Vampire Night (PS2) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
376A playthrough of Namco's 2001 light gun shooter for the Sony PlayStation 2, Vampire Night.
Played through the arcade mode on the normal difficulty level.
Vampire Night was one of two arcade light-guns collaboratively produced by Sega and Namco in the early days of the PS2 (the other being Ninja Assault), and you can clearly see the influence of both companies. It looks like a House of the Dead game done in the graphic style of Time Crisis (and so it should - the arcade version was running on Namco's System 246 board - based around the PS2 - that TC 2 and 3 ran on), and it feels and sounds very similar to The House of the Dead series - some of the voices and sounds are directly lifted from HotD2! Several of the enemies seem to be more-or-less reskinned versions that of bad guys in HotD2.
You run around as a dhampyr Vampire Hunter trying to defeat the ancient evil family that has overrun a village as you attempt to protect the sole survivor, a little girl name Caroline. Sounds like Vampire Hunter D, right? The game doesn't ever really try to hide its influences, nor veer from them. But that's fine - Vampire Hunter D: The Rail Shooter is a pretty excellent idea anyway.
It's one of the few light gun shooters worth playing on the PS2 - especially if you like horror themes (I certainly do!). It's a bit easy for a shooter from Namco or Sega, but don't worry - it certainly has enough moments in it that will test your reflexes and aim. I really enjoyed the story in this one, and the first-gen PS2 graphics still hold up admirably well, but it's a bit underwhelming considering the forces involved.
I mean, Namco+Sega+light gun should equal best thing ever to hit the arcade, right? Well, you'd think, but it doesn't quite ever get that good. I found it to be a bit weaker than both Time Crisis and House of the Dead - the gun play is right on, but there just aren't that many cool and impressive set-pieces, and it's all fairly predictable. But don't let that dissuade you. Just because it isn't the golden game we hoped it would be doesn't mean it isn't still a whole lot of fun.
If you still have an old CRT and a Guncon 2, you absolutely should try it. Halloween is just around the corner :)
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
Visit for the latest updates!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NintendoComplete/540091756006560
https://twitter.com/nes_complete