Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

The Good
The Legacy of Kain series is probably one of the best 3d action/adventure franchises out there, which carved a name for itself by adding some innovative touches to what's essentially a stagnant formula but also by adding to the gameplay an incredibly solid storyline and setting, which continues to twist and bend in every direction in this new sequel.

I won't bore you with the details of what made Soul Reaver 1 so good (just check out any of the reviews), but instead allow me to do a quick rundown as I mention the areas where the game has improved:

The gameplay remains basically the same, which is a good thing. The game thrusts you into what's more or less a seamless world through which your character goes around unearthing the story and gaining new abilities. These abilities unlock new areas of the world and the cycle repeats itself again and again. On top of that, time travel now takes you to different ages of the same location, which unlocks even more challenges and so on. As before, you can switch between reality planes in real time, suck souls and battle re-spawning enemies as you solve puzzles. Said puzzles have been extremely improved and now provide original challenges that call for Raziel to make use of all his abilities and think a bit instead of pushing boxes ad infinitum (the annoying box-pushing puzzles from the original are in fact, gone). Combat has been considerably improved, with a new "lock-on" feature (seen also in other games of this type) that allows you to easily circle-strafe around an enemy, dodge, block and parry his attacks besides just slashing randomly in his/her direction.

The story in the original Soul Reaver was a surprising delight of treachery and plot-twists, and this time things are taken even further. Having had his revenge, Raziel now travels in time in pursuit of Kain, but this little adventure faces him with some unexpected revelations, such as his own true nature and how both him and Kain were fooled by other forces. Additionally, the time travel element takes you in and out of several key moments in the history of Nosgoth, and it's truly a magnificent sight to see how well the writers managed to make seemingly paradox-inducing elements work for them and thus deliniate the fate of Nosgoth as well as give hope to it. Raziel for instance, is found to be the cause of his own doom, yet he finds out he's the only one with the power to alter fate. Those as well as many other plot-points once again weave a web of conspiracy and treachery that will leave you dizzy before you know it. Luckily, this time around the developers included a diary that keeps tabs of every conversation and event in the game for easy review.

Finally, as befitting a next-generation game, Soul Reaver 2 sports some of the most impressive production values in it's class, which include SPECTACULAR voice acting and musical score as in the original, as well as truly amazing graphics that make the original look like a Gameboy game with a completely re-done engine, new models with larger poly counts, larger stages with more detailed texture work and all sort of lighting and particle special effects for some excellent eye candy.

The Bad
It's even shorter than Max Payne! And that's saying something... Not only is the game shorter than the original (by a lot!), but it's completely linear with all the optional glyph quests removed and leaving you nothing to explore on your own. To top that off it's incredibly easy! Save for some rather nasty plane-shifting monsters that appear in some of the later time-eras, each and every fight in the game is a doozer. Gone are the puzzle boss-fights from the original, replaced with the same generic bozos you can eliminate with a couple of hits... it's a shame really as one can't help but wonder why they improved the combat system so much only to have virtually no challenging fights in the game!

Additionally, there's a particularly infuriating problem with the PC version, and it's the fact that while the original PS2 Soul Reaver 2 was just as short, it featured an entire DVD-worth of extra materials to complement this. When you finish the PS2 version you get a code and this unlocks a pletora of extra features which include a veritable roadmap of the Nosgoth continuity (complete with a detailed timeline), cutscene collections from the original Soul Reaver as well as Blood Omen, and a wealth of behind-the-scenes material showcasing the making of Soul Reaver 2.... The way I see it this omission is a clear "Fuck You!" to PC gamers, and I'm not taking it lightly.

Finally the game ends on yet another cliffhanger wide-open ending, basically saying a lot but resolving nothing... So far the series is interesting enough to arouse my interest, but if they keep pulling this trick I'm not gonna be around it for much longer.

