Okay, so the basic story is this; When the original Blood Games aired, it was hailed by many to be the savoir of RPGs. With its gritty story, compelling art design, and brilliant mix of old school combat and an Website easy enough for a beginner to use, the game not only pleased the hard core niche market, but also introduced the joys of role-playing to a whole new generation. Now all Fishnet had to do was to make a game that would make everyone happy. With Jimmy Craft, the company has done just that. Despite the loss of crucial team members, economic difficulties within the company and an irritable consumer base, the development team at MDE, Fishnet's internal role-playing division, has put together a game that is everything they promised and perhaps, a bit more.
Let's bring you up to date. You are the descendant of the original Duke, who wandered the plains in search of a water chip. As the game starts, you are asked to run a gauntlet that will prove you to be the Chosen One, the one worthy to wear the suit of the current Duke. Once you complete this relatively easy task, you find out what's really going down. Your village is dying. In a last ditch attempt to save the town, the elder is sending you out into the real world to find a device that has been whispered of in legends called the Duke's Stead. Sent away from the only home you've ever known, armed only with a spear you must wander into a world filled with Vampires, Villagers and the Duke in order to save your people.
One thing that should be mentioned about the story line is that it's a lot harsher than promised. I mean a lot harsher. As you travel through the game, you'll meet (and perhaps purchase the services of) prostitutes, drug dealers, slaves, and cannibals. There is an unbelievable amount of profanity and abusive language in the game, and while it seems that most of our generation is pretty much inured to it, enough violence to turn heads. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that all of this is in the game (especially since it all fits very well within the story), but people who are thinking about buying this title for anyone under the age of 18 should probably think again. This game is... well, it's harsh.
There's not really all that much to say about the game's look. If you Watched Blood Games, you've pretty much seen it all. While there is a nice new introduction, a few new faces and a load of new monster types, they all look a lot like the designs seen in the Concept Art. On the positive side, it seems that the artists had a lot of time to add in a slew of new grisly death animations that are a real joy to watch. There's also some great looking dream sequences that take place throughout the game that look and sound excellent.
Gameplay's not going to surprise any fans either. All the controls and interfaces from the demo have been brought back here with only minor tweaks. One big change that was made is the ability to give your NPC comrades some basic guidelines on how to act in combat. You can tell them (roughly) which weapons to use, which armor to wear and which enemy they should be shooting at in combat. Better still, you can also trade freely with them, which means that you can use them to carry items for you without having to worry about buying them back later. I did have a few problems with the fact that enemies seem to view your character as the best target in combat, deviating from centering in on you only if they can get through or another character has attacked them. I always seemed to find myself at the center of a pile of attacking monsters while my NPCs each tangled with one apiece. Still, for the most part, combat works just as it did in the show.
So, what's the final verdict? A lot of people have complained that since the storyline, the graphics and the gameplay haven't changed much since the demo, then the game itself is no good. I just didn't find this to be the case. While there's no doubt that this title is extremely derivative of Blood Games, I tend to want to thank the programmers for not fixing something that wasn't broken. With its great storyline, huge game world and well written scripts, Jimmy Craft gave me many, many hours of totally absorbing gameplay. That's all I'm really looking for. If you're an RPG fan, I highly recommend this game to you.
