Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is the fourth video game based on the Buffy franchise and the first multiplatform one. This is also the first game to allow players to control characters other than Buffy.
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds | |
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| File:Chaos Bleeds (PS2 Video Game).jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Eurocom |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Release | August 27, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
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Story
From the instruction manual: "When Buffy Summers discovers that an enemy from the past, Ethan Rayne, is at the center of a great struggle with The First, literally the first incarnation of evil the world has ever known, she and the gang must face an undead army of vampires, zombies, and demons to keep these nefarious villains from casting the world into permanent darkness."
The plot also involves different alternate realities bleeding into Buffy's own reality, leading to the reappearance of deceased enemies like Kakistos and the appearance of evil versions of allies, including a vampire Tara.
The story is set during the television series' fifth season.
Characters
Enemies
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Voice Actors
- Amber Benson: Tara Maclay
- Nicholas Brendon: Xander Harris
- Eliza Dushku: Faith
- Anthony Stewart Head: Rupert Giles
- Giselle Loren: Buffy Summers/Anya
- James Marsters: Spike
- Robin Sachs: Ethan Rayne
- Kari Wahlgren: Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan was unavailable due to her shooting schedule for American Wedding[1])
- Joss Whedon: Himself (Multiplayer only)
Levels
There are 12 levels in the game. Names in parenthesis indicate the character(s) that the player controls during that level.
- The Magic Box (Tutorial; Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike)
- Cemetery (Buffy)
- Blood Factory (Xander, Willow)
- The Magic Box Revisited (Buffy)
- Downtown Sunnydale (Buffy)
- Sunnydale Hospital (Buffy, Sid)
- Sunnydale High School (Xander)
- The Quarry House (Faith)
- The Initiative Base (Spike)
- Sunnydale Mall (Willow)
- Sunnydale Zoo (Buffy)
- The First's Lair (Buffy)
There are also 4 levels in the multi-player mode: Sunnydale Zoo, Cemetery, Initiative Hangar and the Quarry.
Game Features
- As well as the single-player story mode, the game features several different multi-player games. These are:
- "Survival" - player-on-player combat
- "Bunny Catcher" - players compete to collect rabbits
- "Slayer Challenge" - a single player must defeat as many enemies as possible (additional players can take control of the enemies)
- "Domination" - players must compete to control magical pentagrams for as long as possible.
- At first, only one map (Sunnydale Zoo) and four characters (Buffy, Spike, Willow, Xander) are available. More become unlocked as you play through the game and find secret areas.
- "DVD-style" extras can be unlocked by finding certain secret areas during the single-player game. These include interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and also the Chaos Bleeds tie-in comic book.
Tie-ins
- A comic book prequel was published by Dark Horse. Its story was set just before the game (the comic's blurb confirms that it is set in season five) and established the idea that the walls between realities were dissolving and the realities were 'bleeding' into each other. The comic was also available in the game itself as an unlockable special feature. Additionally, the comic was reprinted as part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2005 Annual in Britain.
- There was also a novelization published by Pocket Books. The author, James A. Moore, used the storyline originally developed by Christopher Golden for the game.
Trivia
- The game's blurb claims that in multi-player mode there are "over 24" characters to choose from. In reality, there are exactly 24 different characters to choose from, not more.