The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2

The Good
I'll say something. The only other Legacy of Kain game I have played in Soul Reaver 2...and although this game came out several months after SR2, the graphics are actually worse and so are the controls. You'd expect some upgrades, but nah, you don't get that. However, these are fairly minor issues. The highest point in the game is easily the environment and atmosphere. You're a bloodthirsty vampire (EXCESSIVELY bloodthirsty I might add) stalking the streets of a medieval town, with a full moon, dark sky and great architectural drawing. The background goes perfectly with the game and is drawn great, much like the beautiful architecture of the Sarafam Castle in SR2. However, unlike SR2, this world is alive. In that game, the only people you'll meet are the ones you kill and a few people you talk to who develop the plot. This game has people wandering around, who, if not killed, will chat about various topics with each other and provide an interesting backdrop. You don't have to kill everyone, although the game somewhat encourages it. However, there are a lot less cutscenes and the plot doesn't seem to advance as dramatically as in SR2, where confusing and amazing new twists show up at every corner. The next high point, especially compared to Soul Reaver, is the combat. Although the controls are sometimes unresponsive which causes unlimited aggravating deaths every now and then, the combat system itself is very well done. As Raziel in Soul Reaver, you could win the game just by going, whack whack whack, against every foe until they backed down, and occasionally jumping over the stronger attacks. Here,you have to block to live, because the enemies are as skilled and smart as you, and they won't let you score a hit if they can help it. You have to know when to hit and when to block, and some of Kain's Dark Gifts reward blocking too. Another definite high point is the plot itself. You have to have played or at least read about the plot of the whole LoK series to appreciate the depth and complexity of it; this one is not as deep as the time-travelling twists of the previous game. However, once you see how the game ties in with the larger plot, you'll nod in realisation. Kain has a variety of Dark Gifts, or vampiric powers. He starts out with two: one which allows him to power up by blocking and do extra-powered attacks, and one which lets him absorb himself into the mist and do overly-nasty stealth kills on his enemies...extremely useful for ridding yourself of the hordes of knights accompanying that guy with the stupid magic armour, to be sure. As he defeats the various bosses in the game he will gain new powers, which allow him to do things like jump long distances (needed to passs some areas but also great for long-range pounces) and take over the minds of mortals to do his will. Finally the voice acting was great, as in the other games. The actors do great impressions...especially the villagers putting emotion into it, whether its fear (usually fear) or anger in their little conversations. The

The Bad
Now, despite it being a good game, anyone would have quite a few complaints, some more than others. The worst one I have is the puzzles. They are all just throwing switches and pulling crates. That's pretty much it. Gone are the intricate mazes and ancient ruins of Soul Reaver 2. Whoever designed the puzzles fro that game should have been brought in for this one...it had some of the most ingenious puzzles I've ever seen..although that isn't saying much...but still. I found myself aggravated often by those puzzles but now I long to do something more in my puzzles than push boxes and turn wheels. The control failures can cause combat to be unnecessarily annoying, for sure. Too many times I have stood facign away from my enemies while they delivered beatdowns to my helpless back, because the autoface button wasn't working and I couldn't turn around while being walloped. Something has to be done about this, possibly in a patch, and the next game, which I presume there will be one of. Now, although the dark gifts are cool, they are very limited in their use. While Fury, Berserk etc can be used in any combat situation and are great against those stronger enemies and bosses, the rest of them cannot be used widely. Mist is very useful and fun, but you have to have a layer of mist already on the ground to use it, which does not always show up when you want it, and if you step out of the mist your cover is blown. The Jump is good for long distances and pouncing kills, but you can't reach great heights with it (like the boss that you killed to get it). And Charm and Telekinesis are mainly used to flip switches...people under your control cannot fight, or move too far from you and are only good for opening doors. One of my serious quirks is that the game basically encourages you to butcher everyone you meet and drink their blood. Because when your blood/health bar is full, any blood you drink goes toward you Lore Bar, which is essentially experience, once you get enough your max health goes up. So you can make it go up faster by killing off every civilian that crosses your path. It's not the desensitising violence that I'm complaining about here, although I must say that's pretty bad too. THe problem is that it takes away from the depth of the game: Here's some people, kill them. If there were a reason NOT to do this, I would much appreciate it, but the game provides no real incentive not to mercilessly slaughter everyone you see. ANd because of this, the little blood-sucking cinema (which is wierd because rather than biting anyone, Kain sucks the blood out of the body from up to 5 feet away..you have to wonder what the fangs are even for) gets old real fast. THe game would be more interesting if it helped you to be discreet rather than leavign a trail of destruction. My last complaint would have to be Umah. I had thought the LoK games had a good enough plot and gameplay appeal to get all the fans they needed, without having to resort to the ridiculously voluptous, Barbie doll figure lady to haul in horny teenagers. However, it appears they've joined the club. Not only does this badly-disguised hooker alternate between staggering drunkenly around and swaying her hips like she's a doing a striptease, she also dresses in stuff that even the most open minded will be shocked by. There's more cotton in the top of an aspirin bottle than in that outfit. This is just a sorry attempt to attract more interest and should have been toned down...I thought all the feminine attractiveness this game needed was the half of Ariel's face that wasn't torn and mutilated...these games don't need to resort to such ploys. Well, I think I've badmouthed the game enough. Here goes.

The Bottom Line
Overall...this game will appeal to those who like action with a good plot, even one with not so much attention paid to it, to give motivation for the gore. If you are offended by people being whacked bloodily around and streams of blood flying into a guy's mouth, don't play it at all. It's not SR2 graphically with Raziel's complex motions of every limb and karate moves, and the puzzles are disappointing. As an introduction to the LoK series, it's not so great...but it is an overall satisfying game, even if you want to try it out with someone else who has it before you buy.