Games Xtreme returns to Borgovia and attempts to slay some monsters!
Not that Van Helsing, the other one.
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was a fun, if somewhat flawed gem of a game that cast you in the role of the son of the famous monster hunter. With your side-kick, snide, daring, and quite dead ghostly Katarina in tow. It was very much a Diablo-clone, with loot driven gameplay, scads of monsters to slay and experience points to accrue. It had a huge skill tree, and whilst a lot of the skills weren't at all meaningful in many ways, there was a lot more choice than say Diablo 3 UEE.
It wasn't really a short game either, the levels were quite big, and whilst buggy it delivered a good chunk of adventure action for the money. Taking your character to around level 30.
It also brought in another style of gameplay, Tower Defence. You had a lair, you had to defend it with monsters, and traps you could setup in the first phase of the mini-game. It felt somewhat jarring, unrefined, and frankly it wasn't as much fun as Diablo-ing around to butcher all those monsters!
Then the game ended on a cliffhanger.
Van Helsing II
This brings me to the return of Van Helsing, in the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II. I want to get this out of the way here, there's a lot going for this game, but at the moment it seems to crash now and then, forcing you to quit and then restart the game. There are also some frame-rate hitches and some moments where your damage against the bad guys just doesn't seem to be balanced to the beating you can take from them, and I've played Diablo 3 UEE on Torment 10 so far, so I know all about murderous monster balance damage wise.
Beyond the intermittent crashes, which only happen very often, and the odd frame-rate hitch, the game's a lot of fun. It's better than the first one by far, and even lets you pull in your character from Van Helsing I if you have a level 30, or start a new level 30 right away. Van Helsing II also follows right on from the first game, proving a coherent story (which I won't spoil). Suffice it to say that you'll soon be fighting more bad guys, running around big new areas, and doing lots of side quests.
So, how different is it?
Very little has changed between I and II in terms of the core gameplay, it does feel smoother, and many of the systems feel a little better. What has changed drastically is the Lair side of the game, now you have a very Assassin's Creed (especially Black Flag) style system
where you recruit/train, and send out on missions a bunch of resistance members/leaders (who can level up). These missions remind me of the stuff from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood as well.
In terms of your character, you can now play the 2 classes that were DLCs from the first game right out of the gate - so that's great news if you've got a DLC based character to level 30 and you want to carry on playing in this game. The Arcane Mechanic (summons robot spiders), and Thamaturge (Mage type) are the two classes on offer.
The biggest change is in the Tower Defence (Lair Defence) side of the game. It's now larger, more expansive, and a lot more fun. You still have the portals where the bad guys spawn, but you can now build a plethora of traps, weapons, things to slow down your foes, and the best bit, you can upgrade them too. It feels more fleshed-out, better designed, and more importantly it's easier to play and keep track of where your assets are now.
It's still round/wave based, but the grind seems to have been taken out of it, and the monotony too.
What a performance.
Van Helsing II is a good looking game, it's certainly no slouch in terms of graphics, but there's something that feels a little lite in terms of the spell effects physical damage against opponents. There's not enough bang for your buck as some of my American friends would say. As previously mentioned when the special effects kick off for some of the bigger spells and abilities, things can slow down a bit, but compared to the first game it's negligible really.
It's well animated, the voice work is on par with the first game, slightly over the top in places, but tolerable. The music is good, and the sound work is solid. I've not noticed any audio hitches or glitches at all.
The final monster in the shadow.
Overall it's a good game, not a great, or a fantastic one. There's a lot to see and do if you're fond of the Diablo-style gameplay of this genre of action-adventure. There's the extra layer of tactical resource management and a bunch of extra things to discover via the Lair, and the Lair Defence mini-game isn't as much of a chore in Van Helsing I.
So on that basis, I certainly have no issue in saying the game's worth a punt.