During its seven season run, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer has picked up a passionate following such that can give the Trekkies a good run for their federation credits. The success of Buffy's first console entry defied the gaming commandment that movies and television doth not good games maketh, and paved the way for a timely sequel only a year after. Developed by Eurocom this time round, Buffy: Chaos Bleeds remains surprisingly faithful to its roots and delivers plenty of third-person fist-o-cuffs while managing to pack a few extra pounds of weighty goodness as well.

Written as another lost episode from the series, this time in the fifth season amidst much turmoil in the lives of the central characters, the plot of Chaos Bleeds avoids much of the high drama and opts for a rather straightforward approach. Another evening descends upon the town of Sunnydale, California, as the Magic Box (local witchcraft convenience store and command central to Buffy and co.) comes under siege by a gang of vampires. Things veer south quickly from there, leading to a by now obligatory apocalyptic battle to prevent the world from ending, yet again. Even though it unfolds like a monster-of-the-week episode (of epic proportions) and stays newbie-friendly, fans of the show should still find plenty of references to dote on within the story that sees the main characters confronting their past demons, literally.

Speaking of main characters, Chaos Bleeds allows you to play through its single-player mode as many of your favorite (or soon to be) personalities from the show. The lineup is wet-dreamy and includes the beloved gang: Buffy the chosen heroine, Willow the apprentice witch, and Xander, umm, carpenter; as well as unlikely associates such as Spike the reformed vampire, Sid the demon-hunting dummy, and this year's girl Faith. Each character plays some part in the narrative and your playtime is divvied up between butt-kicking as the Buffster and her pals, some of who are sure to astound you with their newfound combat skills.

Each playable character handles distinctively and requires a slightly different tactic during combat (with the exception of Buffy and Faith, who busts virtually identical chops). Willow gains a fearsome array of spells over the course of the game, such as a sun spell that treats offending vamps to a crispy tan and can be devastating against large groups of undead aggressors. On the other hand, Sid has to rely on his agility alone to fend off enemies due to his small stature. Thankfully, all characters share the same simple control scheme that anyone familiar with the previous game will instantly recognize. Nevertheless, the first level is designed for you to become acquainted with the controls as well as the different characters.

The gameplay of Chaos Bleeds takes a page, wait, make that several major chapters from the original Buffy and you will again spend much of your time beating down undead fiends. This otherwise repetitive exercise benefits greatly from the addition of multiple playable characters that you take turns controlling throughout the game. The levels themselves also see some tinkering in terms of variety, and you will find yourself protecting wounded allies, or working with other characters as the plot dictates to accomplish given tasks. Puzzles are revisited in the sequel as well and although still entirely of the "find keys (or constructing them) to open locked doors” variety, these have been integrated better into the story and serve as fun distractions rather than the exercise in tedium they sometimes were.

The combat of Buffy is good and proper as the moves have been motion captured from the stunt fighters on the show – although much of the animation seems to have been recycled from the previous game. And as long as your energy bar will allow (replenished after each kill), a variety of combos can be executed easily that should make short work of demon slaying. As in the original game, a "finishing move” must be performed in order to put enemies permanently to rest. This usually means either a stake through the heart or a thorough decapitation, but lacking the means for either, setting them on fire works a charm too. Furthermore, the environments are usually littered with conveniently sharpened props that you can throw your opponents onto for a good skewering. All of this combined with a rather inaccurate staking system which sees you dusting vamps by staking them in the leg, head, or sometimes the ground near them, and the average enemy AI, makes the threat of death a little underwhelming.

Buffy comes complete with a multiplayer mode that allows 1-4 friends to compete with each other. Sadly, despite some valiant efforts in creating several modes (survival, domination, slayer challenge and a comical bunny catcher for the Anya fans) as well as unique power-ups to spice up the gameplay, the experience feels rather bland. The biggest problem here is that the arenas are simply too small, being usually the size of your TV screen with a stationary camera that observes the action from a distance. This allows no room at all for any strategy while playing, as you will mostly just stand in place and kill things. One major selling point here is that, and Buffy fans do brace themselves, creator Joss Whedon makes a cameo as an unlockable character to play! He has even recorded some great one-liners to go with his geek-fu. In fact, the game is stuffed with a respectable amount of bonus material waiting to be unlocked, from characters and arenas for multiplayer, to concept sketches, a Chaos Bleeds comic book, and well-produced cast (and Joss) interviews. This helps to make the game a great item to add to your collection of all things Buffy.

The sights of Chaos Bleeds have received the least amount of work since the last game, and it shows. Even though the game takes place in some familiar locations recreated from the show in loving detail, and a great many new digs like the Sunnydale Zoo and a medieval castle, what looked fairly good a year ago now appears quite average. It is far from an average game, but it could have and should have looked a whole lot better.

Things fare much better in the sound department as everything from the music score to the sound effects are as they did on the show. It is as if the crew drove out to the fictional Sunnydale and recorded noises of crates breaking and vampires being dusted. The voice work is also well done and the major characters are all voiced by the respective cast members with the exception of Buffy, Willow and Anya. The dialogue is, as you would expect, sharp (if a tad uncomfortably mature, Willow and Tara's sex-aid gets a mention and Buffy jokes about shafts a lot) and pulled off very well by the voice actors.