"Eight brutal competitors! Eight deadly vehicles! And over twenty thousand ghastly undead! Who will be champion? Who will be roadkill? Let's find out!'' -The announcer, describing the championship proper.
Blood Drive is a Vehicular Combat game developed by Sidhe (Makers of Shatter) and released by Activision in November of 2010.
It's Next Sunday A.D. following a Zombie Apocalypse. Civilization remains, though society is scarred by the harsh reality of living in a world overrun by zombies. They have turned to Blood Sport to entertain themselves, in the form of Blood Drive: a violent tournament of Vehicular Combat and zombie-splattering. The tournament takes place in the desert gambling city of Las Ruletas. This particular tournament involves eight different drivers with distinct vehicles and interesting backgrounds.
The player must first complete five preliminary tournaments, or cups, before being allowed to enter the championship cup. Each cup consists of one or more map zones with a certain number of events, between two and four. There are a variety of events, such as kill the most zombies, kill the most cars, kill the most everything, checkpoint races, and "King of the Skull" (Think Halo's oddball with Weaponized Cars). Once the qualifiers are complete, the player may enter the Blood Drive championship, which in essence is the "Story Mode." Upon winning the championship at least once, the player becomes eligible to enter The Hardcore Cup. Think you got what it takes?
The game is Bloody Hilarious and fun but is marred by balance issues and a total lack of local multiplayer. Not to be confused with the Syfy series of the same name.
This game provides examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: Most of the weapons are fairly standard. And then there's the sawblade launcher.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Jackson and Kelly used to be together. It ended badly. She also apparently likes Nazar, mostly because he's quiet.
- Alliterative Name: Reggie's fans call him the "Manic Medic."
- Announcer Chatter: And what a ham he is. He actually talks to some of the characters before some events, in which said characters usually make a Badass Boast.
- Ax-Crazy: Reggie, on the rare occasion he's coherent.
- Apologetic Attacker: Natalya and Brock do not wish to fight each other, but do so anyway.
- Action Girl: Kelly and Natalya.
- Badass Longcoat: Nazar. Jackson's isn't quite long enough for the trope, but is still pretty badass.
- Benevolent Architecture: Though everything is in a state of severe disrepair, much of the city is otherwise intact- as are various ramps and shortcuts. Some places are a little more tricky to navigate than others.
- Blinded by the Light: Superstar's Limit Break, Flash Bling, uses the Rot Rod's sheer bling to blind anyone in its vicinity.
- Blood Knight: The announcer implies that Nazar isn't even aware of the tournament rankings or points. He just wants to splattermaim.
- Bloody Hilarious: Shambler zombies occasionally get stuck to your car when you hit them. While amusing, it can mess up your car's handling.
- Bond One-Liner: Characters usually have something witty to say after killing a bunch of zombies or an opposing car.
- Buffy Speak: Characters sometimes say that they will make the zombies dead...er.
- Car Fu: Your primary means of combat other than weapons. Your vehicle's "Impact" attribute determines the damage dealt to other cars when rammed as well as how much it is slowed by plowing through zombies. Brock's Limit Break, Juggernaut, causes his truck Warpath to be enveloped in armored plating, dramatically increasing it's durability and ramming capability. This makes him the only driver able to go head-to-head with a Behemoth and survive the experience.
- Character Customization: A mild version in the form of a load-out selection prior to each event. Each load-out consists of three different perks for your car. For example, the "Getting Personal" loadout grants you double ammunition for any weapon, a weapon damage bonus and a ramming damage bonus. Many loadouts overlap, for example the "Triple Threat" load-out substitutes the double ammo bonus of Getting Personal for a full rage meter.
- Cliffhanger: We last see Jackson going head to head with a truly titanic zombie. Prior to that, he takes out three Behemoths using only the gatling gun.
- Charge Meter: Two, the boost and rage meters. The former is filled by collecting boost Power-Ups, and the latter by killing zombies and taking damage.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Reggie.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Most characters' speech features liberal application of f-bombs, including the announcer!Announcer: Go fucking nuts!
- Cool Car: Any playable car.
- Coat, Hat, Mask: Nazar. Well, Coat, hood and mask.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In his ending, Brock and some of his buddies decide to play some football with the zombies- in their trucks!
- Deadly Disc: The aforementioned saw blades.
- Deadly Gas: Bedlam's Limit Break unleashes a cloud of corrosive gas that damages and obscures the vision of anyone who enters it.
- Dead Weight: The Lobber zombies are fat and hurl gobs of acid at your car. Running them over generally isn't a good idea, as it badly damages your car.
