Blood is a PC game developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive. Released 31 May, 1997, it utilized the first Build engine from Ken Silverman to feature voxels. It is a first-person shooter game apparently set in the 1920s, incorporating technology and weaponry of that era plus science-fictional anachronisms.
Blood, with its arsenal of curious weapons, numerous enemies, and liberal amounts of gore, truly does justice to its name. Disturbingly for its time, certain enemies would scream as they were set on fire or otherwise injured, while other characters' heads could be shot off and kicked around. A sequel to Blood, called Blood II: The Chosen was released 31 October, 1998. Featuring the advanced Monolith Lithtech 3D engine, Blood 2 was vastly superior to the first installment in terms of graphics quality, but fell short in atmosphere and gameplay. Besides featuring the return of Blood's protagonist Caleb, Blood 2 also included three new playable characters: Ophelia, Ishmael and Gabriella.Story
The game's hero (or anti-hero) is a man named Caleb (voiced by Stephan Weyte). Once the top general of a cult called The Cabal, which worshipped the god Tchernobog (called "The Voice" in the credits and played by Jason Hall, CEO of Monolith), he, along with his assumed lover Ophelia Price and two others, are killed in 1851 for unspecified "failures" in the god's name. Declaring "I live AGAIN!" (a reference to the film Army of Darkness), Caleb suddenly rises from his grave 77 years later wanting vengeance and answers, in no particular order. Blood will flow as he treks across the world through various Cabal strongholds and back into Hell itself.
Garbed in a dark cloak and broad-brimmed hat and with eyes glowing crimson, Caleb immediately begins his quest of ridding the world from the minions of Tchernobog. Caleb is a cynical, sarcastic man with a bent towards sadism, taking pleasure in killing almost anything that may impede his quest. Though his pleasure-in-pain obviously removes consideration of Caleb as a true hero, he does have a slight attitude change between Blood and its sequel. By Blood 2, which takes place 100 years after the events of the first game, Caleb has been forced to show more tolerance for innocent bystanders. This does not affect gameplay, however, as he can still kill them in-game without repercussion.
Blood has four episodes filled with atmosphere, dark humour and periodic (occasionally parodic) references to other defining moments in horror games, films, or novels. A small sample:
- In the first episode, the player takes a train from "Miskatonic Station", an homage to Miskatonic University in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.
- In a secret room in the first episode, Caleb finds Duke Nukem hanging upside down with blood dripping from his body. Upon pressing the 'use' key on Duke, Caleb swings his corpse from side to side and utters a Duke Nukem phrase in a cynical, sarcastic way; "Uhh, shake it, baby", somewhat similar to Duke's comment about the Doom space marine in Duke Nukem 3D.
- In the second episode the main character of the movie The Shining, Jack Torrance, can be found frozen, hunched on his knees, and holding an axe in a maze of shrubbery. Upon seeing him, Caleb utters a famous quote from the movie ("Here's Johnny!").
- In the first level of the first episode, Caleb (upon walking up to a bloody sink in the mortuary and pressing the use key) states "Out, out, damned spot!" - a line spoken by Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's Macbeth
- In one level, a secret passage in an apartment complex leads to a room which is based on the movie, Se7en. The room contains a bed in which lies a horribly mangled body above which the word "sloth" is written (an allusion the third murder victim in the movie). As in the movie, small paper Christmas trees air fresheners dangle from the ceiling as well.
- Other "cameos" include Freddy Krueger's signature striped shirt and hat at one point, and Jason Voorhees' mask and machete at another.
The weapons in Blood were fairly revolutionary, most having a secondary attack mode which was not common in computer games at the time. However, like most "new" features in Blood, this has been adopted by almost every subsequent shooter game.Weapons
- Pitchfork: Your basic weapon, available from start. It does not consume ammunition. This is an extremely useful weapon against the axe-wielding zombies and other weak close-range fighters to save ammunition of better weapons. Each prong does 17 body damage, up to a total of 68 body damage per stab.
