I had only ever played the shareware version of Blood until I finally decided to sort this massive hole in my classic FPS knowledge out. It is a game that sits on a pedestal among the best in the genre and for the most part, is fully deserving of that place.
The setting is fantastic, a strange, timeless mix of present day and the old West via a particularly grim Tales from the Crypt episode. The enemy types are mostly great, with clear weaknesses and strengths that require you to weapon switch, be aware of the environment and prioritise targets way more than many other games in the genre. The weapons are memorable and satisfying to use, from one of the best shotguns around to a bloody can of deodorant and a lighter.
The level design... fuck me, the LEVEL DESIGN in this one, lads. The BUILD engine tends to be at its best when it is delivering these approximations of a real life location and Blood features some of the very best. Some levels are rapid fire gauntlets of enemies, some are almost Doom-esque puzzles boxes to solve while some are quite happy for you to get lost in, searching for keys and switches in some memorable locations.
Towards the back end of the game, I found the level design to drop off a bit, as you find yourself in caverns and temples instead of say, haunted manors and fucked up hospitals. The sheer amount of hit-scanning Cultist enemies can cause a few frustratingly unfair deaths and the boss enemies at the end of each chapter are a bit underwhelming when compared to Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior but these are all small complaints in the grand scheme of things. Blood is a belter, probably the hardest of the trinity of classic BUILD shooters so tailor the difficulty to your tastes appropriately (I'd probably say knock it down two settings from where you can comfortably play Doom).
Also: BUILD engine explosions are one of gaming's greatest pleasures and the ones found in Blood are truly top tier. There's a tangible sense of weight and force to them, with enemies and even you being knocked backwards from the centre of the blast and perfectly charging the strength of a dynamite throw so one lands in-between a pack of zombies and sends entrails skyward is life-affirming shit.
The setting is fantastic, a strange, timeless mix of present day and the old West via a particularly grim Tales from the Crypt episode. The enemy types are mostly great, with clear weaknesses and strengths that require you to weapon switch, be aware of the environment and prioritise targets way more than many other games in the genre. The weapons are memorable and satisfying to use, from one of the best shotguns around to a bloody can of deodorant and a lighter.
The level design... fuck me, the LEVEL DESIGN in this one, lads. The BUILD engine tends to be at its best when it is delivering these approximations of a real life location and Blood features some of the very best. Some levels are rapid fire gauntlets of enemies, some are almost Doom-esque puzzles boxes to solve while some are quite happy for you to get lost in, searching for keys and switches in some memorable locations.
Towards the back end of the game, I found the level design to drop off a bit, as you find yourself in caverns and temples instead of say, haunted manors and fucked up hospitals. The sheer amount of hit-scanning Cultist enemies can cause a few frustratingly unfair deaths and the boss enemies at the end of each chapter are a bit underwhelming when compared to Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior but these are all small complaints in the grand scheme of things. Blood is a belter, probably the hardest of the trinity of classic BUILD shooters so tailor the difficulty to your tastes appropriately (I'd probably say knock it down two settings from where you can comfortably play Doom).
Also: BUILD engine explosions are one of gaming's greatest pleasures and the ones found in Blood are truly top tier. There's a tangible sense of weight and force to them, with enemies and even you being knocked backwards from the centre of the blast and perfectly charging the strength of a dynamite throw so one lands in-between a pack of zombies and sends entrails skyward is life-affirming shit.