Cryptic Passage for Blood (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.3 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Stephen Poole
• Reviewed on: 08/12/1997
• Updated on: 05/01/2000
• Released on: 06/30/1997
• Originally published on GameSpot: Cryptic Passage for Blood (PC) Review

Given that there are dozens of user-created maps for floating around on the Net, Blood fans might wonder if it's worth the money to pick up Cryptic Passage, which features nine standard and four bloodbath levels. Well, wonder no more: Thanks to outstanding level design that takes advantage of all the features of the Build engine, serious Blood fans should consider it de rigeur to purchase this add-on. Cryptic Passage is the place to satisfy that hunger left when you've finished the original and want some more.

Though it's a little on the thin side, there's even a story to set up the action: Caleb's headed to the Carpathian mountains to pick a scroll that was taken from him by person or thing unknown. Along the way, he shipwrecks in a storm - a storm caused by the same malevolent forces that snatched the scroll from him in the first place. And if you know Caleb like I know Caleb, you've already got a good idea of what's in store: burning, stabbing, shooting, explosions, and enough blood-spilling to fill the river Caleb travels down in the fifth level.

Starting at a boat dock, you'll pass through eight more distinct locales: an opera house, a library, a monastery, a steamboat (reminiscent of the Phantom Express you rode in the first episode of Blood), a graveyard, a mountain pass, a mine, and finally a castle. There's also a secret level called Boggy Creek you can reach in the graveyard: It's pretty easy to locate and definitely worth an excursion, and if you should run into problems finding it you can always select it from the Blood setup menu.

Nine levels might not sound like all that many, but they're all very large - it took me over an hour just to blast my way through the first one, and while I'm admittedly not the greatest Blood player, there's no doubt in my mind that Blood aficionados will have as much as they can handle with this expansion pack. Sloped surfaces and rooms over rooms give the levels about as much realism as you could hope for in a game like this, and as usual The Voice is always ready with some dry witticism during the mayhem (when the Steamboat level begins, he starts singing On the Good Ship Lollipop).

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