"Every Series has it's Origins..."

Please note: this is my same review for the Playstation version, only slightly altered

...and for the Legacy of Kain series, it's Blood Omen. You take control of the vampire Kain, on a quest for revenge, and a thirst for blood - literally. Blood Omen can be classified as an ''old school'' kind of game now, for it has 2D overhead graphics (except for the FMV sequences), and is a very fun adventure RPG. The game is pretty old now, that many find it hard to find a copy of it. It's available for both PC and Playstation, but like any game, regardless of being an old school classic, Blood Omen does have it's flaws.

Gameplay: 8/10

It's an overhead game. What do I mean by this? - think Zelda on NES or Herc's Adventure on playstation. You should know what I mean now, the camera is 'overhead.' Anyways, through out the game you can get powerups like spells, weapons, and armor. This aspect to the game is actually quite cool, for there is quite hefty amout of different spells to discover, different weapons to wield, and different armors to wear that all have different abilities. Some of the powerups are only available in secret areas in the game that you have find during certain times of the day in the game (there is a day and night). There are also different forms you can acquire, such as Bat form, Wolf form, and mist form. Each of the forms will get you to different places as well. Since you're a vampire, you will need to feed off of victims for their blood, and to refill your magic meter you can feed off of ghosts. This seems to never grow tedious, and is actually pretty fun to do and play as the ''anti-hero,'' so to speak. The gameplay for this is actually quite fun in those regards, however Blood Omen does tend to suffer from slow downs if there are a lot of enemies around, and the load times are atrocious.

The Load times: 9/10

WOW - quite an improvement from the Playstation version. The load times took from anywhere between 5 to 15 seconds on the Playstation, now merely takes 1 to 2, or less on the PC. An excellent advantage, so if you can't decide whether or not to get this game for PC of Playstation, get it for PC. Also, you can find some hack files online that will allow you to play Blood Omen on more modern Operating Systems, like XP. So you don't have to worry there.

Story: 9/10

Wow, this is Blood Omen's strong point. The story of this game is absolutely wonderful. You start out as the human Kain, and get murdered. A necromancer named Mortanius raises you from the dead as a vampire so you can seek revenge upon your murderers, but as soon as you do you find out that there is a lot more to this wicked scheme. As the plot unfolds, it really is quite riveting to say the least. However, some parts can get a little confusing, and there are a lot of things in Blood Omen that are never explained. This obviously couldn't have been intentional, for the game was never planning on having a sequel to it. I guess this is where the Soul Reaver games come into play. Anyways, the story is pretty straight forward, and yet mysterious at the same time. If there is one reason alone to play Blood Omen, at least in this day and age, it's for the story.

Sound/Audio

The music is pretty good. Dark and goth-like in a sense. It fits the mood good enough considering how old the game is by now. Need I say more?

Controls

The controls are pretty easy and straight forward. No complaints here.

Graphics: 8/10

It's an ''old school game'' so the graphics are pretty good for that. The FMV's look awesome too. Keep in mind that by today's standards they probably aren't that fantastic, but for an old game they're damn good.

Buy or Rent?

If you can actually get your hands on the game, BUY IT. It's a good game at heart, despite its few drawbacks. If you cant find it to buy, or just arent sure, try renting it then. Overall though, Blood Omen is a good, fun, dark game and for anyone who likes ''old school'' style of games, Blood Omen shouldn't disappoint you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/03, Updated 07/30/03