You play the role of a Black Ops member named John Lloyd, who is tasked with holding back the hordes of Vampires that are slowly outnumbering the world's population. You'll be given a series of mission objectives to overcome as you progress thru the standard narrative, but the incredible difficulty and over all cheapness of the gameplay will have you wondering why you're even bothering to finish it.

The idea, as stated above, is that you're primarily using stealth to accomplish your goals. However, unlike other popular stealth based titles like MGS and Splinter Cell, you're absolutely screwed if you are ever spotted in this game. The vampires (Nightwalkers) are nigh unkillable, and even if you do manage to down one, chances are more will be on you in seconds. In fact, if you do get caught, you're better off just putting the controller down for a bit while it chows away at your jugular. Also, there's no running away or finding shelter, the Nightwalker will track you down no matter where you go.

Keep in mind I wouldn't actually complain about this if the game made sneaking a viable option. There are certain "real world" rules that definitely apply to the title, like they should, like not being absolutely covered when you're in shadow, and not being able to run around freely without being spotted. However, the Vampire's line of sight is tricky at best. There were definitely times when I was sure I would be out of sight, but I would still be spotted from a damn good distance. I also encountered areas where I would be sneaking about, but still stumble onto an enemy that I could never have known was there. The Nightwalkers are very quiet, virtually noiseless, and unlike other titles, they don't give any clues as to their current whereabouts. This leads to a lot of game over / restart scenarios, where you'll end up taking the death just to find out where the enemy is so you can successfully avoid this.

This is compounded by the bland and linear level design presented. At first glance the game looks incredibly open ended, with much of it taking place in a city environment. However, invisible walls abound, and most of your missions will have you walking a straight path to your given goal. With so little room to maneuver about in, it makes avoiding the Nightwalker's that much more difficult. It'd be nice to have multiple routes and approaches to take, but you won't find any of that here.

That said, there's some fantastically gory scenes that will probably appeal to the horror crowd, but there isn't any tension that you might find in other horror themed titles, like FEAR or Condemned. Everything is pretty straightforward, with no hidden scares, and the only time the game attempts to creep you out is with a few select cut scenes. The overall look of the game is very gritty, but the atmosphere also manages to be bland and repetitive. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a couple levels here and there, and it just adds to the lack of motivation you'll feel when trying to make it through the game.

There are a few multiplayer modes, but the system is hardly used online and is really, really off balance. There's also a quick mission mode that has you taking on some small objectives outside of the campaign, but everything that's wrong with the main game still applies here.

Vampire Rain is a game that might have had a lot of promise in the hands of a developer that was either able to take some time to actually develop it, or gave a damn about making an enjoyable game. Unfortunately, a fun opportunity for a new game has been wasted here, so I would advise staying away from this one.