The Bottom Line
Soul Reaver 2 improves upon the original in practically every way possible, taking the already fantastic gameplay and content to new levels of quality. Unfortunately in the way it also found a way to lose enough length, challenge and non-linearity so as to coming really close to being an interactive movie... This is something to take into consideration from a gameplay-value point of view, and also if they expect you to pay anything above 10 bucks for it.

Finally (and I HATE saying this) get the PS2 version as it packs all the extras that made up for the lackluster value in the game.

The Good
First of all, if you're like me, meaning that you really care about storyline above everything else, I totally recommend you to start the series from the very beginning, the first BLOOD OMEN.
Of course, it's a very old game, totally outdated, and possibly quite hard to come by. On top of it, it needs an unofficial patch in order to run in WinXP... I did all that and I played the game anyway, but if you haven't got that much patience, at least you could go HERE and HERE to find out some background on the series' plot.
Finally, whatever you decide to do or not to do, I would STRONGLY suggest you to play the first SOUL REAVER, since Soul Reaver 2 is a plain follow-up to the first game. The pre-rendered intro cutscene is in fact a re-make of the last 15 minutes of gameplay from the first game, and right there we pick up and start this one.

The legend tells that the first SOUL REAVER was a delayed game, and that it was ultimately released by pressure of Eidos (the publisher) when it wasn't yet completed. Crystal Dynamics decided to cut the game in half, giving us an open —WIDE open— ending. This got some people pretty angered, since after all those hours of kick-ass gameplay, and right when the plot would begin to unfold, they met a dissapointing 'to be continued'.
Someone even said (and very accuratedly) that the game doesn't end, it just stops.
However, looking back I feel that Crystal Dynamics made the right decision. Not only the already awesome SOUL REAVER has an amazing continuation in a technically beautiful full DirectX 8 compliant game (more on that in a minute), but also both games are rock-solid rounded up products. Watching as how other developer groups decided to face thier publisher's deadlines pressures —namely, Core Desing with TRAOD— one has to admit that Crystal Dynamics made the right choice.
I prefer two good half-games before one big insanely buggy piece of software crap.

Plot-wise, the first game sets us in the land of Nosgoth, thousands of years after the vampire Kain destroyed the remains of the Circle of Nine, wiped out the Sarafan armies, and established himself as an emperor. We knew the story of Raziel, firstborn of Kain's lieutenants, who has been punished for developing wings before his master, and cast into the abyss. Raziel was resurrected right before his body would be completely decomposed, and given the mission to kill Kain and his vampires, in order to free their undead souls and bring back the balance to the Wheel of Fate. This would of course also grant him the possibility of taking revenge against his former master and brethren. His old vampiric skills and blood thirst have been replaced with new skills —among which count the ability to shift between the material world and the spiritual realm at will— and the hunger for souls.
Raziel would take down one by one his old brothers, and finally meet Kain in a time-streaming chamber, a place from which one could travel to whatever time he wants. After a short-lived fight, Kain will exit through a time portal with a mysterious sentence: 'this is not where, or how, it ends...' Raziel follows him into the past, meeting on the other side one of the Nine Guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth, Moebius, the Time Streamer, who would adress to Raziel as 'destroyer, redeemer, pawn, and messiah' and greet him welcome to his 'destiny'.
And thus, Soul Reaver 2 begins.

