Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

"An amazing story-driven adventure"

Vengeance is one of the most powerful emotions and forces known to man and is what drives Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

Story 10/10
Raziel was Kain’s second-in-command. He was a devoted soldier who followed Kain’s every order as he wrecked havoc and destruction throughout the world. As Kain’s power grew, he would undergo evolutions, developing new powers for himself. After he received these new powers, he would bestow them on Kain and his brothers. Yet, one day Raziel undergoes an evolution in power before Kain. He grows wings and develops the power of flight. Furious and jealous Kain throws Raziel into the pits of hell and there Raziel resides for a 1000 years. An unknown deity awakes Raziel and gives him one order; destroy Kain and the kingdom he has created.

There is no soap-opera drama of saving the world in this game. Your only purpose is to wreak vengeance upon the one that destroyed you. The game’s story, like all the other games in this series, is confusing. I played through the game once and was still a little confused about the roles of all the other characters and their motives. I would recommend trying to find a summary of the story so that you can understand all the little extra things in the game, it really helped me. But the story is magnificent, fed to you in small bits and pieces which makes you want to keep playing.

Graphics 9/10
I never played the PSX version of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, so I have no idea how the graphics looked on it, but the ones of the Dreamcast Version and incredible. There are vast, yet incredibly detailed environments. When Raziel moves, his cloak moves with him, but in a very realistic way. The cloak just does not flow behind when he is running, it flows and ripples with each movement. There is a little bit of fog in the game, particularly in one part of the game where you must reach a great height, but otherwise there are no problems with fog or frame rate. My only complaint is Raziel’s CG scenes. I know Raziel does not have a mouth per se, but I would have enjyed at least seeing his jaw move when he talked.

Sound/Music (overall) 8/10
Music 10/10
The music is incredible. Then music really adds to the value of the game. It doesn’t take over the game, by being overpowering. One of my pet peeves is a game which puts too much emphasis of music, if I wanted good music, I can turn on my stereo. When I play a video game, I want to play it, not be overpowered by music. Most of the music is a haunting backdrop as you make you way through the ancient and decrypted cathedrals and other colossal monuments. When you fight bosses, the music becomes a little more epic and powerful, which made the boss battle that much more fun.
Sound 5/10
The sound is okay. There is the iron clanking and the occasional growl of a monster, but the sound could have been much better.

Gameplay 9/10
Raziel cannot die, but he does inhabit two planes. The first is the real world, the second in the spectral plane, where he goes when he loses his energy on the real world. The real world and spectral plane are in the same place. I absolutely loved this aspect of the game. It made it seem like there were two games in one. The spectral plane and the real world are tied together perfectly. In the spectral plane, everything is distorted. Places you couldn’t reach in the real world can now be reached. Different enemies inhabit both planes. In the spectral plane, your energy bar fills up. It is important to manage your energy, because for the first half of the game, your energy automatically slowly depletes itself in the real world. The only way you can suffice it is by consuming souls of monsters you kill or going to the spectral plane.

The puzzles in Legacy of Kain are amazing. The puzzles are spaced out very well, so never are you just doing puzzles for 2-3 hours straight. The puzzles are complex, but at the same time not so much that they will frustrated you. I can’t think of a single puzzle that kept me guessing for very long.

The combat is hit and miss. Raziel learns a host of new abilities that aid him both in combat and in puzzle solving. These new skills really make you feel as if Raziel is evolving just as he had 1000 years ago. The boss battle are phenomenal. They force you to use combat and puzzle solving in order to kill the bosses. I can truly say that the boss fights in Legacy of Kain are my favorite in any adventure game including the Zelda series and Devil May Cry. Yet, the combat system does falter with regular enemies. The monsters just too easy but yet take forever to kill. You have to stab the monsters through the heart, that is pretty much the only way to regularly kill them. While this is fun for a while, it gets boring. Also when you stab them, you must leave the stake their for 3-4 seconds or else the monster will revive. This is really annoying when you are trying to fight several enemies at once. The only other problem is the whole gate system. You are supposed to be able to use these warp gates to travel trough Raziel’s world. Yet, I found these gates confusing and frustrating. Too many times, even after using the gate, I was forced to travel an additional 10 minutes just to reach my destination.

Overall the gameplay is awesome, boss battles have and possibly never will be executed as well. But because of a few annoying aspects, it doesn’t get a 10.

Replay Value 5/10
Since Legacy of Kain is such a story-driven adventure game, it doesn’t have much replay value. Once you heard the story once, there is no real point to hear it again. Also, the regular combat gets so annoying that it will turn you away from replaying the game.Yet, despite this flaw, it is likely you will replay Legacy of Kain once and maybe twice. There aren’t any sidequests, but there a lot of little things, like energy bars that you will miss the first time. Also the boss battle are so much fun, you’ll find yourself replaying the game just for them.

Overall 8/10
Legacy of Kain is a great game. You will more than enjoy the game the first time through. The graphics, the story, the boss battle and the puzzles will keep you interested and involved in the story. You will want to fully explore both planes Raziel can inhabit. Yet a weak combat system and annoying warp system can get on your nerves. I would definitely recommend buying this game, but then selling it to a friend or a used video game store once you beat it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/21/03, Updated 07/21/03