- Death Is Cheap: Judging by the fact that characters comment on their own deaths and are around to speak to the announcer afterward.
- Department of Redundancy Department: "Die! Again!"
- Difficult, but Awesome: Bedlam's Doom Buggy is skittish, fragile and has a habit of flipping uncontrollably as the auto-flip function over-corrects itself. However, he spawns with the minigun, which is devastating against large groups of zombies, and his Limit Break is devastating against everything. Reggie's Limit Break is also unwieldy- it only impacts a small area, but anyone stupid enough to get caught in it suffers a One-Hit Kill.
- Doomed Hometown: In her ending, Natalya returns to her hometown in Russia to find it overrun and her family gone. She nukes it and sets off alone, vowing to find a way to end the plague.
- The Dreaded: Nazar is a creepy dude.
- Dumb Muscle: Brock appears to be this, but the announcer implies he's smarter than he looks and acts. It doesn't really show up in gameplay.
- Elite Zombie: Behemoths, Leapers and Lobbers.
- Fake Band:
Maggot Hemorrhoid, headed up by Bedlam. Judging by his looks, they probably play Punk Rock. And of course, their amps go up to eleven. In Bedlam's ending, they wipe out a whole horde of zombies in a rock-fueled explosion. - Fan Disservice: Don't look at the stripper zombies too closely. Especially the ones in Superstar's ending. Ugh.
- Fragile Speedster: Superstar's Rot Rod, Bedlam's Doom Buggy, and Kelly's Grave Dancer. The most manuverable, hardest to control, and the straight-up fastest, respectively. Poor Bedlam has no advantages over anyone... save his nasty Limit Break.
- For Science!: Reggie will occasionally shout this when his Dead Cross gets blown up. Why? Who knows?
- Gatling Good: The minigun weapon, of course. It's far and away the most effective weapon for mowing down zombies.
- Gravity Screw: Kelly's Limit Break hurls every car near her into the air and then slams them down, dealing respectable damage.
- Grenade Launcher: Brock's weapon. Good for exploding large groups of zombies but can be hard to hit cars with.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Nazar, from hood to toe. Jackson makes due with a jacket.
- Ice Queen: Natalya. The announcer even refers to her as such.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The harpoon launcher. It's brutal against zombies, and each harpoon carries an explosive charge to damage cars.
- Incoming Ham: The second the announcer opens his mouth, in the intro.
- Invisibility Cloak: Natalya's Limit Break. It screws up enemy targeting and makes the zombies ignore you. Odd that Big Iron would have such a power, but apparently it used to be a Russian spec-ops vehicle. This might also explain it's starting weapon being a railgun.
- Jack of All Stats: Jackson's Moonshiner and Nazar's Corpse Grinder both have middle-of-the-road stat ratings. The Moonshiner has a slight edge on speed while the Corpse Grinder is more durable.
- Lampshaded Double Entendre: When asked his feelings on female drivers, Superstar replies that his feelings are IN female drivers. There's also Natalya's crack to Brock about his "gearstick".
- Land Mine Goes "Click!": The mine dropper tends to be more useful during checkpoint races than other events, due to other cars having a tendency to be going the same way you are.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Jackson was apparently missing for nine months prior to the tournament and doesn't remember what happened in that time.
- Large Ham: Most of the drivers, but the announcer really enjoys his job.
- Limit Break: Each driver has one. Referred to as "Rage Powers."
- Mad Nurse: Reggie, complete with armored ambulance, the Dead Cross.
- Magnetic Weapons: The Railgun deals respectable damage to enemy cars, and can kill several zombies in a line.
- The Mafia: Superstar owes "a lot of people" an alarming amount of money and hopes to win the Blood Drive championship to pay them off.
- The Masochism Tango: In Kelly's ending, she and Jackson get back together. You see both their cars parked outside a crummy motel.
- Mysterious Past: Nothing is known about Nazar other than that he works for some wealthy corporate types. He's the biggest thing to happen to local tabloids since the Zombie Apocalypse.
- Neologism: The announcer is fond of the word "Splattermaim", which coincidentally describes Blood Drive very well. He also says things like "Massacarize".
- Night of the Living Mooks: Of the standard shambling, leaping, acid-throwing and smashing variety.
- Nitro Boost: Boost pickups ahoy- but careful where you use them, as they hose your steering. No sense smashing into a wall.
- Nuke 'em: Reggie's Limit Break is the Surgical Strike, which lets him call down a micro-nuclear strike from orbit.
- The Paralyzer: Superstar's Flash Bling causes AI-controlled cars to stop briefly, opening them up to further attacks. This is probably to compensate for the fact that you can't "blind" a computer player.