Soul Reaver 2 is slightly different from the first game in several ways.
First, the time portal Raziel passed through following Kain, took him thousands of years before the first game, to a time when the forest were still green, the waters were transparent, the sky was blue, and the world vibrated animated with life. The Nine Pillars were still standing in all their majesty and purity, and the armies of Moebius were following the Sarafan tradition in a successful hunting of the 'undead scourge' that the vampires represented. However, things are just about to get ugly, since Raziel arrives the same day that Ariel, Guardian of the Pillar of Balance, was murdered. The day that the Circle of Nine started decaying with madness, and the very day that Kain is born to human life.
Soul Reaver 2 will show a very calmed Kain that might not be the foul villain we thought; an intriguing Moebius that seems to have some hidden agenda in which he involves Raziel; a much less-powerful-looking Elder God about whose true part in all the drama there will start rising doubts; a much more mature and wise Raziel who will learn that nothing is what it seems, and will have to embark in a long journey to the past, the future, and even further into the past, in order to unravel his very important part in Nosgoth's destiny, daring to question everyone who has crossed in his path like he never did before; and LOTS —LOTS— of amazing plot twists.
Along this second part of his journey Raziel will also meet a few other important characters like the old vampire Vorador from BLOOD OMEN and the legendary —and even older— Janos Auldron.
As always in the series, the storyline is so complex and FULL of events, that you can rest assured that you won't walk more than 5 minutes before you found another important piece of the puzzle.

The game is technically gorgeous. I love when a game takes full advantage of the API in which it's based, and Soul Reaver 2 is a lesson on how to implement the DirectX 8. Impressive poly count, huge environments, beautiful lighting effects, high resolution textures... you name it, it's all there.
There are lots of in-game-graphics cutscenes, in which the expressions of the characters when talking are nothing short of impressive, they count among the most lifelike I've seen in any game so far. This is specially true in the case of the dramatic Moebius, and maybe even more in Raziel. In case you don't know, Raziel only has half a face (an almost-skinless half skull in fact), and it's hidden by a cape, leaving only his eyes uncovered. Nevertheless, they managed to make those eyes so expressive that Raziel takes a life in his dialogues like you wouldn't imagine. Comparing this to other games (like the awfully inexpressive characters of AITD4 who wouldn't even move their lips, and even the technically higly-hyped SPLINTER CELL), this crowns Crystal Dynamics as a master in the field.
There are thousands of small details to pay attention that show how incredibly much the developers cared about the atmosphere, specially in the beautiful all-living forests of Nosgoth's past. The scene when Raziel comes out of the Sarafan stronghold and sees this land in all its beauty for the first time, is just breathtaking, and it just HAS to be seen.
The list goes on and on, there are 'great small things' all over the place. When Raziel steps with one foot higher than the other, like in a staircase, his legs will actually position themselves according to the height difference. Weather-wise, we have just everything: fog, sunshine, nocturnal storm, snow; actor-wise, we have birds, fish, insects...

The character graphics are magnificent. Not only the poly count takes full advantage of the DirectX 8 hardware and the textures are as detailed as it gets, but the design of the creatures is way better than it was in the first game. Of course, there is not much to be done about the human enemies —who are by the way most of the population of the game, unlike the first game, where they were almost all vampires— but at a point of the game there will start to appear some demons, which are really scary, starting with their HUGE size, the ferocious appearance, their fighting skills, and at a point they start talking with a menacing and disturbing voice.

Kudos to Crystal Dynamics once again about the fact that all this impressive package comes at almost no performance cost:
First, I ran the game with a Radeon 9000 (the lowest range DX8 graphics card, must be around 70 bucks in the US, as of August 2003) with ATI's Anisotropic Filtering x8 and Antialiasing x4, and in-game's Sharp Image all the way to 20, at a 1024x768 resolution, and the game runs incredibly smooth. I didn't find any built-in benchmarking method, but I dare to affirm that it's running easily over 35 fps or maybe more, since no fast-camera-movement nor actor-crowding of the screen nor anything else seems to affect framerate at all.
Second, as it also happened in the first game and some other reviewers pointed out while I passed by (my bad), the game doesn't load! ever! I fail to imagine how the hell did they do it (I don't know a thing about programming, to begin with), but you get to play the whole game through and rest assured that the time you spent is pure gameplay, you won't face a loading time of more than a fraction of second anywhere. This is specially amazing when shifting between the material and spectral worlds, since the whole lighting, the colours, the actors and even the SHAPE of the world are DRAMATICALLY changed. The game just seems to load object on the fly in some kind of God-knows-where-hidden buffer, or maybe taking advantage of some not-playing moments, like the (brief) animation when you open a door... I don't know, I just know it works, and it works amazingly well.
Looking at almost every other game in the market, with their annoying (sometimes INSANELY annoying) 'loading' screens this is easily brilliant and unmatched, and most developers out there should really think of taking some classes with these guys (Core Desing, anyone?).

