The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II picks up right where the first game ended and throws players right back into the battle for Borgovia, this time challenging the would-be warlord General Harker for control of Borgova's streets and Borgovia's future. Much like any real revolution, there's a lot of slogging around in the streets.
The same game engine that powered the first entry in the series is back in play and it's still up to the task of putting out a gorgeous environment, whether it's the steampunk streets of Borgova or the wintery woods of the Borgovian countryside. Since the sequel came out so quickly, there hasn't really been much time to do much in the way of new and improved stuff. It still holds up well, and new characters are definitely present, but those looking for more bells and whistles visually are probably going to be left unsatisfied. In the same vein, there's not much new in the sound department. While there's a new soundtrack that incorporates elements of the first one and new dialogue from the voice actors, there's the dangerous sense of sameness from the audio side of things.
If there's any obvious changes, it's the gameplay, and even here there's a lot of familiar elements.
The basic Diablo-style action is still here, along with its still overly complicated power-up scheme for the different powers. The tower defense portion is still here with traps and hordes of enemies. The lair is still here, with all of the different vendors as well as some new additions. The excellent writing and references to various books and movies are still very much in place. Adding to this are the elements of “Resistance HQ” where you dispatch NPCs to perform missions which will net you items and cash, and the new Chimera pet, a short term summon which you can modify and improve by sending it on adventures of its own or summon in the heat of battle.
While the Chimera might be a welcome addition, the added measure of managing the Resistance occasionally feels like an extraneous drag on your time and attention, particularly when you're receiving prompts to return to the lair while you're in the middle of a massive brawl.
Speaking of brawls, Van Helsing II seems to have some of the same problems that Diablo III ran into on its initial release, specifically mobs where the monsters were so boosted with special abilities that they were damned near impossible to fight without dying horribly and rapidly. It becomes a slog that gets old fast, particularly when you've also got adds getting spawned at a hellacious rate on top of that. It almost feels like you have to bring in a character from the first game in order to have a hope of not being brutally murdered. The interface for power-ups is still hard to manage in the middle of a fight and there are seemingly way too many enemies have powers which are the monster equivalent of an “I win!” button. But then there are areas which you go through which are practically no trouble at all. It adds up to a deeply uneven challenge level across the game.
Fans of the first game will undoubtedly enjoy porting their old characters into this one to experience all new adventures, but they might chafe at having more stuff to do that doesn't directly involve slaughtering mobs of monsters. New players to the series will undoubtedly enjoy all the pop culture references scattered throughout the game and the humorous banter between Van Helsing and his constant companion Katarina, but they may feel like they're operating at a disadvantage for a large part of a game that was probably too big to be an expansion pack.
- Axel Cushing
The Good:
- Excellent writing and characterization
- Good visual style
- Great atmospheric soundtrack
The Bad:
- Interface is still a pain to operate
- Uneven challenge level
- Too much management detracts from the hack-and-slash
