First things first, let me be honest here… I’ve never played either of the Bloodrayne games, nor have I watched the Bloodrayne movie and it’s two direct-to-video sequels. In fact, I was so out of touch with the franchise before playing Betrayal that I didn’t even realize the main character was (at least partially) a vampire. Luckily, as I understand it, the only similarities between Bloodrayne: Betrayal and its predecessors are the story and characters. Jumping from a 3D action-adventure game to a 2D sidescroller was an interesting move by Betrayal developers Majesco & Wayforward, but with their new take on the series, it was quite a pleasant surprise to me.

Visuals

I’m a sucker for any cel-shaded / cartoon style video game, so I was immediately drawn in when I first gave Betrayal a shot. Both the characters and backgrounds are drawn so sharply, complementing the feel of the game very well. The character animations are quick but clear, allowing the player to see the carnage they wreak on vampire, electric frog, giant mosquito, and mummy clones alike.

Gameplay

While the visuals of the game were what first drew me in, the gameplay is what got me hooked. The combat mechanics are extremely fun. Shooting, slicing, and dicing badies is extremely satisfying, especially with handfuls of them at a time. This is where combos come in big time. Survival is solely based on multiple consecutive attacks on large numbers of baddies. What really makes the gameplay fun, however, is her defensive moves. Jumping, wall jumping, jumping off enemy heads, dashing, blood sucking (for health replenishment and undead makeshift bombs), and backflipping fill out the list. I literally spent twenty minutes just playing with these moves. After the completion of each chapter, the player is graded on style and how fast they were able to make it to the end. Granted, I never got above an “F”, but I’m not quite sure that’s even possible.