BloodRayne 1 and 2 are actually pretty different from one another in terms of gameplay. The first one is basically Max Payne with a focus on melee combat and disposable firearms. It's actually a lot of fun, with lots of variety in the environments and attacks/weapons. Also, it's really, really gory. One very interesting thing about it is actually the structure of the levels: You're usually set free in a rather large area and given multiple targets (mostly some nazi officers you're supposed to kill) and you're free to pursue those targets in any order you like. It has its issues, mostly in terms of balancing and a few annoyances, but nothing too bad, really.

The second one, however, could be described as something like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time meets Devil May Cry. Here, the combat is almost entirely melee attacks and combos, with the gunfights basically dialed down to a minimum. It's completely linear and the gameplay does have a problem with repetition, but the action, blood and gore are still just as satisfying. Maybe even more, because the level of violence has been increased to downright absurd levels. A lot of the game basically involves getting locked into small areas, with waves of enemies to fight before you can continue. Quite a few times, this is expanded by requiring you to throw a certain number of enemies into various objects blocking your way (fuseboxes, ACs, etc.). It's still fun, with an interesting story to boot, but also has a tendency to frustrate you. And it's buggy. Dear lord, it's buggy.

Overall, they're entertaining but unpolished. In some ways, that works in their favour, supporting the feeling that you're basically playing the videogame equivalent of an exploitation movie (as opposed to things like "Wet" or "House of the Dead - Overkill", which try to achieve that sort of thing by simply ripping off the visual style of the movie Grindhouse). They take the gameplay of games that were popular in their respective day, but since they lack the polish and refinement of those, they make it up in pure visceral excess. Not just in terms of violence, but also in Gameplay. For example, in BloodRayne 1, you get a bullet-time mechanic just like in Max Payne, but its use is not limited in any way, you can essentially play most of the game in slow motion (it's not quite as useful as the version in MP, though).