Once again, the sound dept. shines with its own powerful light.
All the voice actors that fans of the Legacy of Kain series already love are back with all their great acting and awesome-sounding voices, to bring life to more of the classic smart and sharp dialogues we already know and love. In this case, the first-ever-seen detailed facial animation gives a whole new dimension to the dialogues.
In this regard, Kain remains my favourite of all times, and in this game he seems specially inspired, with a couple of metaphors I just felt tempted to write down and start using right away myself.
The music once again does an awesome job joining the action, with some tunes that really outstand. I personally love the beautifully dark title track, and I often just leave the options menu on just to listen to that music.

The game is basically, like its predecessor, a third person perspective action/patform game. However, several changes have been made, gameplay-wise.
Since Raziel basically completed his 'quest for revenge', we have no boss fights, and the 'levels' are divided in a rather different way: we will learn that the Soul Reaver (Raziel's symbiotic sword) is much more than everyone thought it was, and that there are four Ancient Forges throughout Nosgoth which can imbeeb the 'blade' with the power of elementals: fire, air, light, and darkness (I know, those are not the elementals, but then again this is another world, who knows). By gaining each one of those powers, the Reaver will give Raziel the possibility to open his way into formerly unaccessable areas, thus moving forward in the game.
On the other hand, this also means that once again we will be walking back and forth through the same map several times. Luckily, the time travels we are also going to make will grant us that the environment will change enough as to make the journey entertaining to the eye.

The puzzles have been reworked, there are no more block puzzles to begin with; just a few jumping puzzles, which are so easy that they can hardly be called puzzles; and the ACTUAL puzzles are about taking advantage of the structure of a —usually huge— place in order to bring each one of the Forges to life, and thus, empower the Reaver.
For example, in the Forge of Light we'll have to assemble a number of mirrors throughout the labytrinth-ish place, working out the position of the doors, blasting windows, and whatnot, to finally bring a ray of sunlight to the center of the Forge. While not too hard to figure out at all, the puzzles are so big, in the way you need to walk around an entire building to 'put together' the pieces, that they will make do some serious thinking.
I said how I loved the puzzles in the first game for being so imaginative in their design, and I didn't imagine how they could make that particular point even better; yet they have done it.

The game has also been enhaced in several 'minor' points, like the fact that we now have a compass; we have a map (which is not that useful anyway but might come in hand a few times); we have a few different kind of weapons with different ranges, strenght, and attack speed; and the control interface has been made much better: now we have the ability to cover from attacks; the 'autoaim' button works better, and now Raziel faces the 'engaged' enemy all the time while the button is pressed, hence being able to move and jump AROUND the enemy to avoid his attacks without getting too far; we have two buttons for two levels of attack strenght; and —VERY important— we can use the mouse to look around!!! Yay!!!
The useless 'glyphs' from the first game have been totally removed, along with the 'grab' button, and the need to impale or burn the enemy to finish him (Raziel can finish any enemy with his claws now).

A much welcomed addition (or better yet, a re-appearance) is the Dark Chronicle. Much like the Dark Diary of BLOOD OMEN, this is a record of every important cutscene seen, and it's a handy way of putting yourself into context in case you missed or forgot something. However, this is not a replay of the cuts like in the first game of the series, but rather a written chronicle, in fact it's the script for the scenes. This is good in the way that the written word is very detailed in descriptions and also helps clearing up any misunderstandig that might result from the spoken dialogue, specially if english is not your main language. On the other hand, it would have been good to be able to re-view the actual cutscenes...

