Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

The Good
This game's storyline is great...It leaves you wanting to know what the rest of the chapters of The Legacy of Kain series holds...It's quite worth finding out....trust me...

The game isn't cheesy at all....The storyline isn't expected....Tha'ts more than I can say for most games in this Day and Age....

The Boss fights are sorta challenging....

Gameplay is Great....I've always enjoyed Impaling my victims with a Spear ;)

The Bad
Raziel got to fight Kain just a little too early in the storyline...(though there is still more of the game left....lots more)

The Bottom Line
Playing as Raziel (A Former Noble Vampire of the Warlord Kain), you seek revenge against Kain (Your former Master)...Your memory is totally wiped out with your death so as you embark on your journey you uncover things of your past and learn great useful skills and solve TONS of puzzles.....

The Good
I was really surprised by Soul Reaver when it finally got to me, especially since I expected it to be nothing more than a post-apocalyptic/horror Tomb Raider wannabe. The game starts out on the right foot by putting you in a story that is entertaining and fits smartly into the game. You are the vampire Raziel, Kain's right hand man and his most powerful warrior. But as it turns out you make the mistake of "evolving" sooner than your master, he gets pissed and throws you into the abyss. However instead of dying you awake centuries later having been transformed by an unknown force into some sort of spectral vampire, a creature that feeds on souls and can walk through either the material or spectral planes of the world. Your mission? Payback time baby! And along the way you'll pick up some interesting tidbits about your past...

Gameplay itself could be summed up as a "less anal Tomb Raider" meaning that there isn't as high an emphasis on precision jumping or acrobatic antics, but the game is at it's core a 3d action-platformer. Of course I wouldn't be writing this down in the "good" section if it weren't for the wonderful twists the game applies to enhance everything that is good about that genre, and get rid of everything that is not. For starters Raziel has super-human strenght, so you are able to push, pull and even flip objects (adding a new layer of complexity to the Eidos trademark "giant box puzzles"), and you get to make impossibly long jumps, as well as glide around, etc. Another good design choice is the way the game progresses and introduces it's mechanics. Each boss soul you absorb grants you new powers, and those powers in turn, open up new parts of the gameworld (ie. being able to climb allows you to go up that mountain you couldn't get to before).

Enemies are for the most part vampire mutations, and as we know, vampires only die by fire, water, sunlight, or... impaling :))... So even the tedious fighting in these types of games gets revamped when it comes to getting down and dirty, since you can stun your opponents with your hits, but it will take one of those previous means to destroy them...

The other great gameplay premise lies within the plane-switching abilities you have, which allow you to switch between the material and spectral plane of a given location on the fly. This changes the scenery dramatically in most places and introduces new sets of rules (ie. you are weightless, water has no mass, and you can't flip switches or open doors on the spectral plane), in essence it is a clever and original feature that breathes new life into what's already a tired idea.

The plane-switching also shows off another area where the game really shines: the graphics. Sure, they are not the most detailed, and there's some considerable fogging when compared to newer games, but the engine uses a lot of excellent lighting effects (which are used to the max when you switch planes, changing the tones and shades of everything around you), and has virtually no load times. In fact, you can traverse the entire gameworld without loading up once!

And of course I have to mention that the game has a great moody soundtrack which really kicks in sometimes, and an excellent voice-acting (truly some of the best I've heard).

The Bad
As surprised as I was about Soul Reaver's originality, I still have some bones to pick with it. For starters the consolistic controls will give you a headache every now and then ("my mouse is RIGHT there!! Why can't I use it to look around???") and there are a lot of console-touches that may rub a lot of people the wrong way (ie. "Press Start").

There are WAAAAAAAAYYY too much of the Eidos box-puzzles, and the game sometimes gives no clear indication of what to do next, momentarily stopping progression because you simply have no clue of what to do or where to go! "Go east of the temple and you shall find your destiny in the bowels of the earth...!!" Ok, I take it that means I have to go down some cave somewhere... but what am I going to do/kill/destroy there? What's my objective? And where the hell is east in this place anyway???? :))

The game also gives you a glimpse of what could become a pseudo-rpg angle, but never really explores that. It allows you basically to get some bonus spells, and enlarge your health bar, but that's it. It's a real shame they didn't explore that concept more throughly.

But what stings me the most is the way the story ends. I don't want to spoil it for you all, but it is simply embarrassing. The game slowly builds up from it's "just revenge" storyline and introduces sideplots and different threads that make the plot more and more interesting as you go. But the game ends before properly closing any threads. In short... there's no climax!! You fight Kain and... "To be continued" (well not exactly that way, but I don't want to spoil anymore) I hear this is because the game was in fact, chopped in half and released like this, but I don't think that's a fair excuse. They should have decided a better place to chop this gigantic idea they had, because as it is right now the game just doesn't end, it simply stops.

