The game starts off with a small monologue of Van Helsing about his journey across the lands and seas of the world to reach Borgovia by their request for some help, and then your game begins and first thing that happens is you blast away some bandits! It's clear your in for an action-pumped game when the intro to the game brings a horde of bandits charging at you.
One of the first things you'll notice playing Van Helsing is the banter that goes back and forth between Van Helsing and his ghostly companion Lady Katarina. She's a noble, and she definitely speaks that way quite often, very high and mighty, and it makes for great laughs all the way through the game. Lady Katarina has plenty to say about the things you do and what happens around you.
The premise of the game is that Abraham Van Helsing received a letter requesting aid in Borgovia to fight off some menaces called scientists, but you, his son, go instead as he has become too elderly for this kind of work. As you journey forth, the plot thickens. It doesn't thicken all that much, but it does at least a bit. Not much comes in the way of surprise from the story of Van Helsing, but it holds itself together well enough to create a plot for you to play through.
One unfortunate aspect is that there isn't very much lore to find lying around anywhere in the game. Talking to some people and progressing through the story and solving side-quests are the few ways you'll get insight to what's going on. There aren't very many NPCs to chat with, and any dialogue you get out of them is fairly limited, mostly tied down to one or two lines each. Even as the story progresses you'll find that the chatter is fairly quick and not much more info than what is necessary is provided. However, the dialogue we do get out of the characters is often very humorous and highly entertaining to listen to. There are also a small number of items that have a small description giving insight to the world, and there are easter eggs to be found throughout the game which are quite well done.
Another aspect that any gamer will notice at the beginning of the game are the swarms of enemies. This game likes hordes a lot! Every fight comes with many enemies of various kinds, and there are even moments when you'll find yourself as the third party in a fight between two groups of warring creatures. You feel strong and awesome as you plow your way through massive amounts of creatures, and it's even more gratifying than usual when you finally slay that tough beast after taking care of the guarding minion army.
The combat is exciting, and the armies of creatures aren't the only reason. Van Helsing carries swords and guns, and while in other games of the same genre using both melee and ranged might not be very viable, it works perfectly well in this one. You can easily switch between the two at will with the press of a button. Shoot down the charging maniacs, cause a barrel to explode, blowing away half the minion, then switch and slice away at the remaining beasts, and finally pick off those annoying monsters that run away from you and attack at range. The ease at which you can do this makes you feel like you're actually playing the awesome action movie hero rather than being limited to choosing to only use a sword or a gun. Of course, as with any RPG, you'll still find yourself focusing in one area to become stronger, but at least both weapon types are viable for use at the same time, and that is very neat.
In addition to the monster slayer Van Helsing we have his lovely companion Lady Katarina. She might be a noble, but she also packs a massive punch as a ghost. Just as your character does, Lady Katarina also levels up, wields deadly weapons, and has skills that will be very helpful to Van Helsing through his journey. The AI is fairly smart, I have no complaints about her so far. She can be told to be go melee, attack at a range, or even be body enhancing ghost. She'll fight like a player would, soaking up damage like a tank or kiting like a gunner. Her settings even include what types of items to pick up, and when to use potions.
The one thing I didn't like about the combat was the targeting system. Van Helsing has an easy-to-use targeting mechanism where you can kind of place your mouse near a swarm of enemies and you'll just smash away at whatever it is you clicked. Then once it dies, you don't even have to move your mouse to target a new enemy as Van Helsing will automatically go and attack the next nearest target. This is very helpful when I want to bash away enemies and not think too hard about which one to target. The problem is when I want to target something specific, like an explosive barrel surrounded by hordes of monsters charging at you. It's very difficult to do this when there are swarms of enemies as the game will just make you attack those monsters if you've already hit something. I just want to hit the explosive barrel that will make everything disappear!
When you're tired of doing battle and need to take a break, the towns are always around for you to relax at. There are several types of facilities to make use of in town, one of which being the RPG staple item shop. In addition to the normal shop there are various other places with different uses, one of which is a skill and ability respecialization guy. Towns have NPCs which allow you to craft new items from old ones, enhance and enchant your old items, learn new abilities, and take on quests for the people of Borgovia.
The customization of equipment is Van Helsing is fairly nice, as there are a few different aspects we can work with. First off, we can enchant items for an extra bonus stat, always a nice little feature to be spending our hard-earned gold for. In addition, there is enhancing items with magical essences. Certain items have a magical essence holding capability, allowing you to insert gems that will boost up the items stats. And if you find yourself with way too many rare items, just forge them together and see if you end up with something better! The game goes crazy with magical and rare items, so you will never find yourself running low on choices. As for epic items, those ones are a far more uncommon item than their magical and rare brethren.
As for replayability in this game, it will from any DLC content that is released, playing on higher difficulties, and enjoying it some more with friends in co-op. The game on it's own is already somewhere between 12-15 hours depending on how thorough you are with the side quests.
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is a high quality action RPG with a very low price tag. With humorous dialogue and a solid combat system, this game is a gem to enjoy. It's a good game that unfortunately doesn't do much to innovate, and has an interface that could really use a little improving.
7.5/10
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