- Parking Garage: The Slab. Unlike the other arenas, the ramps in this level are just as likely to send you flying into a wall as where you actually wanted to land. The zombies are more densely packed as well- hope you brought your daisy cutter.
- Perma-Stubble: Jackson.
- Personal Space Invader: The Leaper zombies will latch onto your car and start shredding its armor. Smash into something to knock them off.
- Power-Up: Pickups include boost,, partial and full repair kits, temporary invulnerability, temporary unlimited ammo, Unlimited rage with which to spam your Limit Break, and the various weapon pickups.
- Professional Killer: In his ending, Nazar is revealed to be one of these, and part of a clandestine group of them who all drive cars identical to his Corpse Grinder. They are seen driving out of Las Ruletas before warping into high speed, leaving a trail of purple energy in their wake similar to Nazar's Limit Break.
- Professional Wrestling: Superstar was a wrestler prior to the zombie outbreak.
- Pun-Based Title: The name of the game is a pun.
- Quad Damage: Nazar's Limit Break doubles his damage output, causes him (or his car) to let out an angry growl and causes his car to emit an unearthly purple haze.
- The Quincy Punk: Bedlam.
- The Rival: Of a sorts. Prior to each zone, the game will randomly determine a rival for you via a roulette wheel. During the events of that zone, killing said rival is worth extra event points and placing higher than your rival in each event earns you an additional overall tournament point. Usually results in the exchange of insults and boasts prior to the event.
- Recycled In Space: It's Twisted Metal WITH ZOMBIES!
- Rule of Funny: Why is the pause menu music a soothing acoustic guitar tune? Why not?
- Say My Name: The one word Nazar ever utters. And then he laughs. The announcer is understandably disturbed by this.Nazar: Jackksssonn!
- Sensual Slavs: Natalya. The announcer describes her as a Femme Fatale.
- Serious Business: Jackson's attitude towards Blood Drive and life in general. Superstar and Reggie think he should lighten up.
- Shockwave Stomp: This is Jackson's Limit Break. It won't generally destroy other cars unless they're already heavily damaged, but it kills most zombies in his vicinity.
- Smash Mook: Beware the Behemoth zombies. True to their name, they are visible from a ways off and can easily one-shot your car with a two-handed smash or a Foe-Tossing Charge. It's best to shoot them from a distance, as crashing into them will likely just destroy your car.
- Sole Survivor: Brock used to be part of a zombie-fighting militia in the Midwest, until a battle at a place called Zombie Ridge. Brock is apparently deeply scarred by the experience.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Courtesy of the rocket launcher and "drunk missiles", Jackson and Nazar's starting weapons, respectively. One fires a single rocket with limited homing ability forward, the other three that spiral in a drunken fashion towards their targets.
- Stripperific: Kelly's outfit. May be justified by the fact that she used to be a showgirl.
- Title Drop: Often, seeing as the Framing Device is a Blood Sport.
- Too Much Information: The announcer to Bedlam, when he elaborates how he treats his car like he treats his women.
- To the Pain: Natalya, to Reggie.
- Unwanted Rescue: Brock was ready to die with his war buddies on Zombie Ridge in their Heroic Sacrifice, but then Reggie showed up.
- Vanity License Plate: Jackson's on the cover reads "ZMB KLR"- Zombie Killer, of course. It doesn't appear in the actual game.
- Vehicular Combat: The whole point.
- The Voiceless: Nazar never utters a word in combat. It's rather jarring in contrast to the chattiness of every other driver. He does answer the taunts of others in the pre-game with nondescript growling. In his ending, Nazar hands the announcer a piece of paper that says "I am a man of few words."
- Vader Breath: Nazar.
- Weaponized Car: Yup.
- Woman Scorned: Kelly, and how.
- World of Badass: From the looks of it. It's one thing to survive a Zombie Apocalypse. It's quite another to get into a Weaponized Car, shoot at other drivers in similarly-equipped vehicles, and run over the aforementioned zombies in the name of televised entertainment. According to the announcer, as long as there are people like the Blood Drive contestants, the zombies will never win.Announcer: Here in Las Ruletas we said "F you" to that Zombie Apocalypse!
- Your Grandma: Brock, to Jackson.
- Zerg Rush: The shamblers will attempt to swarm your car, bogging you down and whittling away your armor.
- Zombie Apocalypse: What looks to have been a particularly nasty one, given the condition of Las Ruletas. At least one city was completely overun- Paris. Society has apparently adapted, given that they made a goddamn game show out of it.
