps forward to our time, when descendants of her father Kagan (described as a Nazi asshole) are plotting to enslave humankind, reducing them to nothing but engorged blood banks. Granted, it's the kind of Blade/Buffy The Vampire Slayer goth claptrap that Americans suck up like strawberry-flavoured plasma, but the cut-scenes are well done and the plot serves the gameplay, introducing new powers and weaponry as you progress.

Rayne has to feed on victims to top-up her bloody health meter, which as before, involves a rather saucy embrace that's blatantly Sapphic when performed with another female. Levels mainly involve beating the red cells out of various gormless Al goons by using your twin swords, kicks, a handy harpoon for dragging people off ledges or into hazards such as rotating fan blades, and the new upgradeaie-Carpathian Dragon dual-guns that are reloaded with the liquid red stuff.

Cool new acrobatic moves have Rayne swinging on poles and sliding down rails, which you can also combine with your weapons for Robert Rodriguez/Wachowski Brothers-style action sequences. Most satisfying, however, are the carnage kills' which involve extreme punishment for victims, including the body siice-and-smash through the window described at the start - and each gives a larger boost to Rayne's infamous Bloodlust meter. If you're unfamiliar with the first game, this gives you access to special vampire powers such as Aura Vision (sees hidden enemies/puzzles). Dilated Perception (bullet-time) and Blood Rage (faster, more lethal attacks). These come in handy for taking on the tougher boss battles.

Pain In The Neck?

BloodRayne 2 has much-improved visuals from the first game, with the Infernal engine delivering ragdoll physics, destructible scenery, lush decor and smooth mo-cap animation in settings varying from medieval castles to grim meatpacking factories. Even the camera is pretty good. The main problems are that fights can get quite repetitive, level design is often unimaginative, Al is pigshit-thick and there simply aren't enough checkpoints and save points to avoid frustration.