Blood 2 is a title that appeared right on the very edge when old school shooters like Duke Nuked 3D turned into what we know as shooters today, like CoD and Half-Life. And one could say this was an inbetween variant, or a missing link so to say. Blood 2 already had the proper 3-D graphics (although crude), yet the gameplay still was the standard shoot-everything-find-key-open-door-shoot-more experience. It was a last moment attempt to keep the formula of old shooters alive by renewing their look. And, although, the class of games changed forever since then, this title was still in its own way a success. But not due to mechanics or graphics, but more because of the atmosphere and creativity put into it. Blood (as you would guess from the title) is all about sadistic violence. And the title delivers on that perfectly. At the time it was a gust of fresh breeze to see a game like this, that gave close to zero craps about the possible social backlash it would cause. The level of bloody carnage in this game is hilariously high. Shooting people with bullets causes them to explode in chunks of flesh and gore. Want to restore some health? Eat a beating heart you just pulled out of a dead enemy. Or better yet – slice a civilian with a knife and take his freshly beating organ. The amount of guns you get to do your dirty job is at least twice the size you had in regular shooter titles, and most of them had nifty alternate firing modes. Throw in a dark and ominous atmosphere, add a portion of gritty demonic enemies, mix it up with a devilishly charismatic protagonist and sparkle the mixture with diabolical humor. What you get? Perhaps a serial killer’s fantasy come true or a meatgrinder that makes you smile. Whatever your take on Blood 2, one thing is certain – this is a game with a character. A personality that stands out and makes you remember it. It may be old and linear, but its still a bloody fun rollercoaster. The only downside would be the overshadowed cast of secondary characters…that are just there… And the often recycled locations that you run through over and over again, revisiting the place you’ve already been through. The boss fights are rather direct and blatant, although that is expected from a game of the era, and the ending is quite abrupt. But its still a solid chunk of bloody viscera, being what it was supposed to be in the first place – a chance to be a murderous douchebag while saving the world.