Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

"AbSOULutely great"

Yeah, this game was good, no doubt about it. But I, like a few others, played Soul Reaver 2 first. And I know it sucks, but this effected my view of Soul Reaver. I mean, you gotta see where I'm coming from, Such a beautiful game like that, and then playing this. It was great, no doubt about it, But I honestly don't think I wouldn't have played it from start to end if I hadn't played Soul Reaver 2.

Gameplay:

Absolutely great, I couldn't applaud Crystal Dynamics more for it, it was laid out perfectly because the fighting is extremely easy and so is the ability to move Raziel and explore your surroundings, you can reach almost anything you see, And I thought that was great.

Although it does get a tad boring at sometimes, you will have fun playing this game at more than a few occasions. The game isn't really hard, except for the puzzles, which add a bit of a challenge. Even these are sometimes a bit tough, they seem terribly obvious after you've done them and you even feel proud if you've figured it out by yourself.

Story:

Instead of telling you the story to the game, which I'm sure pretty much every other review has done, I think I'll instead tell you about the story aspect of the game. It's great. Best thing about the game. Honest.

I was annoyed that there weren't enough cut scenes, and even when they were, they weren't really story based, instead short voice overs by Raziel describing what he should do.

Graphics:

Although this has been ported straight from the Playstation, I felt this could have been much better, The graphics were smooth and it was great that there was no loading, but Raziel's wings, which you probably see for about 80% of the game, look so jagged and rough opposed to Soul Reaver 2 where the wings look nice and smooth, like they should do.

Otherwise, they are great, no slow downs or anything.

Sound: Nothing special. There's nothing that you'll hum along to, In fact, you probably won't remember any music at all, even if there is some music, it's extremely low and not playing anything in particular, it's hard to explain but if you play the game you'll know what I mean.

Another aspect of the game is the voice acting, which I think anyone will agree is the best part of any Legacy of Kain game, with well written scripts and expert voice actors, you can't really go wrong.

Replayability?:

Definitely, If not for the hell of it, then to go back and see all the excellent cut scenes between characters and to play through this excellent game again.

Buy or Rent?:

I'd say Buy, This is a game which you most probably will play again, and something you would be proud to have apart of your games collection.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/03/02, Updated 07/03/02