Vampire: Bloodlines Preview
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Vampires thrive on secrecy. They don't want the world of men learning about their existence and hunting them to extinction. Bloodlines adheres to this recluse philosophy to life by instituting something analogous to Grand Theft Auto's police star rating system, only here it's called masquerade. If a citizen sees a vampire slaughter someone, that counts as a deduction. So watch what you eat. Losing too many masquerade points means ruining the masquerade itself, which in turn implies a swift burial. Watch...what...you...eat. Of course, there are areas of the game designed specifically for uninhibited combat and stealth. In such places where keeping up the masquerade is no longer necessary, a small icon will appear indicating to the player that he or she is free to go nuts with the bullets and the teeth.
The final twist on play is humanity. This tangible metric acts as a representation of the careful balance between light and dark that takes place within each vampire. It is necessary to feed, but also dangerous if the masquerade is to be kept up and more dangerous still if you're not counting innocent calories. Without a proper supply of fresh blood pumping through the veins of the undead, vampires will fall into a frenzy, which causes them to attack the nearest thing, masquerade or not. But, just feeding on the sweet, obese populous of L.A. will decrease humanity, also driving a vamp insane.
