Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004)

Overview

This 2004 title is an FPS/RPG hybrid in the style of Deus Ex, and throws the player into a story of intrigue, dark plots, and apocalyptic prophecies as a newly-embraced vampire treading the perilous path of his/her new unlife in a darker version of Los Angeles. The game takes several characters, plotlines, and mechanics from White Wolf's old World of Darkness tabletop game, in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe.

Unlike many other FPSes of its time, firearms in this game have damage values largely dependent on the player character's firearms skill. They also possess differing amounts of recoil and crosshair sway dependent on the character's firearms skill. Of particular note is the fact that vampires (including the player character) and some other supernatural beings take only half damage from firearms, and this damage can be reduced further depending on the stats or powers the character in question is using, making the use of firearms against such opponents a risky or suicidal proposition if the player character does not possess enough firearms skill.

Handguns

Сolt Anaconda

An enormous step up from the Colt Police Positive, the Colt Anaconda is chambered for .44 Magnum ammunition, has a 6 round cylinder capacity, and does respectable damage against both human and inhuman opponents. While a double-action revolver in real life, the player character is forced to use it in a single-action manner, manually pulling back the hammer with the firing hand's thumb for more accuracy, or "fanning" the hammer with the other hand for a faster rate of fire but less accurate shots. Bizarrely, this weapon is first purchasable from a college-aged convenience store clerk in Hollywood who sells it (among other firearms and melee weapons) in a strange "special deal," because "new amps and lap dances don't buy themselves, you know."

Colt Anaconda with 6" barrel - .44 Magnum

Colt Police Positive

Identified as "Thirty-Eight," the Colt Police Positive revolver is chambered for .38 Special ammunition, has a 6 round cylinder capacity, and has a snubnosed barrel in the game. It is one of the two firearms available to the player in the beginning of the game. While cheap and easy to obtain with very plentiful ammunition, this "purse gun" (referred to as such by the game itself) is only somewhat useful against human NPCs and next to useless against supernatural opponents given its low damage-per-bullet ratio, slow firing rate, and slow reload time. It is the weapon of choice of low-level thugs and cops in both the Santa Monica and Downtown hub levels.

Colt Police Positive - .38 Special

Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle, appearing under the moniker of "McLusky .50 Caliber," is the strongest pistol in the game. It is available for purchase to the player character after completing the Fu Syndicate quest, from Mercurio's armoury or Tseng's Herbal Remedies, a black market weapons depot masquerading as a herbal medicine store. Even though it's the .50 caliber model, its magazine in the original game holds 12 shots(!) as opposed to the real-life version, which holds only 7 rounds.

Desert Eagle - .50 Action Express, Brushed Chrome Finish

Glock 17C

Referred to as the "Brokk 17C" in the game, the Glock 17C is the first semi-automatic firearm the player can acquire in the game, is chambered for 9x19mm ammunition, has a magazine capacity of 18 rounds, and is the standard pistol of Sabbat vampires and Chinatown Tong gangsters. Romero the Ghoul (a firearms expert in the game) can be persuaded to teach the player character about proper firearms technique and to "keep the Glock to the side crap in the movies," but unfortunately he says nothing about the perils of swinging, rather than gently pushing, a revolver cylinder shut, which the player character does anytime s/he reloads a revolver.

Probably because of the ingame model's relatively small size and lack of compensator ports, this weapon is often referred to as a Glock 19 in the various fan-patches made for the game.

Glock 17, 1st Generation - 9x19mm

Submachine Guns

MAC10

The first fully automatic firearm available to the player, the MAC-10 is referred to as the "Braddock 9mm" and has a magazine capacity of 30 rounds. It, like the Glock 17C, is purchased from Fat Larry, a black marketeer and the owner of a "truck o' mack" in the Los Angeles Downtown hub level. A rather weak firearm with a high degree of muzzle climb (regardless of firearm skill) given its lack of a buttstock or convenient place to grip the weapon with the off-hand, this weapon is best suited for very close-ranged combat. On a side note, the viewmodel and world model (the model seen in first person view, and the model seen in characters hands, respectively) lack both the front and rear sights.

MAC-10 - .45 ACP

Uzi SMG

A step up from the MAC-10 given to the player, the Uzi appears in the game as the "Lassiter Killmatic," is chambered for 9x19mm, has a magazine capacity of 33 rounds, and is the full-sized submachine gun variant. In the hands of a player character with maxed-out firearm skills, it is arguably one of the best firearms available to the player, as at that skill level its recoil is quite manageable and its damage is quite effective. It is first available from Tseng's "Herbal Remedies" store, and NPCs using it include Sabbat vampires and Tong gangsters in the Chinatown "Glaze" nightclub.

Uzi Submachine Gun - 9x19mm

Shotguns

Ithaca Model 37

The Ithaca 37 pump-action shotgun appears as the ""Utica M37," is chambered for 12 Gauge shotgun ammunition, has a tube magazine capacity of six rounds, and can be acquired early in the game. Despite the fact that vampires and other supernatural NPCs in the game take only half damage from firearms, this shotgun is still surprisingly lethal against such foes. This makes it a favourite among the vampires of the hostile NPC Sabbat faction, and is the personal weapon of boss character Bishop Vick. The player character is apparently unacquainted with tube-magazine weapons, as s/he will load it very slowly, no matter the level of firearms skill s/he has acquired.

Ithaca M37 - 12 Gauge

SPAS 15

Alias "Jaegerspas XV" in the game. Can be purchased from Mercurio after the player has access to the Hollywood district. A step up from the the Ithaca, the box magazine makes for much faster reloading. The weapon can be used in either full-auto to clear out a room, or pump action (which is strange, as pump is only used for weak-pressure loads) for relatively more accurate shots.

The front end of the gun seems to be made of wood or brass

Rifles

Remington M700

This is the second scoped weapon available to the player. This weapon (called the "Jaime Sue", the name of one of Troika's staff members) is given to the player by Romero in the Hollywood cemetary if the player agrees to watch the place for five minutes while Romero heads out. It is also available from other weapon merchants later on. Although the weapon has a scope function, the rifle itself has no scope, just iron sights. When zoomed in, the weapon inflicts a massive amount of damage, but, just like the AUG, a low firearm skill makes it hard to use the scope.

Steyr Aug

This is the first scoped weapon available to the player, available after the player completes the Fu Syndicate quest. If the player has a low firearm skill, aiming through the scope is quite difficult, as the view sways quite a bit. Full firearm skill, however, holds it perfectly still. Although chambered in .223 NATO, the most damage it can do is 16 damage points, even with a headshot. This is odd, as the Uzi is, at some point, capable of causing 28 damage points. Another odd note is that the game's weapon description calls it a submachine gun.