"A gothic adventure game that's worth playing"

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Hello, my fellow gamers. I have a review for you from your friendly neighborhood St.-Alia-of-the-Knife: "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen." Excited by the coming of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, I found that I wanted the sequel badly, but I never played the first game. So, I went to the store and rented myself a copy to take a look at the game preceding the upcoming masterpiece.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen" is a story based on the character of Kain set in the fictional country of Nosgoth. Originally a wealthy noble, Kain is attacked one night and left for dead. A necromancer, Mortanius, finds him and turns him into a vampire so that he may find revenge against his slayers. The quest for revenge becomes slightly more complicated, and Kain finds himself trying to repair the 9 Pillars of Nosgoth to gain back his humanity and, incidentally, save the world from destruction. This is where the game truly begins.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The story, aside from a few gothic tweaks, seems fairly mundane. But, as you will see as you play the game, the story becomes increasingly complex as it comes to a head. Admittedly, the story development seems to come mostly early and late in the game with very little progress in between. But, as you meet a few more characters and some cocky adversaries, you'll find enough to tide you over until the grand finale.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The character of Kain is also likable. Yes, he is evil, and this certainly is not the first game in which you play as an evil character. But, unlike other games in which you play evil characters, Kain actually has a personality. He shows it in the way he deals with the other major characters and the way that he makes snide comments from time to time about this and that. At times, his descriptions of items, or his comments on a town, or on a particular event, etc., actually made me smile. Here is a character that, even for all his evil, you would likely want to see win in the end.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp As for the setting and the other characters, Silicon Knights put a lot of thought and imagination into the mythology and story behind them. Every character, however, is merely a hindrance or a help to Kain, and, as a result, is not developed more than is needed to establish their identity and purpose. But, the game is called "Legacy of Kain," after all. Though, the country of Nosgoth is very well thought out. This is not merely a name to a place dotted with points A to B to C. It is a country with a history and a mythology all its own. The vampire lore itself seems strongly rooted in the Nosferatu lore, but (Don't quote me on this, as I am no vampire historian) also seems to be pieced together by Silicon Knights from various sources. It makes for a change to the garlic/cross/night creatures we hear of in stories and in movies.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp All in all, the story is fairly average with a few twists to liven things up. It is the mythology, the setting, and the character of Kain that makes this game far better in this department. The chemistry works well. I do believe that the source of this deep development in these areas was done because the game was intended to have at least one sequel, and such is necessary to pull people into the story line.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The game is an overhead view action/adventure game. Your major activities are fighting enemies, gathering items, traveling, and keeping your blood levels up.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp As a vampire, of course, you must feed on the blood of living creatures to survive. Constantly in a state of draining, your blood meter must be frequently refilled by preying on innocents or your human enemies. There are several ways to do so, as well.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Fighting is done mainly by your weapon, of which there are five. There are also five types of armor that you can wear. Each weapon and armor is not simply an upgrade, but an item that would be best in certain situations, which is a change of pace from most games. You will find yourself swapping weapons and armors out frequently. You have at your disposal many magical spells, for the purposes of combat, protection, and progress alike. Items are also another form of weaponry, healing, and support at your disposal. All of these items, spells, weapons, and armors are gained during your journeys and many are absolutely vital to your mission.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Traveling is the final main activity, and there is much to be done. The map is very linear (to go along with the story), and you will find yourself traveling from point A to point B, completing whatever is at point B, then moving on to point C to repeat the process. You have the ability to change shape to one of four forms to aid you. The bat form makes traveling much quicker once you have found beacons and landmarks.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Now that you know how the game works in its most basic, it is time to discuss the good and the bad about he gameplay.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Interaction is a minimum, and, chances are that if you meet another speaking character, you are probably going to kill them in a few minutes. People in towns either walk aimlessly up and down (literally) or come at you with deadly intent. Enemies grunt when hit or killed, but do nothing else. The vampire attitude in the game, in and of itself, is that humans are cattle to be fed upon and nothing more. This may be partially why there is extremely little interaction. Townspeople are simply ways to feed or obstacles.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Although "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" is said to have accomplished "seamless" gameplay, that is, gameplay with zero loading times, its predecessor certainly never mastered that point. There is loading time for so many actions that you are required to do often. Pressing start brings up the weapons/armor and menu customization screen, which becomes vitally important when you must switch weapons or armor to adapt to a situation, or when you have so many items or spells that you must customize the menus to be able to use what you want (more about that soon). Needless to say, you press this button quite a bit. There is, unfortunately, about an average 5 second delay going into and out of the screen, sometimes more or less depending on what you have done and what is being done on the action screen. The same effect happens when pressing the much-less-used select button for the options. All form changes require loading (as you may expect), but even keeping the same form requires loading. Selection of an item requires loading, as well. Expect about one second going into any of the menus, and two or three getting out of them. Moving from one map square to another requires loading, as anyone would expect, but sometimes is much too much for what is being loaded (like a small house). This may sound picky or impatient, but if you play the game, you will definitely get tired of the constant loading, especially when the continuity of battle is broken so much that when you have to swap from a two-handed to a one-handed weapon just to use an item or a spell, by the time you switch back, you have lost the moment and forgotten what you were doing.