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
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.

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.