I feel dirty. I need to take a week-long shower and scrub myself until I bleed. I, Alex Rogers, am a freak. There must be some sort of support group I can go to to talk to others with my painful affliction. No, who am I kidding? Surely I'm the only male in England, nay the world who doesn't watch Buffy. Yes, that's right I'M A MAN AND I DON'T WATCH BUFFY! Oh the shame. Due to the fact that I'm not one of the billions of pubescent sweaty-palmed vamp killer admirers, don't email us about any trivial mistakes in information about this game about a TV program, it's not worth either of our time to write/read then think of a great cuss to send back and on and... well, you get the picture. Now that's out of the way... on to the review, (scary) woooo!

Like the TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (BTVS, sounds like a disease, no?) is set in the sleepy town of Sunnydale. The problem is, Sunnydale has been created on top of a Hellmouth. Now, a Hellmouth is a crack in the world between ours and the underworld and a beacon to demons. As you can see, this poses a problem. Especially when it opens and all hell (quite literally) spills into the town. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! If there were any justice, yes but this time it's down to one Buffy Summers – martial artist in the extreme and general vampire-hater.

Gameplay:
The first thing that is apparent when playing the game is that it certainly won't be taxing your brain, it's light on puzzle and heavy on combat. Not a problem if the combat is varied, deep and exciting. And to be honest, it's not bad. You come equipped with a few basic combos to start with and more are unlocked as you progress throughout the game. To begin with, the tutorial leads you very nicely into the world of vampire slaying and has you up against a lone vampire quite quickly as you get to grips with the basics of combat. Savour this as the battles get quite frantic further on into the game as you get ganged up on by quite a few vamps leading to some fluid and memorable battles. Unfortunately, seeing as they're the undead and all, they won't stay down unless you drive a stake/arrow etc through their heart. Remember this.

However, on the flip side, there are levels where you won't encounter a single vampire and all you get thrown are zombies, skeletons and various other undead creatures. The problem with this is that the fighting engine is so well balanced for vampires, what with the tactical side of stake-in-heart tenseness, facing up to other enemies just feels a little empty.

Oh yeah, avoid water at all costs. Especially deep water. One touch equals instant death. Maybe fighting legions of hell never allowed her time to learn how to pick a brick up from the bottom of a swimming pool in her pyjamas.

Graphics:
If there was one job I would hate above all others, even cleaning toilets with my tongue, is to be the designer of the camera in a 3D game. Nightmare. Buffy's camera copes well with outside locations but falls flat of the common mistakes inside. Don't get me wrong, it works fine most of the time, just that it always swings to face you at the most critical moment.

On a more positive note, all credit to the artists and animators for Buffy's amazing look. Not just the character but the scenery, lighting and effects are fantastic. The animation is fluid, especially when fighting and the graphics/animation really do go well to making this an atmospheric game.

Sound:
Now, to me this is weird. The entire cast have been used to provide voices in the game apart from one Mrs Sarah Michelle Gellar/Prinze Jr. She's the star of the show, the show that put her where she is and she can't provide the voice for her character in the game, when everyone else has! Not to matter anyway, the replacement sounds exactly like her so I'm told by a buffyfan friend. The music is atmospheric and adds to the feels of the game nicely, which due to the nature of the game is pretty essential.

Longevity:
Buffy won't take very long to complete, maybe 10-12 hrs for the average player and there's not much that will make you want to go and play it again once you've completed it. It's all very linear and it would have been great to see multiple paths and outcomes to make you want to play it again. I mean, what if (for example) a choice you make a few levels back affects the situation you are currently in. Even a path for completing the game but failing to close the Hellmouth and all manner of demons spilling out. It worked for Silent Hill and made me want to play again to see the different endings. Just an idea, anyway.

Round Up:
I must admit, when I first picked up Buffy (the game, stoopid) my thoughts were a little negative. After playing it, however, i can say that it is a worthwhile purchase for fans of the series and action-junkies alike. While the levels are a little unbalanced, the action is frantic and exciting enough to keep you playing. Although the AI is a little suspect in places and the camera work suffers from the usual setbacks, it's not enough to stop you playing. A surprisingly fun game albeit rather short.

Pros:

• Solid action game
  
• Great voice acting
  
• One of the better attempts at TV to videogame translation
  

  Cons:
  

  • Water will kill you instantly
    
  • Short lifespan
    
  • Little replay incentive