is a

light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing ...

game produced by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Wow Entertainment is a development department within Japanese video game developer Sega that also previously existed as Wow Entertainment and AM1 spent most of its early existence under the leadership of Rikiya Nakagawa and developed a number of arcade games f ...

, distributed through

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

and released in February 2001 for arcades. It was later ported to

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

in November 2001.

Plot

A struggle between light and dark, from three centuries back, is about to ensue. The parties involved are Michel and Albert, the two vampire hunters representing light, and the vampires representing dark. The story takes place in the year 2006 in an unnamed village in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Michel and Albert rescue a 12-year-old girl named Caroline who witnessed a couple of villagers held hostage by the vampire

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal (connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sarcom ...

. After rescuing the villagers and Caroline, the vampire hunters proceed into the castle to destroy the remaining forces of dark. Although the forces of evil reveal that they created Michel and Albert to kill themselves, they became afraid of death and tried to stop them. It is important to note the Hunters are in fact Dhampyrs (half-vampires), foreshadowed by their glowing eyes. The outcome is a

pyrrhic victory A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress. The phrase originates from a quote from P ...

for the forces of good; as the forces of evil are stopped, the vampire hunters decide to let the rising sun end their own lives as well. Six months later, Caroline pays her respects to the vampire hunters at their graves, glad that she is alive, by putting one of their guns in front of one of their graves, stating that "her heart shall remember all.... That day, that moment, and what happened", before her summer hat flies away to the camera to end the game.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Vampire Night'' on their May 15, 2001 issue as being the fourth most-successful dedicated arcade game of the month. According to review aggregator ''

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'' the game received "Mixed or average reviews" based on 18 reviews. On release, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' magazine scored the PlayStation 2 version of the game a 32 out of 40. IGN gave Vampire Night a 7.3, stating that the game was "good", and while it was not quite as "deep or as good" as other light gun games, there was "still a lot of fun" to be had. In their review, ''Game Zone'' gave it 7.9 out of 10, saying that they were pleasantly surprised by the detailed plot which was uncommon for light gun games.

References

External links

* {{Time Crisis series 2001 video games Arcade video games Cooperative video games Light gun games Rail shooters Namco games PlayStation 2 games Sega arcade games Video games about vampires Video games about time travel Video games developed in Japan Video games set in castles Video games set in France Video games set in 2006