I was thinking about Vampire the other day.....I played the first one and it seemed pretty decent but I never got around to finishing it. With the whole HL2/Activation thing and learning that Vampire used Source the same as HL2 (I was associating in my head with the filth that is activation so I wrongfully tuned it out) I kind of tuned the game out (especially since I've been really focused on older games for the past 1yr and a half).

Is Vampire worth buying? I heard there was an unofficial patch for it?

Which one? Bloodlines? If so, yes. It's worth it. Very good game (it's a true RPG). Besides, I think it is has been released as budget now so it won't cost you that much.

The main drawback is that it uses a very early version of the HL2 engine (I think it came out even before than HL2), so some bugs may be present, but I have also heard at least a patch was released.

It ran a bit slow and was buggy on my old computer (Athlon XP 3200+, 1GB RAM, ATI Radio 9800 Pro 256MB AGP) due to the issues el_pusher mentioned (HL2, on the other hand, ran great by comparison).

There is an unofficial patch that fixes a lot of the text and scripting related issues with the game, but of course fans can't fix engine issues without access to the source code.

I lost interest in the game quite a ways in and stopped playing. Don't really plan on coming back to it, except maybe to see if it runs better on my new computer. It's probably one of the better Deus Ex style of games though.

If today's shooters bug you due to the 'same old shite' why not try monolith's Condemned? Its damn good, very spooky and unique. I loved the full body awareness and how they threw you around like a ragdoll in some scenes. Give the game a try (its not a bad price either)