The original Blood won numerous fans, despite the fact that it was a 2D shooter released nearly a year after Quake made 3D environments standard. The clever level design and wiseaddoning antihero, Caleb, made up for the fact that the game was a technical throwback. Now, just over a year after the original hit stores, Monolith Productions has released a sequel. Based on Monolith"s own LithTech engine, Blood II: The Chosen features some strong technical elements. The engine provides solid graphics (better than Quake II, not as good as Unreal), decent control, and great animation. But Blood II lacks some of the innovation of the original; the horror-theme is less pronounced, and the level design doesn"t stray far from the average.