- Flare gun: It fires a flare that sticks to the targeted enemy and continually deals damage until it burns out. The secondary attack fires a star pattern of multiple flares which explode on contact. While very useful for clearing crowded rooms, the attack needs a minimum distance of travel before the separate flares are deployed from the initial clusters, and thus do full damage. Each flare is 60 fire damage for the primary attack, and the secondary is around 102 fire damage per burst.
- Sawed-off shotgun: Primary attack fires one of two shotgun shells, while secondary attack discharges both barrels at once. Against Stone Beasts, especially with "Guns Akimbo", this is the best weapon for the job. A single barrel deals 64 body damage over the total pellets, while both at once deals 192 body damage over the pellets, 3 times more than a single barrel.
- Tommy gun: Sprays bullets in rapid succession. The secondary attack fires faster and moves the gun from side to side, which is useful for clearing lines of enemies. Each bullet in the primary attack is 12 body damage, and each bullet in the secondary attack is 20 body damage, and fires 14 rounds, meaning 280 body damage gets spread over any enemies hit by it.
- Napalm Cannon: This fires an explosive napalm fireball, equivalent to the rocket launcher of most other games. In the add-on packs, it has a secondary attack that shoots a bouncing ball of napalm that splits into several other balls upon impact which can clear enemies around corners well. This weapon does not lend itself well to rocket jumping, without an invulnerability cheat. The fireball itself is 220 explosion damage, and an additional 20 fire damage, while each ball in the secondary mode is 60 explosion damage and 20 fire damage.
- TNT: Throws a bundle of TNT that explodes on contact. Secondary function ignites the fuse and causes the bundle to explode after a few seconds, like an improvised grenade. A direct hit does 210 explosion damage if the enemy doesn't escape the blast.
- Proximity TNT: TNT bundle with a proximity device that detonates whenever a player (including the one who deployed the mine) or monster comes too close. A direct hit does 210 explosion damage if the enemy doesn't escape the blast.
- Remote TNT: TNT bundle with remote detonator that detonates at the player's will. A direct hit does 210 explosion damage if the enemy doesn't escape the blast.
- Aerosol can: An aerosol can that is used as a flamethrower with the help of a cigarette lighter. Secondary function lights the can and throws it like a Molotov cocktail. Each little spurt of flame is 2-5 fire damage. The secondary toss does 28 explosion damage and up to 84 fire damage for the burning.
- Tesla Cannon: Fires a stream of electrical spheres in a straight line. The secondary attack charges a powerful shot with a large area damage. After the Voodoo doll, the Tesla Cannon is the weapon that can kill a Stone Gargoyle the quickest. The secondary attack can stun enemies for a moment, including the mighty Cerberus boss, but is also a bane to co-operative players (and yourself, if your target is too close) due to its strong splash damage and the uncanny tendency of projectiles to home in on your friends. Each primary electric ball is 18-26 body damage, and the secondary shot deals 169 body damage for a direct hit, and inflicts radius damage to other creatures.
- Life Leech: A weapon in the form of a skull on a pole that shoots balls of fiery, astral death that home in on their target. Can use the player's life as ammunition when the ordinary ammo runs out. Secondary attack puts the Life Leech down and it acts as a sentry, attacking nearby enemies (Plasma-Pak only). It can also be used as a stepping stone to out of the way places. The Blood 2 Life Leech in addition can leech the hit points of its target, but the original Blood's version cannot, despite popular belief. Each ball does 20 body damage and 34 fire damage from burning. The secondary shots deal roughly 3-5 spirit damage.
- Voodoo doll: Stabbing the voodoo doll with no target in your sights causes the player to hurt himself. A torso hit to the intended target causes medium damage to the target. A head hit causes temporary blindness. A hit in the crotch does extra damage. Secondary attack makes a sweeping motion with the hand across the doll, which depletes its energy to cause more damage as a last resort. Rather overpowered (it could kill most bosses in a couple of hits), the secondary attack was later toned down in the add-on pack. Normal pokes can inflict either 11 spirit damage, 17 spirit damage, or if a crotch hit occurs, 50 bonus spirit damage. A perfect hit with the secondary attack does 193 spirit damage.
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