The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 2 Review

"Van Hel Yeah"

Campaign

The story continues in The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II picking up at the end of the first game where the heroes are blasted into an underground chamber. Here they are met with a mysterious specter that is a recently freed prisoner who informs them that their job is not yet finished in Borgovia. The specter, known only as Prisoner 7, tells them that General Harker is rebuilding the broken army to stage a coup to take over the land. Although he is not able to aid them directly, he offers to act as their spy. Humans and monsters are banding together to form a resistance to the General’s efforts. Van Helsing and Lady Katarina make their way through the catacombs to meet up with the Resistance. Van Helsing assumes a commanding role in the Resistance as he issues orders to units in sieges and sends out squads to secure items and objectives. While traveling across the countryside he offers aid to NPC’s who will then pledge themselves to the Resistance. All the while being guided through their quest by the mysterious Prisoner 7.

Gameplay

Gameplay has been vastly improved in this installment. Access to the customization menus is now seamlessly integrated, making equipping that new piece of gear without taking too big of a break from the action due to load times. Van Helsing and Lady Katarina are totally customizable once again for the RPG enthusiast. The initial game setup offers a wide range of customization also, letting the player truly customize the experience on many levels. Beginning with the character selection players may choose normal which starts with a new character at level one, or veteran which starts at level thirty. Choosing Veteran lets the player choose a pre-generated character, or import a saved character from the first installment. Difficulty begins with Casual, then Normal, Hard, Heroic, and lastly Fearless. Any game mode can be played with a Hardcore character that only has one life with no regeneration. Character classes available are Hunter, who is the classic monster hunter version, Thaumaturge the occult specialist, and the Arcane Mechanic, an updated hunter using advanced science to get the job done. The conversation tree flows well within the game while never breaking the pace. Van Helsing has a real involvement within the resistance as he is also in charge of training and deploying elite units that he sends out to accomplish pass/ fail missions in addition to his own adventures. The game keeps up well when there are many enemies onscreen. While I did experience some framedrop at odd times while traversing the land.

The Conclusion

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II is a great experience for players that may be new to RPG’s while offering many options for RPG enthusiasts. Whether just enjoying the narrative or making a punishing experience, Van Helsing has many options to choose from. The menus flow more with the action now, rather than making the player take a break from the game to do some accounting. I feel that the fan service was the star of this game. Numerous Pop Culture references scattered throughout the land are made even more amusing by the deadpan delivery of the heroes. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II offers a fun and diversely challenging RPG experience.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 2 Review on Xbox One
Review Code provided by Reverb

Rating Overall: 8.5