Finally, the game features an ending which is totally opened for a new sequel (no spoilers here, it's no secret that 'Legacy of Kain: Defiance' starring both Raziel and Kain as playable characters, is scheduled out October 2003) but it has been accomplished in a much more smart and subtle way that in the first game. Not only the series might as well just end where this game ends, but also the 'opening' might not be totally apparent to whoever doesn't pay close atention to the whole final cutscene.
Very smart, much better than the somewhat dissapointing ending of the first game.

The Bad
Like it usually happens, the technical issues are much more noticeable in a product this beautiful, if only for the fact that they point out exactly WHAT is the thing that keeps the game from being just perfect.
In Soul Reaver the glitches are pretty minimal, some almost unnoticeable clipping issues (like Raziel's feet sinking in the stairs when viewed from a certain angle, or the eternal problem of the dead bodies passing through walls); and some graphic bugs that might as well be particular to a given video card anyway. However, in this regard, there is a pretty important bug: the game doesn't work right with a GeForce4 MX / Radeon 9000, requiring the user to disable the vertex shaders in windows registry, or else applying a pretty big patch (20MB or so).
I suffered the Radeon 9000 issue and it's strange in several ways: the game just doesn't work, it loads alright but all the colours are kind of washed out and turned to dark shades of blue, which makes it impossible to see anything. This easily means that the game has not been tested in this card, since it's impossible not to notice the issue. On the other hand, this is to a certain extent understandable with a GeForce4 MX (it doesn't have hardware vertex shaders), but I fail to understand why it happens with a Radeon 9000 card which is fully DirectX 8 compliant.

The exceptional detail level on Kain's and Moebius's facial expressions somehow make an awkward contrast with other faces (like Janos Auldron and a Sarafan warrior we will talk to) which are not as good, either in design nor in animation.

As it usually happens, the use of in-game graphics for cutscenes sometimes require certain camera angles which would not be possible while playing, frequently zooming too much into certain backgrounds, making their textures to appear very blurry, which spoils the picture a bit.

Onto more practical issues, looking back at the gameplay one can't help but feel that he hasn't actually played that much. Most of the time goes in dialogues and minor fights, while there are only four puzzles to solve in the whole game (one for each Forge).
Even though they are great both in design and in the fact that they are physically big, it would have been good to have some more; even a few of those good old block puzzles...

Finally, the elimination of the glyphs brings attached a nasty side effect, in the fact that there is no 'side-exploring' to do at all. There is not a sole place you won't see upon completing the game once. To my eye, this is plain bad, since it totally takes away any replayability value.
In that regard, there is not even a 'hard' difficulty level, nothing to push you to replay, other than just the sake of reviewing the cutscenes and the —admitidly, beautiful— landscapes.

The Bottom Line
Soul Reaver 2 can be resumed with one single —and quite cliched— sentence: a worthy sequel.
The graphics, the gameplay (both fighting and puzzle-solving), the story... everything has been reworked to make up for a game that's easily double the amazing than its —already fantastic— predecessor, proving that Crystal Dynamics has made the right choice when they decided to 'cut the game in half' to rush the release of the first part.

Technically the game is brilliant, featuring a huge and beautiful gameworld populated with very lifelike actors, and a spectacular set of DirectX 8 special effects at no performance cost, not even in the form of those so sadly common in-game loading times. Quite an achievement.
All of our beloved Legacy of Kain voice actors are back, making once again an oustanding work, this time paired with extremely expressive character faces. Even Vorador makes a brief appearance too.
And the story... in this regard, the Legacy of Kain series just gets better and better, at dramaticly huge steps.

The only serious and un-workable drawbacks might be the almost total lack of replayability value, specially considering the huge sub-worlds that SOUL REAVER featured as 'secret areas'; and the very few puzzles to solve.