The Bottom Line
There are some things you can point out and that become a nuisance about Soul Reaver, but the fact of the matter is that it is a kickass game. Not so much because of it's particular genre or basic premise, but because the twists and original ideas it brings to a tried and true (but already boring) formula. If you are not afraid of dipping into some console-based waters, then dive in because you'll have a blast playing this one.

The Good
Well folks you are in for one hell of a ride. If you are a fan of vampires or if you're just looking for a great story with plenty of action and original ideas this your game. Oh, and you need a tolerance for Playstation 1 graphics if you're going to get through this one.

STORY

The game is actually a sort of follow up to Silicon Knight's excellent Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Set many years after the end of Blood Omen (I'm not calling it B.O. so bear with me :P) the enigmatic vampire Kain has forged an empire for himself and basically exterminated the humans of Nosgoth. With his empire being so large and all Kain creates 5 lieutenants to command his vampire forces. One of those lieutenants is Raziel, our protagonist. The story opens with a stunning CG (for it's time) explaining how Raziel sprouted wings and received death for his "transgression." Kain, being the evil jealous vampire lord that he is, decides that if he doesn't evolve first - nobody does. And with that he casts Raziel into the Abyss where he lays burned and very much dead until....

A few centuries later the mysterious "Elder God" revives Raziel and gives him a chance for vengeance...but for what price. And I'll leave it at that. The story, while an unoriginal vengeance theme, is excellent and provides a couple of "jump out of your seat" twists and many turns as Raziel seeks to hunt Kain down for killing him.

PRESENTATION

I must say, and many gamers out there agree with me, that the LoK series has some of the best voice acting done in ANY video game - period. Simon Templeman returns to revise his role of Kain from Blood Omen and his powerful voice acting is superbly done and he steals the show. But Michael Bell as Raziel was one great casting decision and the banter between these two especially later on is fantastic. All the supporting cast is creepy and vampiric and very well done. The music is absolutely fantastic. Kurt Harland and his Ozar Midrashim song seem like they were made for this game. Powerful. All the area themes are very well done and the combat effects are top notch. A lot of today's designers could learn a lot from the presentation of Soul Reaver. The game's best aspect by far.

GAMEPLAY

Controlling Raziel is very easy and responsive. Even the windows version is quite good with the keyboard and all. There are 2 different types of jumps and you can glide with your ruined wings which is very cool. You can attack with your claws and in groundbreaking style (for it's time...) you can grab torches off walls, use sharp lances and spears and basically just destroy your vampire opponents with whatever your sick imagination brings up. Once your vampire foes are dazed which happens after you hit them successively and hard, you can pick them up and throw them in sunlight, water and on spikes to finish them off. Once this happens their soul appears and Raziel, being the "Soul Reaver" can eat the foes' souls and recover health. Very cool and this forces you to feed to keep alive in the material world. Ah yes, there are 2 worlds. Raziel can switch between the Spirit Realm and the Material Realm at certain "portals". This is helpful in certain puzzles where the spirit realm makes places much more accessible. You also gain special abilities such as telekenesis by acquiring glyphs scattered across Nosgoth in shrines that really add to the game. And when you acquire a certain legendary weapon - the fun really starts!

FUNCTION

Saving is a breeze you can save anytime, anywhere. Not to mention there are warp gates all around Nosgoth that teleport you from place to place so there's no repetitive walking around. The boss fights will make you replay them again they are so fun and the rewards for them help access new areas such as the aforementioned glyphs. Your enemies are never repetitive as you go up against hordes of vampires from your former brother's legions. If killing humans is your thang then stroll on over to the human citadel and start sucking souls - if you can find it!

The Bad
Well the graphics are a bit dated and it does detract I am afraid but it's not too much to worry about.

Some of the puzzles are pretty dumb and they appear at the most inappropriate times. For example you wade through hordes of vampires as you try and get to the boss and just before his lair the game throws a block puzzle at you. This is just a waste of momentum.

As for the ending: Well it may leave you screaming at your screen... There is a reason for Soul Reaver 2 folks and this game is it.

The Bottom Line
If you are looking for an excellent cinematic adventure with plenty of action and drama along with awesome weapons and vampires sprinkled in then look no further. Grab Soul Reaver from a bargain bin now and go on an epic ride. Just make sure you leave space on that hard disk (sorry PS owners :P) for Soul Reaver 2 and LoK: Defiance if you want to see the story of Kain and Raziel through.