PC (Steam)
Released 28/10/2013
6/10
‘Blood of the Werewolf’ takes it all back to basics: classic retro platforming. Although it throws in some extra stuff too – notably the werewolf. A game full of tribute to classic monster movies, it might have the horror geek in you excited, but be prepared for a tough journey.
You play as werewolf woman Selena, whose husband has been killed and child abducted. You are the only one who can avenge your love and save your baby. Armed with a crossbow in human form and brute strength as a beast, you have to master two different play styles and use them depending on whether you find yourself in moonlight or in shadow.
It is standard fare as a platforming game to have your hero overcome obstacles, jumping puzzles and traps while dodging and destroying enemies. That’s no different here. As you’d expect, there are a few secrets to uncover in hidden corners of the stages, which give you extra helpful rewards: power ups and special attacks. Enemies come with basic pattern behaviour rather than AI, so you can predict much of what they will do and attack accordingly.
It’s all fairly run of the mill, with nothing particularly outstanding about it. Being able to aim your crossbow with the mouse rather than simply shooting forwards is fairly novel and makes you feel a little more tactical in your attacks.
The things that you do notice however, unfortunately are the bad things. The werewolf form has a focus attack which is automatically readied if you do not swipe for a few seconds. It is then used as your next basic claw swipe. This can be annoying if you would rather use the heavy power of the focus attack when you need it and stick to basic clawing in the meantime.
The control system is simple enough to learn. In practice it can be fiddly. You need to hold shift to grab and use ladders. Pressing up or down will prompt a jump or crouch accordingly. Should you be hanging from a ladder and forget to hold shift when you want to move, you’ll just let go. As there are a lot of ladders hanging over dangerous pits and waters, this little niggle becomes a big problem. Combining this with speed jumping puzzles where you need to jump from platform to ladder to platform in various combinations means a lot of hopping on and off the shift key, and add to that various monsters firing projectiles at you while bats knock you off your footing, it requires a certain amount of precision that sometimes feels a little too much to ask.
Depending on the player though, perhaps this precision will be taken as more of a fun challenge. The deadly traps that require split second reaction times and accurate jumps and landings to escape can be as much of a thrill as a frustration. Regular checkpoints in the stages soothe the blow of defeat, so if you fail you’re always tempted to have one more go.
It’s an attractive game, and it is simple and charming enough to keep your attention, so if you like a challenge, this is a good choice.
