Developed by Tricktale
Released for Xbox Live Indie Games (6/2010)
Also on Windows Phone
Vampire Rage is a vertical bullet-hell shoot 'em up, a genre that is no stranger to the Xbox 360. Rather than piloting a ship like in most traditional shmups, in this title you play as a floating vampire out to revenge the death of his woman. Unlike many vertical shooters, this one is locked in widescreen view so there's no options to support monitor rotation, but the playfield is wide and takes up the screen as opposed to being cropped. As far as I can tell, the game was only released for the Xbox 360 and the now defunct Windows Phone platform. The development team was comprised of only three people and with this taken into consideration, Vampire Rage is quite competently put together and is a game worth checking out for shmup fanatics.
Your character sprite appears a bit large but the game grants you a generous hitbox and even though it's not clearly defined it never was a problem during gameplay. Similar to most modern shmups, you have two rates of fire, a spread shot while tapping the fire button and a focused laser shot when holding it. Your rate of movement also slows while holding the fire button, making it a bit easier to sneak around some of the tighter bullet spreads. Unlike most shooters, the game doesn't feature a bomb to save you in times of panic, but to compensate for this you have a sword attack that will reflect bullets in addition to damaging any enemies within its radius. The sword attack will only reflect the pink projectiles, so you can't just send everything flying back. The sword can be used as frequently as you need but there is a brief recharge time required after each use. If you use the sword amidst a large number of projectiles, you'll form a vortex that acts like a bomb and will damage all nearby enemies. The sword is a cool feature though it does tend to make the game a bit on the easy side, especially on the normal difficulty.
The graphics and presentation of Vampire Rage are definitely above average. The menus are all easy to navigate and the in-game graphics are composed of high-res art rather than the normal pixel art you'll normally see in shmups. The backgrounds will frequently repeat themselves throughout the levels, but what's there looks good. The enemies are a variety of demon type things, and there's a decent variety of them between stages. There are brief story segments offered before each stage with accompanying artwork that definitely looks a bit amateur but gets the job done well enough. The biggest issue with the game is that there are only three stages on hand. Each stages ends with a boss battle and the levels themselves are of decent length but the entire game can be completed in about 10-15 minutes. The game states that the story is to be continued at the end but with the game being eight years old at the time of this review it's unlikely that the sequel will ever see the light of day. I really feel like the game could have used another two or three stages, but I'm sure the developers have their reasons why corners had to be cut.
Vampire Rage offers two difficulty modes: normal and rage. Normal mode starts the player off with five lives while in rage mode you'll start with only three. Normal mode is good for beginners or those who just want to see the game and rage will definitely be enjoyed by those who welcome a challenge. There is also support for local two-player coop gameplay, allowing the second player to join in anytime throughout the game. The game keeps tabs on your high scores and at one point offered an online leaderboard, but with the age of the game and the deletion of the indie games marketplace this feature is no longer functioning. I really enjoyed Vampire Rage and would have definitely been interested in the sequel but unfortunately it appears the series will never continue as the developers blog hasn't been updated since 2012. The game is incredibly short but I still found it to be a worthwhile experience and one I come back to play again every now and then.
Final Verdict: Vampire Rage is a short game but well worth a look for shmup fans. It's good fun batting bullets back at enemies with your sword!
Related Links:
Tricktale - Developers Blog
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