Buffy's life as a video game character began back when this title went into development on Sega's Dreamcast. The delays inherent in switching the game from Dreamcast to Xbox are most obvious in the game's timeline. Buffy takes place while the "Scooby Doo gang" is still in high school but after their victory over The Master. Fans of the show will instantly identify this scenario to be in line with the televsion show's third season. For those not so familiar, the show will enter its seventh season this fall, so gamers will be entering a slayer time warp with this title.

The key to achieving a successful game based on some other form of media is authenticity. With the exception of the aforementioned timeline issues, The Collective has the series nailed. From the title screen to the ending credits, fans of the show will feel right at home. The introduction features the show's theme song, followed by a prologue read by Giles. In fact, the voice actor is the same man who portrays Giles on television. This is true of everyone except Sarah Michelle Gellar, who chose to skip out on her role as Buffy in the game. Not even the accurate-to-the-last-detail Star Wars games can boast of authentic voice actors, so this should be viewed as a large step forward for licensing, especially when one considers that the dialogue written for the game could have been lifted right from the show as well. Cordelia and Xander spew forth thinly veiled come-ons to one another, Willow exudes intelligence and innocence (keep in mind this is Season 3), and Giles is ever the father figure to the group.

While the plot of the game may pretend to be an episode of the show, the gameplay has not pretense. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an action game through and through. There are simplistic puzzles, such as throwing switches and pushing buttons, but that is the extent of the game's waffling. Everything else is pointed toward the single goal of eliminating anything and everything that goes bump in the night. To accomplish this, Buffy is equipped with several weapons, which she can either find or is given by Xander. These include stakes, holy water, Hell fire, a crossbow, a water gun, and a Blade-style, well, blade. In addition, Buffy can find recovery items that will aid in her quest, such as elixirs. Adding further depth to the weapons and items is the ability to combine them. Holy water can be combined with elixir to form holy elixir. Hell fire can be added to the water gun to create what essentially amounts to a flamethrower, which is especially effective against spider webs.

Buffy's assault on the undead is controlled by a basic but effective scheme, which is customizable on the options screen. The default layout has Buffy moving with the left analog stick, controlling the camera with the right stick, looking with L, and targeting an enemy with R. Punching, kicking, and jumping are mapped to X, A, and B respectively, while using items is handled by the Y button. The D-pad controls weapon selection with Left and Right, as well as equipping and unequipping with Up and Down. Finally, the White and Black buttons are used to access the inventory and select the type of ammo.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer consists of (appropriately enough) thirteen levels, each with multiple sub-levels. These levels take place in locations familiar to fans of the program, ranging from Sunnydale High to the Bronze to Angel's Mansion. On the default normal difficulty, players will likely take somewhere in the neighborhood of five hours to complete the game. Especially careful players may take longer, while Rambo-style gamers may be able to complete the game in four hours or less. Adding value to the game are the hidden secrets found in nearly every level. These are comparable to those found in Tomb Raider. They are items hidden in out-of-the-way places and may be missed by the Rambos-in-training mentioned above. The secrets are important for two reasons. First of all, they are often power or health crystals. These can be given to Willow in-between levels. She will then use them to increase Buffy's health or power meter. The power meter controls special attacks, which are performed with directional and button combinations, not unlike a 3D fighting game. The second reason secrets are important is that they help to open up additional features in the game, such as characters in the hidden versus mode.

The aesthetic appeal of Buffy (the game, pervert) is well above average. While the graphics don't likely push the Xbox envelope very far, the sounds and music are top-notch. As mentioned above, the voice acting is top-notch. The music is either lifted right from the show or sounds as though it could have been, and the sound effects, such as vampires crashing through tables, are faithful to what such action likely would truly sound like. The quality of the graphics is not as consistent. The character models are extremely faithful to the actors being portrayed; however, the environments seem to be of much lower detail than both the characters and other Xbox games. It's no so much that they are bad as it is that they are a bit plain.

While authenticity to its source material and non-stop action are clearly Buffy's strengths, the game is not without its weaknesses. The armies of vampires, spiders, demons, and zombies that come after the slayer are cut from only a select few molds. After a few hours of beating up vampires that look all too familiar, players may begin to wonder if The Collective was also behind Dolly the cloned sheep. Also disturbing is some of the game's collision detection. Some enemies have projectile attacks. A logical defense against these would be to hide behind a wall, right? Think again. There are times when the enemy's attack will pass right through the wall and nail our heroine. Further, there are instances where Buffy will be knocked backwards by a roundhouse from a vampire and seemingly pass right through a railing. If this occurs on one of the levels where water is present, Buffy will instantly drown, and the player gets the privilege of starting said level over again.

Taking into account the above flaws, Buffy is still one of the better licensed games out there. It succeeds in recreating the show down to the last detail. It will challenge most players, even on the easy setting. It offers extras in the form of secrets and features to unlock. It even does a remarkable job of replicating Sarah Michelle Gellar in a tank top and tight pants. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is highly recommended to gamers who fall into one or more of the following groups: fans of the show, fans of horror games, or fans of action games. With any luck, The Collective will be asked to give us a more timely sequel. Having Wicca Willow as a playable character would be nice.

· · · Yoshi