"Must be Ash Wednesday!" These are the words Xander Harris speaks after dusting a bad guy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, and they make me deliriously happy. I clock Nicholas Brendon's dry, sarcastic drawl almost instantly. If anything is going to sell me on a Buffy game, I think to myself as Xander kicks another vamp in the crotch, it'd be hearing the original cast reprising their roles.
With the exception of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan, the mostly full bingo card of actors kicks things off to a brilliant start. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is perhaps my favorite show of all-time, so in a way, I was destined to adore Chaos Bleeds no matter what. But I didn't expect the gameplay to still feel fun and satisfying some 21 years on from launch. I'm loving it so much that instead of playing it for an hour of novelty, as I usually might for one of these PS2 throwbacks, I've decided to play Chaos Bleeds in full and live out the Buffy beat-'em-up fantasy I didn't know I'd been craving.
Getting the wiggins
When I set out to acquire Chaos Bleeds for PS2, it wasn't without some serious research. I had been toying with picking up Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice for the Nintendo DS, or maybe even Game Boy Advance's offering The Wrath of the Darkhul King. At one point I was considering getting all three, pitting them against each other to see which holds up the best, but one opinion permeates the fandom: it's far from perfect, but Chaos Bleeds is the true winner of the bunch when it comes to ultimate slayage. The fact that it only cost me £9.99 for an in-box copy, complete with a manual and collector's card? Well, that is just the icing on the eBay cake.
Three hours in, I'm already impressed. Released in 2003 for Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2, Chaos Bleeds takes place during the series' fifth season. Story-wise, it's a relative midpoint for the show. Season 5 sees us recovering from the weirdness of the Initiative storyline, winning points with me for focussing on my favorite character, Spike, despite trying and failing to keep Buffy's ex-supernatural military boyfriend Riley interesting. It's also home to the most upsetting episode of all: Joyce Summers' death in The Body. Thankfully, Chaos Bleeds seems to take place before this monumentally depressing moment, and so far, I've seen neither hide nor hair of the gloomy love interest. Also, I'm told that surprise sister Dawn is markedly absent in the game, which is a little strange given how her existence as The Key is the crux of BTVS' fifth season.
As Chaos Bleeds proves, though, the lack of narrative meat on season five's bones makes for prime video game retconning. The game kicks off with a fight in the Magic Box, a store owned by Giles that is being besieged by – surprise! – vampires. Anya and Tara have been kidnapped, and it's up to Buffy and the Scoobies to come to their rescue.
This is the kind of baked-in tutorial segment I absolutely love, and it's rare to see them in more modern games. Playing as Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Spike in rotation, I'm given a chance to grapple with each of their requisite abilities, if present. Buffy is a one-woman stake-house, able to deliver devastating kick and punch combos before turning into a human pinwheel and booting multiple enemies clean across the room with a flying roundhouse. Willow's magic allows her to cast fiery sun spells on vampires, dusting them where they stand, and it turns out that Xander isn't half shabby with a crossbow and other heavy weapons. It's very on-brand, since his momentary transformation into a soldier during the second season's Halloween episode has imbued him with lasting combat training.
What can't we do if we're together?
Chaos Bleeds is the true winner of the bunch when it comes to ultimate slayage.
I've already mentioned my deep adoration for Spike, so when I get to play as him, I can't help but let out a cheer. He plays very much like all the other Scoobies, and though it's not until season six that he becomes a true member of the gang, he proves a more than capable fighter in Chaos Bleeds. Punctuated by James Masters delivering Spike's textbook wry commentary, including a derisive "great, perfect for the dead man" upon picking up a medikit, I can only hope to play as Spike for a whole mission at some point later in the game.
Cycling through each of the characters is a fun little introduction, despite how I believe the main campaign will largely have me playing as Buffy. That said, one of the most praised elements of Chaos Bleeds is its local multiplayer aspect, allowing you to team up with friends and play as different characters for the true Scooby Gang experience. Noting this, I shelve the idea for the next time I manage to corner one of my co-workers into breaking out the PS2 with me.
Having made it to the third mission, I'm finding Chaos Bleeds' combination of linear exploration, puzzles, and melee combat an absolute joy so far. The game does a great job of feeling like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the quippy barbs dealt between Buffy and her prey to the dramatic musical score. Buffy has always stood out as a show that effortlessly balances light-hearted humor with darker themes of life, death, and the heavy weight of heroism, and Chaos Bleeds pulls it off with such pitch-perfect style that I can forgive the odd bit of pathfinding and puzzle-solving clunk. 20 years later, the combat is fun in its simplicity. Sure, the storyline pales in comparison to the feeling of hearing the actual characters back at it again, but overall, this might be the second best eBay purchase I've ever made. Now if you'll excuse me, Buffy's on patrol again.
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