The Good
The first thing that I loved was the first thing that was presented; the opening movie was superb quality and it retold the ending of the previous game, Soul Reaver 1, but it did so truthfully and didn't drastically change things (such as retcon a few important details). After the FMV came a regular cutscene, which still had pretty good quality and... LIP-SYNCING! That's right, whereas in Soul Reaver 1 the mouth of a person didn't move, people actually talk now! Of course, the syncing isn't perfect - but it's still a MAJOR improvement.

Still on the grounds of graphics, every detail was great. I liked the Shade enemies and how they looked see-through yet dark, the many other enemies were improved from the previous game (most notably the Slaugh). Most items/structures that were rendered seemed quite smooth, though some still were noticeably rough-edged (but it was an early PS2 game... I think). Things such as the Soul Reaver weapon and Mobeius have also been "improved" (I place "improved" in inverted commas because some fans may not agree that this change was for the better).

Onto music, then. The first thing that hits you is that this game lacks that mighty kick-ass opening music of Soul Reaver 1, but on the bright side it does have a alright soundtrack despite its absence (If you can get around the fact that the music rarely plays in some areas of the game).

Gameplay. Luckily they've kept the same type of gameplay and perspective from SR1, and they've improved some minor details - such as removing the sometimes annoying and glitchy block puzzles (which are replaced by more creative and unique puzzles - such as the one in Janos' Retreat and in the Forges). The glide function was much more smoother, and gives you more air-time (yay!), and other minor details were improved. Over all, the biggest gameplay changes where the inclusion of Save Point markers and new Soul Reaver fonts and puzzles, along with a linear exploration.

Oh, and another note: Cutscenes were used in the last game for the sole purpose of Raziel's journey, but in this game, cutscenes forward the game and also provide interesting details and notes about Nosgoth and its inhabitants.

As for a fun factor, I'd say that despite its linear nature, Soul Reaver 2 is quite a fun game. Impalement, vampires, blood, souls, exploration, puzzles, evil dudes, expanded story! And did I mention impalement!? Of course the game is fun. If anything, its more fun than Soul Reaver 1 - and what's more, it isn't filled with (many) glitches!

The Bad
For those who have played Soul Reaver 1, you'll notice that this game doesn't have a soundtrack that was as good as SR1. The kick-ass music track that played practically throughout is absent here, and there's nothing that is as good in Soul Reaver 2. In fact, after playing SR2, you'll possibly be unable to recall the slightest bit of audio.

The game is also linear, but it removes the easiness of getting lost - which was almost always the case in SR1 (unless you used a walkthrough guide).

The Bottom Line
For a Legacy of Kain fan, this truly is a highlight of the series. I would recommended it to any Legacy of Kain fan, or anyone whose played any of the previous games (Blood Omen 1, Soul Reaver 1). For a player new to the series, I would still recommend it, but with the caution that the storyline may be hard to pick up. But apart from that, it's all good gaming, my fellow gaming friend.

The Good
There was much to love about Soul Reaver 2. The graphics, for one, were fantastic. Not as good throughout the game as in the opening movie of course, but they were still great, you could see the expressions on all the character's faces as they gibbered. THe magical effects with the Soul Reaver and the Forges were also very impressive and put Star Wars to shame. The storyline, as anyone who has played other Legacy of Kain games will tell you, is fantastic. The history of the world of Nosgoth is immense, vastly complicated (and more so due to time travel) and fascinating. In this game, you get to bounce through three eras of it, watching how Raziel's influence changed history millennia ago and led up to his vampiric birth, etc. One of the cooler things about time travel is that you can see the world in different states. The first period you start in features a darkened swamp, fertile grasslands and forests, and vast caverns. There are two more, which I won't reveal, but each one changes the locations enough that you can reach new areas, explore more of Nosgoth, and it's really cool to see how all the pieces fit together in the way things change. You get to see the swamp in three eras, as well as the Sarafan Castle ranging from snow-covered to squatted in, to ruined and full of demons. The puzzles are another area where the game shines. There are no block puzzles throughout it, they all rely on ingenious means of hauling blood around in basins, casting shadows and light, activating torches, etc and every one is among the best puzzles I've ever seen. Not that I've seen many, but these are superb. Every time you figure one out you'll be amazed at the genius of it. (It's too bad the people that did the puzzles here didn't do them on Blood Omen 2, which had horrible block-and-switch puzzles with no variety) However, there are five puzzles throughout the game and even I who hate puzzles, found myself wanting more.