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp One of the most unfortunate drawbacks, however, is the occasional slowdown. It has been so long since I have seen slowdown in a game on any system. I don't believe that I have ever seen slowdown in a Playstation game until now. And, as you might expect, it happens in the absolute worst situations. Dungeons get slowdown when several traps are on the map with even a few enemies. Sometimes just enemies will do it. Sometimes just traps will do it. It can and does also happen occasionally in towns, too. Sometimes, I killed townspeople just so the screen would speed up. I said a few choice words when this first occurred.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Another grievous error is the screen size. Kain is a fairly large sprite, as are the other sprites. The screen is big enough to capacitate these sprites, even in combat, but the problem is that the screen does not always center on Kain as it should. If you walk steadily enough, the screen will let you get to its edge, and to re-center it, you must stop and wait a second. Problem is, any enemies that attack you have the upper hand immediately. Luckily, the game has a built-in button to enlarge the size of the screen and keep it centered on you. Unfortunately, that also means an instant and constant slowdown. So, I opt with the smaller screen.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Although there be several downsides to playing, the game was cool enough for me to keep playing until the end. The game can get a bit monotonous in some caverns or dungeons, as you sometimes have to go back and forth flipping switches and dodging the same traps. The bosses tend to be a bit easy, too. One boss REALLY challenged me and another was a bit of a challenge around the same time near the end, but other than that, most were very easy. Some of the best parts of the game are where you get new weapons, armors, and spells and you get to use them. Some of the spells are really cool and are fun to use. All in all, the gameplay has its serious drawbacks, but it will keep you playing.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The graphics are dark and gothic, but they are nothing that will grab you visually. Backgrounds are generally fairly simple with a few embellishments. There are some lighting effects, but nothing special. The movies that you see during the game are smooth.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The music is fairly decent. It is gothic-like music that sets the scene well. It acts as a good background, but it is not spectacular nor imposing enough to invade your playing. Sound effects are fairly simplistic, but they tend to be a much higher volume than the movies or important interactions, which means I must crank up the volume to actually hear the story. The voice acting is far better than most games, but several of the actors speak very softly, which makes it even harder to hear what it is necessary to hear.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp In the end, there's not much to be excited about in these areas, save for the voice acting, which is superb and far better than average.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Now is the time to discuss the controls a little. The controls are very functional. When I want Kain to move, he moves fast and responsively. When he swings a weapon, he swings according to my button presses. Depending on the weapon, he swings according to how fast and how far between I push the attack button. The controller settings are also simple. There are three action buttons (attack, feed, and cast spell/use item) and three menus (forms, items, and magic), and they are all located on the right side of the controller. The placement is quite well and customizable to an extent.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The problem with the controls comes not in the controls themselves, but in the functions of the menus. Each menu has five slots. There are four forms and the normal Kain form in the center. That menu is fine. The problem comes in the item and spell menus, which are problems because these five slots are not enough to capacitate all the items and spells. There are four customizable slots in either menu that you can fill with items listed in your start button screen. The fifth slot is only for new items or spells, and it cannot be set otherwise. Since there are far more than four items and spells, you must frequently rearrange your menus to fit the needs of the situation. It never becomes apparent why the choice was made to limit the menus to five items. It would have been just as easy to have all the slots and fill them as items came in, or even start with few slots and add additional slots when needed. The menus are not in real time, so the action stops when you are in them. So, there really was no reason not to have larger menus, unless the coding was memory or resource inefficient and could not handle anything larger. As an added problem, you cannot cancel out of the menus. If you go into any of the menus, you must select something. If you mistakenly press a button, then you are unfortunately punished. A minor problem, though.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp All in all, the controls are good and functional, but the menu system needed only a little extra to make it easily useable.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp An extremely important aspect to any console game is replayability, because, unlike computer games, we do not have the ability to use expansion packs or add-ons. First brought to us very early in the console gaming industry by games like "Super Mario Brothers" and "Legend of Zelda,"replayability seemed to disappear (in my opinion) largely until fighting games and RPGs of a few years ago began to make it vastly important again. Now, almost every game has some sort of attempt at providing replayability in some form or another. "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen" does that, but not very well.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp In "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen," replayability is provided merely from the scoring and secrets counter. This may be accessed at any time during the game via the select button. There is a counter of 100 secrets, and you are shown how many out of those you have found. You are also given a score based on not only those, but also slayings, feedings, and mutilations. After you get the score, you are given a title. The reason why this system does not work to provide replayability is that there is little benefit to actually finding these secrets. The game can be won without any of them. There is no other apparent effect on the ending, either. The only difference would be your score as it scrolls by in the ending sequence.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp In the end, the game can be won fairly quickly in about a week or two, and, unfortunately, the replayability is next to zero.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Simply put: rent this one. If you buy it, it will surely be collecting dust in no time. Although the game is reasonably fun and will keep you interested until the end, it does not have much in the way of replayability and has too many flaws to put up with for a second go-around.