Blood II – The Nightmare Levels

The official add-on pack for Blood II, called The Nightmare Levels, relies a lot on nostalgia from the first game to get the action across, but otherwise doens’t really surpass the quality of the second game’s level design. Caleb and the other Chosen start the game gathered around a campfire, telling stories about past adventures. The player is then swept back, flashback-style, to assume the role of each storyteller and kill some bad guys. New levels include a hedge maze, a ghost town, a zombie-infested house, a carnival, and a gnarly visit to Hell itself.

New weapons include the Flayer (a magical grappling hook with a rope attached to it) and a nifty Combat Shotgun with a lot of punch. The new monster category is filled by Gremlinsâ€” yes, those Gremlins. Also present are mutated hellhounds called Nightmares and the evil monks who were so memorable in the first game – they even have the same instant, god-like reaction time. Perhaps the strangest addition of all is the new deathmatch soccer option where you kick around zombie heads.

Old problems from Blood 2 have been transferred over as well, including some unbalanced gameplay – the first mission, for instance, is punishingly difficult at times, while the second (where you get the Flayer) is a lot more easier. These level design inconsistencies rampage throughout the suitably named Nightmare Levels. The new monsters are hardly interesting, and the old ones are continually limped by the seemingly unchanged flaky AI from Blood 2.