The Bad
The worst part, which you'll notice at once, is the dialogue. Oh, it's nice and short and sweet in the opening movie, but from there on it becomes an infinity of incomprehensible Shakespearean babbling which not even an English Major could sort through. The plot is confusing enough already without everyone beating around the bush. Unfortunately, this talk is all PART of the plot, because everyone you meet (there are only about 4 major characters including the one you play, the rest are basically bit parts, with one exception who doesn't get enough screen time to really be major)...basically everyone is lying to you, trying to get you to do what they want. And its hard enough to figure out what anybody REALLY wants you to do. However, Raziel has a no-bull attitude and isn't playing anybody's puppet...except when he can't help it. Second, the fights were, to put it simply, a walk in the park. For the first half of the game you never had to block or dodge or even do anything except mash that 'Light Attack' button. Then, suddenly, the enemies become immensely harder, and you have to basically die a lot until you get good enough to beat THEM by button mashing too. There are a medium size variety of foes in the game, but the tactics are identical for all of them, and aside from the occasional jump over an attack, or running stab, you win by just whacking away until they give out. Even Blood Omen 2 has a better fighting style than this. All the fights were atrociously easy (except the first few demons who were atrociously hard until you got used to their style) and really dissapointed me. Finally, the game is entirely linear. There is absolutely no side material, you simply walk straight from one point to another, with a cutscene at each major turn, solving puzzles that are straight in your path. You can't choose your directions at all, and in fact there's only one point in the game where it's not shaped like a narrow corridor which you have to walk along (whether it's in churches or castles or canyons) and in that place, you're just taking a slightly alternate route to the same point. The areas you play in are all pretty little, too. You just spend the whole game running back and forth between two ends of a long, straight path.

The Bottom Line
Overall....hard one. I certainly enjoyed the game, even if the fights were a pushover. It was great fun to watch the massive plot unfold under your nose, and twists popped up at every corner, and this game got me interested in the rest of the Legacy of Kain series, the rest of which is also great. If you like epic stories as well as fun gameplay, check this game out. If all you like is intense hand-to-hand, gut wrenching, edge of your seat action, look somewhere else. But to anybody who enjoys intrigue and drama with their zombie-hacking, this should keep you happy, and for a great price as well.

The Good
The game's Graphical Programming is quite advanced compared to the last game. The added Extras at the end of the game are very funny and the artwork is amazing. The fun during game play is Raziel's new found sense of humor, and his brother-like relationship with Kain is interesting. If anyone liked the last game, then I strongly recommend this game, it is also good for those who want a more involved RPG to play.

The Bad
The main let down of this game, for me, was the poor story line, and after the reviews that I had read in magazines, the main play graphics were annoying. I think the game's playing graphics are about the same as Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

The Bottom Line
In brief this game is an amazing piece of work. The main story-line is about a young Vampire forced by a half-truthed revenge on his lord, who is lead into the past and is again mis-lead by the devious Moebius. Kain of course creates a paradox by bringing the two Reavers together.... the world lies on the edge of a knife as Raziel tries to over-power the Reaver to find out more of his past. The finale is a repeat of an earlier FMV, Raziel, caught between life and death, is forced to over-power the reaver, after killing his human self, he is again faced and caused to kill his vampire self. As Kain gives a warning we are left with a cliff-hanger as Raziel slips into the Spectral Realm to recover and continue this story in Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 3.

Buy the Game to find out the entire story and to meet the Saraphan and find the truth about Moebius, Kain, Ariel and Raziel's bretheren.