After the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer you thought it was all over. No more Scoobies, no more Sunnydale. Then came along Season Eight in comic form! We breathed a sigh of relief as we got to step back into their quirky world, albeit in Scotland. Just when you thought you'd never see it again, Sunnydale has been resurrected (much like it's many inhabitants over the years). A new Buffy the Vampire Slayer video game comes exclusively to Nintendo DS this year.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice is currently under development by Beast Studios in Romania (quite an appropriate name considering the project). Twentieth Century Fox in cooperation with 505 Games plans to release the game in Europe by November.Sacrifice is described as a 3-D survival horror game which combines third-person and first-person gameplay. Playing in first-person, or "Challenge Mode," will give you an increased difficulty level. As Buffy you will be able to unlock over 20 "Slayer weapons" throughout 24 levels to fight the vampires and demons you come across. Also unlockable are spells to increase Buffy's supernatural and physical abilities. You'll come across familiar characters from the show like Angel, Spike, the Master, Caleb, the First and of course the Scoobies, but it doesn't look like you'll be able to play them.
Stakes (no pun intended) are high as Buffy is charged, once again, to reseal the Hellmouth. The original story is being penned by Robert Deshotel, writer of one of my favorite Buffy episodes, The Puppet Show. Strangely enough, the game is set after the Season Seven finale but you'll be able to explore Sunnydale High and the Bronze. If you're a fan of the show you realized that's a rather obvious contradiction. None of those places exist after season seven. I guess it's safe to say this game is not canon but rather holding hands with canon.
Stakes (no pun intended) are high as Buffy is charged, once again, to reseal the Hellmouth. The original story is being penned by Robert Deshotel, writer of one of my favorite Buffy episodes, The Puppet Show. Strangely enough, the game is set after the Season Seven finale but you'll be able to explore Sunnydale High and the Bronze. If you're a fan of the show you realized that's a rather obvious contradiction. None of those places exist after season seven. I guess it's safe to say this game is not canon but rather holding hands with canon."Buffy's return to videogames is great for long-time fans of the franchise and we hope the huge market reach of the Nintendo DS will help to create new fans too," said Rowan Tafler, Global Brand Manager at 505 Games. Somehow I doubt anyone who isn't already into Buffy is going to pick up this game but I am, so I will. There have been several Buffy games over the years but I never bothered with them because I didn't think they'd be that great. Though I heard good things about the Xbox version from 2002.
Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising said, "Although there are no new productions of the series there is an enduring legacy that lives on through syndication, comic books and video games like these." Even with the popularity of Season Eight, I find it odd that there is still enough interest to warrant a Buffy video game. Then again it's only going to be on the DS so production costs must be low. The fact that Sacrifice is being released first (possibly only) in Europe strikes me as odd too. Are we going to have to go to war with Europe to decide who likes Buffy more? I hope not, I like Europe. And so does Buffy.
