Review

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut

Before I dive into this review, I’d like to preface that this is my time playing such a game. With little to no history with this genre, it’s taking me much longer to write this because I wanted to do some research on some of the best games in its respective group. I looked into a litany of role playing video games to grasp an understanding of what to expect from a game of its kind.  And while I must say, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing trilogy is worthy of standing in the same light, take this review with a grain of salt; you know, if I say something that seems contrary to what one would expect from this genre.

All of the fictional monsters and beasts that we’ve come to “love”, exist in Van Helsing’s world. I’m talking zombies, werewolves, evil spirits; you name it, it’s here. As an avid reader of fantasy fiction, I was excited to be able to get into this game and start hunting down some monsters.  What I found exciting was that you get to choose from a six of different versions of Van Helsing, all with different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. They all seemed great, though your choice becomes incredibly important when you and your friends get further into the game (more on that later). After you have carefully chosen you Helsing class, you are then thrown into one of the most beautifully disturbed worlds in which I have ever seen.

Speaking of disturbed, packaged with each lucky Van Helsing comes a crazy, kind of hot, companion ghost named Lady Katrina. Similar to the companions in Diablo 3, she fights alongside you during battles and colors discussions/events with her own opinions. As you go through your own seamlessly endless skill tree you can map out Lady Katrina’s skills to counter what you may not be strong at. For example, the Helsing I chose wore a steampunk hulk buster-like mech suit (the Phlogistoneer class) that utilized long ranged weapons for heavy damage. So I built my Lady Katrina to attack in close, attracting enemies so I could pepper them from afar. What I found most useful was her is her ability to pick up items and sell them for you. There is nothing worse than being on a quest with an inventory full of items and you see a legendary drop you want. Having to decide what to drop until you can get back to a merchant to sell items is a pain. She completely eliminates that problem and allows you to continuously push forward.

I was bummed that throughout the first chapters of the game with how much reading I had to do, which was then amplified by a lack of sounds. Yeah you hear the typical howls, the same old kind of eerie music you’d expect with some sort of animal sounds mixed in to make you feel like something is always near you. But the most you get to hear throughout your travels are the magical blasts, claw swings and hearing yourself grunt from pain. Now don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy reading. It’s just that in terms of story, there wasn’t much to hang on to. The long chats between characters might have helped to establish the setting or lore but not enough to compel me to fight. Then there’s the fact that the banter between characters, at times, was pretty good. Not building upon Helsing and Lady Katrina’s relationship was a missed opportunity. There could have been a comedic relief in the realm of gloom and darkness that wasn’t taken advantage of due to the lack of voice overs. The moments we have in the cutscenes are fun, but they are so few and far between that adventuring becomes mundane at times.

I won’t hammer on that too much because the game has so much more than its musical score and lack of voice work. The constant leveling, battling strange beasts, and collecting cool loot was entertaining for the most part. As I was playing through this game though, I quickly realized how much this game is built around multiplayer. Even though a single player mode is available, it feels significantly better when playing with friends; there are some monsters that can take a significate beating before going down. Hordes of enemies all attacking during major boss fights made things worse as your attention was always divided. Having some friends around (preferably using classes that compliment your own) help stave off death.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t go solo. Just that it can get rather frustrating, especially in the later episodes when you have to complete objectives while dispatching foes. Defending a position or a group of NPCs can be challenging when all along.

One of the things I will champion for NeoCore is how simple the control scheme is. For years I worried about being able to even play PC games because I have been attached to a controller for so long. A keyboard when gaming can be quite intimidating, so having a game with controls simple enough for even a rookie like me to be able to play says a great deal about your game. I quickly adapted to this controls/key placements on the keyboard and was adequate within no time. I have gotten lost in games having to look down to remember which key controls a specific command. I am just glad to have been able to adjust quickly because this game becomes difficult fast.

Another thing that NeoCore excelled at was the game’s visuals. From character detail, to level design, I enjoyed Van Helsing’s unique art style. I loved building up my character and just being in awe of how awesome I began to look as I battled further into the game. The character designs were outstanding and creepy at times; they made sure to up the ugly for some of these monsters. You would think after hours and hours of gameplay that I would have run into multiple generic beasts but I was pleasantly surprised. Each diverse level design also came with its own enemies that looked entirely different from the next throughout each episode. I loved running into fantasy beasts like werewolves, well until I realize that I couldn’t kill said werewolf and a pack of them took me out.

I am glad that my first review of this sort of game was a positive one. The Van Helsing trilogy featured hours upon hours of difficult and exciting battles, so much so that I’d be willing to play through these adventures again. With the first episode being free on Xbox live right now (for Gold members), there is no reason for you to at least try this out…unless of course, you’re on PC like me. Still, I’d recommend giving it a go. I mean, who doesn’t like slaying monsters?