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Overview

Released on November 16, 2004 by the ill-fated Troika Games, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is an RPG based on White Wolf's World of Darkness universe (which is in turn based on a million nerdy goth fantasies.) Like Activision's Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, Bloodlines is set in White Wolf, Inc.'s Vampire: The Masquerade universe, but it is not a sequel to the earlier game. The game allows the player to choose one of several different vampire clans and progress through the game according to the different strengths and weaknesses of the player's character, as in its paper and pencil role-playing origins. Bloodlines is notable for being the first game along with Half-Life 2 to use Valve's Source engine, which allows the game to be played from either the first-person or third-person shooter perspective. You play a recently turned vampire who, through no fault of your own, becomes embroiled in a bloody power struggle over an ancient sarcophagus.

Tricks

Since VTMB uses an early early beta version of Valve's Source engine, it's definitely buggy. The good thing is that many of the same physics bugs/tricks you'd expect from a Half-Life game are present (minus accelerated-back-hopping). Many of these tricks are inherited from the original Quake (the engine which was the basis for Half-Life). All numbers are shown as Units-Per-Second (a unit being the measured distance of 1 in the game engine).

Player Velocity

Unlike most games, the key you're using to move can greatly affect how fast you move. Another interesting aspect, is that male characters do NOT move the same speed as female characters. F=forward, B=backward, L=left, R=Right, J=jump.

• Male

F=188, B=205, L=207, R=207.99, FR=201.53, FL=203.69, BL=179.01, BR=203.65

• Female

F=193, B=126, L=156, R=156.01, FR=218.50, FL=209.35, BL=109.81, BR=125.16

• Male Crouched

F=65, B=62, L=69, R=68, FR=64.07, FL=65.22, BL=70.72, BR=64.07

• Female Crouched

F=67, B=64, L=71, R=70, FR=65.46, FL=63.81, BL=72.86, BR=70

• Jump (male/female standing/crouched)

J=175.40 (subject to acceleration ramp)

Air Control

While in the air, you have a lot more control over your character's velocity direction than most games. The easiest is by using the strafe (sidestep) keys, while other (flashier) methods combine other movement keys. The basic idea is that your movement keys always point to the center of a circle, and your mouse is used to turn in the direction of that circle. Just remember that this only works while your character is off of the ground.

• Strafe only

When holding only a strafe key, turn the mouse in the same direction. If you're holding left strafe, turn the mouse left. Same goes for turning right. If done correctly, you can steer your character in the air while moving forward.

• Other key combos (forward/backward+strafe, only forward/backward, etc)

This is where things can get tricky. Remember that whatever combination of keys you're holding HAVE to point towards the center of your circle and your mouse movements will steer your character around that circle. Your screen may be looking at something completely different, but as long as you turn at the correct angle you will steer yourself in that circular motion.

Wallrunning

By walking forward and holding strafe to push along a wall you can be accelerated. But like normal walking speeds, male and female characters will have different speeds. At the perfect mouse angle, males can achieve up to 300 both on the left and right sides. Females can average 310 on the left and 320 on the right.

Wiggle Walking

This is achieved by walking forward and rapidly tapping the left and right strafe keys in succession. Males can achieve an average range of 230-250 while females can achieve an average range of 250-260.