It's also pretty tough if you don't play a powerful combat-oriented character, and graphical and sound anomalies do occur, damaging the suspension of disbelief. Include an ending that isn’t particularly fulfilling (great outro track though), a city filled with no moving vehicles, performance issues that shouldn't exist and a host of other minor niggles, and there's enough to give even the most desperate of gamer pause for thought. Happily enough, I can certainly say it's worth the frustration. Had Troika spent a few more months ironing out things instead of rushing Bloodlines for the holidays, it could most certainly have been The RPG to Beat.

As it stands, thankfully due to the currently lacklustre availability of decent recent RPG's (there aren't any), Bloodlines is about all there is available for someone looking for a hack 'n slash fix that isn't completely superficial. It remains a masterful title, however, despite the annoyances. Two thumbs up, but only if you don't have an Xbox and have to wait until June (or whenever) for KotoR2 on the PC.