Cryptic Passage for Blood

The Good
Yes, Cryptic Passage (CP) is another expansion pack for Blood, and it's no better than Plasma Pak, Blood's other expansion pack. This is because CP actually has a plot. Caleb has been sent in the firing line again, this time not to get revenge, but to recover an ancient scroll stolen from dark foreboding gods and hidden somewhere in the depths of hell. This scroll is capable of upsetting the balance of power in the underworld. To retrieve the scroll, Caleb must explore dark but exotic locations, and fight his way through them. The enemies you'll meet are the same as in Blood and these include phantasms, cultists, gargoyles, undead skeletons, fire hounds, and heaps more.

CP may be exciting, but as you will see, this expansion pack is much more difficult than Blood, or even Plasma Pak. More often than not, there are locked doors on various levels which require several keys to unlock, and these keys are well hidden, and are very hard to find, so it is imperative that players spend at least five minutes of their time exploring the different dungeons and caves to find a switch, so that they can get a key. Speaking of levels, you get explore real-life buildings in each of the nine levels, and these include the opera house, monastery, a library, a mine, and a castle. The action also takes place outside at the boat decks, at a graveyard, mountain pass, on a steamboat, and if you're lucky enough to get to the secret level, a creek. CP also has four new bloodbath levels and new textures.

When you get to play CP, don't expect it to be a major upgrade like Plasma Pak. In fact, CP consists of only one extra episode with the same name. Furthermore, it features the same weapons with the same firing modes.The graphics have the same dark feeling to them that was present in Blood and Plasma Pak. The sound is not much different either. However, if you have a MT32, or have a sound card that emulates a mt32, the music sounds excellent compared to a normal Sound Blaster.

The Bad
CP still does not fix the bugs in Blood that made users scream. There are only two backgrounds, and all of them feature the moon. And it would be nice if Monolith would have added the extras characters found in Plasms Pak. I loved them, especially the Little Calebs.

The Bottom Line
An average expansion pack. Too bad it's not bigger as Plasma Pak. ***