BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad is an arcade platformer developed by Ritual Games and published by The MIX Games and One-Eyed Robot. You take control of Count Bloodvayne and the BATS, an anti-terror squad of vampires, who are waging war against Scorpion Supreme and STING to save the other members of the bloodsucking team. This bloody installment from Ritual Games utilizes 16-bit goodness to take gamers back to the times of sidescrolling action nostalgia. However, while it is a short game, it isn’t without its flaws.
When you start the game, you’re immediately thrown into the action with your first character, Count Bloodvayne. The objective is simple: get to the end of the level and challenge the boss to save one of your friends. Along the way, you’ll need to traverse through different obstacles, whether it’s deadly traps or soldiers blocking your path. In order to survive, it’s important to take advantage of your vampire abilities. This includes a basic strike attack, a dodge maneuver, flying jumps, and a special ability. It should be noted that two of those techniques (the dodge and special ability) can only be used by consuming your Blood Meter, which can filled by killing human enemies or finding Blood in crates. However, you must use your Blood wisely, since it’s also your health and once you take a hit, you lose all your Blood.
After defeating the boss of an area, you’ll then unlock a new playable member of BATS and each character has small differences in terms of playstyle than the others. For example, Count Bloodvayne can turn into a werewolf when the Blood Meter is full and there’s also Rick Ghastley who shoots his enemies with a 12-gauge shotgun. While this adds a nice variety to the game, it’s vital to get used to their moves quickly because it could hinder your progress. Like with Mitzie who can do an explosive dive-bomb attack. While it’s cool to pull off, I can’t tell you the number of times I did this move on accident which then consumed all of my Blood Meter and put me in a vulnerable position. It seemed like the game could’ve done more to differentiate the characters from each other because they all play mostly the same except for some minor contrasts. Because of that, it’s better to choose one character that matches your playstyle and stick with them for the rest of the game because this game is hard enough as it is.
Speaking of difficulty, BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad can be very unforgiving at times. Thankfully, you have an endless number of lives, and you can also respawn in the same room you died in. However, the rooms themselves are so challenging that it more than makes up for it. You’ll probably have to die three or four times in one room to get used to the hidden traps and enemy ambushes that’ll catch you by surprise. It also doesn’t help that no matter how much blood you collect, you lose all of it after one hit, sort of like with Sonic the Hedgehog dropping all his rings. Not only does this give you only one hit left, but you also aren’t able to dodge attacks or use any special abilities. While I can understand limiting special abilities, I think having dodge consume Blood is a bit much because it seems like such a basic technique. Then there are the bosses, who all have the same appearances but are equipped with their own set of tricks. Of course, it’ll take a few deaths to get hang of them, but to my surprise, the bosses were probably the easiest part of the game. While the same can’t be said in the other game modes, it’s a little anti-climactic to get to the end of each level to be greeted by the same familiar face each time and take them out so easily.
After completing all five levels of the game, you will then have access to Speed Run and Boss Rush modes if you want further to get your fix of the bloody mayhem. While the gameplay was a bit too simplistic and felt a little unnecessarily challenging at times, the game’s charming 16-bit art style, the bloody effects, and the humoristic quality made up for a lot of that. I would love to see Ritual Games further develop this franchise with longer levels and more in-depth gameplay mechanics in the future. For now, BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad can help give fans of a good challenge what they’ve always wanted but not much else.
For more information, please visit: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/bats-bloodsucker-anti-terror-squad-switch/
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I've loved playing video games ever since I first played Battletoads on the NES when I was a kid. Since then, I've played a wide variety of games on different systems, including Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and have mostly gravitated towards open-world RPGs and action-adventure games with amazing storylines and character arcs. I'm passionate when comes to writing and interested in working as a narrative designer.
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