This game sure loves its hitscan and hiding them in little bullshit areas where they can tear you apart without warning. And, man, can that occasionally be frustrating.

And then you throw some dynamite at a pack of cultists and watch some of the most satisfying video game explosions ever created and nearly all the nitpicks vanish away. That's the Blood experience: it's fucking hard—maybe unfairly so—but man is it a delight when you pull off a victory.

Only real issue is the game's arsenal feels a bit bloated when compared to the perfected utility of Doom's. Why does Blood need like a half dozen different types of grenades when the basic bundle of dynamite does the trick every time?

Again, another design problem that's easily forgotten once you throw one of the fuckers at a horde.

CALLA Y SANGRA

Si Duke Nukem cogió la base de Doom llevándolo a un terreno desenfadado y propio de una película de Serie B de acción, Blood hace eso mismo pero con el terreno del terror y el gore de Serie B.

Tienes todo lo propio de un juego de este estilo; acción, dificultad y diseño de niveles.

Aquí cambia en el ambiente. Adiós a las estaciones espaciales y la temática de ciencia ficción, prepárate a recorrer cementerios, circos abandonados, hospitales y demás lugares tenebrosos.
Se acabó matar a aliens y demonios, aquí te toca machacar zombies, sectarios, fantasmas y demás criaturas típicas del inframundo.
¿Te gustaba el armamento actual o lo que sueles encontrar en Doom? Aquí te toca usar ametralladoras Thompson, cartuchos de dinamita y otras armas más macabras como muñecos vudú o bastones mágicos.

Tal vez Caleb no tenga tanto carisma como Duke, pero tiene su esencia propia y que, a mi gusto, lo hace mejor.

This game is so fucking good it reminds me of sex.

-Gameplay is obviously the main thing of the game and boy oh boy is it fucking awesome... You have like a dozen of guns and a hundred dozen of enemies to butcher through. The fast pace is the cherry on top of it all; but sometimes you need to slow down so you can solve a bunch of puzzles which unlike expected they don't slow down the game.
-Graphics are beautiful; even though this is a remaster but the main game is as good, due to its eye catching art style. Although, it depends whether you like older games or not.
-Story is fine, better than expected. It's straight to the point and doesn't create any unneeded confusion.
-Honestly I don't remember shit about the soundtracks, so I think they are at least acceptable; because I didn't notice anything bad about them. The voice acting was pretty cool; specially for the protagonist, but some other ones were annoying which is understandable considering how old the game is and how video games were not taken serious as much as they are today.
-The game had two problems in my case; one was that it would crash every once in a while right after interacting with the skull symbol to finish the mission. And that the game is sometimes confusing; which I think is my own problem since I've gotten used to markers and maps and all these bullshits.

If you like shooter, just give it fucking shot no matter whether you like retro games or not.

Those demonic bastards are gonna pay for turning my girl into a texture.

I haven't been having a good October. My tulpa has been out there opening new lines of credit in my name, and the spooky games I picked out have all ranged from middling to bad. I swear the plan wasn't to theme the whole month around mediocre horror. I actually thought I'd like Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and I didn't expect to fall off so hard with Fatal Frame's combat. At least I'm finishing the season strong with Blood, which was recommended to me several months ago, around when I was starting to post reviews for the classic Doom games.

I can definitely see why Blood was suggested to me, as it sticks pretty close to the boomer shooter script as laid out by Doom. You have a shotgun that acts as the centerpiece of your arsenal, levels are often maze-like and require the collection of keys to progress in, and you'll need to claw your way through hordes of demons in one perfect run to the exit button - unless you're a save scummer, like me. Some of the weapons aren't quite as good as what you'd find in Doom, but for my money, Blood has the best dynamite in any first person shooter I've played, and the inclusion of alt-fires for almost every weapon adds a lot of versatility. Your normal shotgun can fire off single bursts or you can empty both barrels at once, for example, and I'm not sure any other shooter at the time was playing around with ideas like this.

There's also a lot of Duke Nukem 3D in here, specifically with Blood's protagonist Caleb, who loves to mouth off and amuse himself with corny little one-liners. Caleb is great. He's such a weird little freak. Stephan Weyte's performance is on the same level for me as Jon St. John, and I love the way he holds on certain syllables when growling out his lines. The way he says "Llllocked!" or "I need a keyyy" is tattooed on my brain, and Caleb's "Ohhh myyy, what a WONderful smell I've discovered~" when entering an outhouse (and just before diving into the toilet) is going to stick with me. Caleb may be very Duke-like with his shamelessly sourced movie quotes ("DON'T play it again, Sam..."), but his sense of humor is more off-kilter and suited to his role as an amoral former cult member.

Holding Blood back from being as great as Doom, however, is the whole of Episode 3, "A Farewell to Arms," which drills into Sandy Petersen territory with how labyrinthine and confounding many of its levels are. I got stuck for an unreasonable amount of time in the level "Spare Parts" because a grey elevator door blended in with the rest of the scenery, looking indistinguishable from a non-interactive wall. "Raw Sewage" and "Monster Bait" are dull levels that overstay their welcome and contribute their fair share to Episode 3 being a drag, with the highest point probably being "The Sick Ward" which is mostly just fine. 

Episode 4 brings things back around with shorter, more focused levels, and though the Plasma Pak and Cryptic Passage expansions included in Fresh Supply do have some levels that are a bit too meandering, they are mostly solid, so Fresh Supply does recover from that mid-game slump. It is a shame that the expansions lack the same janky CG 3D cutscenes as the core game, though. There were better looking real-time graphics in 1997, I love it and can't imagine Blood any other way. The real-time shadows and lighting in the game itself do look great, though, so at least Blood looks good where it counts.

I have no idea how to tie all these thoughts together and wrap up this review, so I'm gonna hit this exit switch, listen to a bunch of dudes go "ohhhh owwwww!" and just reflect on how Blood saved my October.