''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is a 2000

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

game developed by GameBrains and published by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

. Based on the television show ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

'', the game features

Buffy Summers Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' before going on to appear in The WB/UPN 1997–2003 television series and subsequent 1998 ...

, who fights

vampires A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths ...

, demons, and other supernatural entities as the

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

. The player controls Buffy through eight side-scrolling

levels Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

, and gameplay centers on one-on-one fights with vampires.

Gameplay

''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is a side-scrolling

game divided into eight

, which include a mansion and the

Sunnydale Sunnydale is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all ...

zoo. The player controls

, a

destined to fight

, demons, and other supernatural entities. Gameplay is focused on one-on-one fights with vampires. Although vampires are the game's only enemy type, there are six variations: tux, punk, disfigured, tribesman,

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, and guardian. The player fights two master vampires as bosses: a Viking and a beast vampire. To defeat them, the player must knock them down and stake them through the heart. A game over occurs when Buffy loses all of her

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. Along with attacking, the player can

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

an enemy's attack, throw them, and roll on the ground. Levels do not include any obstacles or traps, and while they incorporate platforming, none of the falls are lethal.

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

's Brett Alan Weiss described the jumping mechanic as "super leaps". The game does not have any collectible items or different weapons. The player can pick up small objects, like paint cans, to throw at a vampire, but they can only be used when an enemy is onscreen. Levels also have

power-ups In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

, such as soda cans that provide "super punches and kicks". Each level ends with a

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

which functions as the game's

save point A saved game (also called a game save, savegame, savefile, save point, or simply save) is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. From the earliest games in the 1970s onward, game platform hardw ...

s that allow players to replay the level. While Buffy is the game's only

playable character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

, other ''

'' characters appear in

cutscenes A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

between levels.

Plot

The game is set in the show's fourth season of the television show ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.

Development and release

''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' was developed by GameBrains and published by

. In March 2000, THQ announced the game as part of a partnership with

Fox Interactive Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties, yet also published several original titles, such as '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos''. History ...

. The game discussed in this announcement was set for a 2000 release. Both companies would collaborate for a second ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' video game in 2003 for '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King''. A

pre-alpha A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

was available at E3 in May 2000, before being released on September 19, 2000, as a

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

exclusive. The game was not

backward compatible Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially i ...

with the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

Critical reception

References

Footnotes

Citations

* * * * * } * * * * * * * {{Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2000 video games Beat 'em ups Game Boy Color games Game Boy Color-only games THQ games Video games about witchcraft Video games based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Video games developed in Malaysia Video games set in California