Engines of Destruction: Blood (1997)

"I live... again."

A fitting line from the protagonist of 1997's "Blood" by Monolith and 3D Realms. While it could be argued that "Shadow Warrior" is the most advanced of the Build engine brood, "Blood" is definitely special in its own way.

By 1997, the gaming world already had a taste of 3D shooters, thanks to "Quake" and "Goldeneye 007." With "Blood," we're still kickin' it old school with sprites and voxels. The occasional voxel sprite gives the illusion of 3D objects, and the level terrain is varied enough to give a sense of true 3D.

What it lacks in technical prowess, "Blood" makes up for in... wait for it... blood. The gore level is extremely high. Anything in the environment that is -- or was -- a living being can be turned into giblets. Corpses, defenseless shirtless dudes, horrifying demons... all are pink on the inside.

The plot would be cooler if it were fleshed out more. Unfortunately, all we get are a handful of cutscenes to set up each level. They're rendered in 3D... very badly rendered, at that. Go on YouTube and take a gander at the rest.






The gameplay is where "Blood" really shines. The weapons are visceral and satisfying. Shotguns, Tommy guns, dynamite, and an assortment of mystical and sci-fi weaponry bring the pain nicely. There's even dual wielding (limited to a powerup scattered throughout the levels). There's an inventory to manage, but it can largely be ignored. Finding keys, however, is a must and can be a pain at times.

There's a lot of enemies to blast through... including a few that, for some reason, can't be killed once they attach to you. This leads to a lot of paranoid saving and keeping the dynamite handy just in case the little bastards are lurking in the next room.

Through DOSBox emulation and the games own settings, I configured the game to run with WASD and mouse aim controls. Given that this is a later Build engine game, mouse look works fairly well. Frankly, I can't imagine life without it. Actually, I could. I could just play "Doom" or "Doom 2" again.

Finally, my favorite part of "Blood" is the anti-hero protagonist, Caleb. He's brutal and full of dark humor, much more subtle than Duke Nukem or Lo Wang. There are plenty of Easter eggs to find in the game, but I won't spoil them for you. That's what YouTube is for.

"Blood" would be right at home on the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. It has the obligatory multiplayer deathmatch and a co-op mode. It's not a 3D Realms property; it was sold to Monolith just before its release. So the chances of it appearing again are better. But I'm not sure how certain games make it to Xbox Live arcade... maybe we should start a letter writing campaign?

In any case, "Blood" is definitely worth picking up. Don't wait for it to come out on XBLA, get it for PC now. If you have any questions about how to get the game and set it up, shoot me an email. In the meantime, I have a bunch of other classics to dust off.