Legacy of Kain: Defiance

"Fans of the series will love it"

Story

Defiance serves us with the fifth and final chapter of the wonderful Legacy of Kain series. Following on directly from the events of Soul Reaver 2, we can now control the enigmatically charming Kain, who after altering history by saving Raziel from the confines of the Reaver now finds himself in a bid to find Raziel after his involuntary departure to the spirit world.

At the same time, Raziel awakens to find himself kneeling at one of the many appendages of the Elder God who seems content to gloat over Raziels predicament. Raziel, unimpressed by the attitude of his master resolves to return to the material world in a desperate bid to alter his horrific destiny. Upon re entering the material world, he is shocked to discover that his stay in the spirit world had lasted much longer than he realised, with five hundred years now separating Raziel and Kain from one and other.

From this point the story alternates between two timeframes following our heroes on their quest to change their seemingly unalterable fates and at the same time restore Nosgoth to its former glory, whilst at the same time having to deal with the constant interference from Moebius, the Hylden and the Elder God, who all seem hell bent on keeping the two as far apart and in the dark as possible.

For the most part, this is top notch stuff, the plot and strong narrative manages to engage the player, constantly holding their interest all the way through. However, like most stories using time travel, it suffers from discrete continuity errors and at times can be difficult to follow in its entirety. Fans of the franchise, familiar with the overall events of the series will revel in it, however those new to the series may be put off.

Aside from this, it suffers from a fatal flaw which will forever mar the title and frustrate fans for years to come. The final instalment of a series should conclude the plot, ideally leaving the reader, or in this case player satisfied. It should feel finished, and that is the problem, Defiance was a horrible ending to an exquisite franchise. The ending was so poor, so lacking in closure that it left the series feeling unfinished and after playing through the games one cannot help but feel somehow cheated.

Score – 8/10

Gameplay

Defiance greatly improved upon the cumbersome combat system in Soul Reaver 2 and the downright horrific combat system in Blood Omen 2, replacing these with fluent, free flowing combat with a greater degree of variety. This is hands down one of the best combat systems I have ever came across, it was a joy to launch yourself as either Kain or Raziel into combat. For the first time in a long time, you truly feel like the characters are more than the mere mortals their fighting skills portray in earlier editions.

Another welcome improvement is the wrath blade brandished by Raziel. In Soul Reaver 2 this was about as close to Russian Roulette as it comes and it left many feeling frustrated that this glorious weapon, one of the coolest in gaming was all but useless. However Defiance reversed this, it was no longer a double edged sword capable of committing both suicide and mass homicide at the same time. I was thankful for this change as it rendered the signature weapon of the game useful, which is how it should be.

Now comes the however, as grand as these improvements may be, they become slightly sullied by the extreme lack of variety of enemies offered up. By the time you are half way through the game you will have already encountered the majority of foes in the game which was a mild disappointment.

As for the puzzles, they appear to have been toned down and more worryingly, are more repetitive. Once you solve one puzzle, you have practically solved them all. This was a spring from which colossal disappointment spewed, I had hoped for a greater variation on the puzzles presented to the gamer, but it wasn't to be. Even the puzzles faced by Kain, in a different time frame are almost exactly the same with only minor, insignificant alterations. After some time this quickly becomes tiresome and laborious, at it's worse I became utterly annoyed at the complete lack of invention.

Both the combat system and the puzzles were further demeaned by what has to be one of the worst in game cameras I have ever encountered. At times even the most simple of tasks, running in a straight line, was elevated to the ranks of the tedious with the tendency to not grant the player the ability to see where they are going. It was at times clumsy, displaying a devastating disregard for player enjoyment when it failed to correct itself during combat, when instead of watching either Raziel or Kain savage their foes with sickening violence, you are granted with a close up of a wall or pillar, leaving the player fighting blind and possibly going mad.

The basics of platforming also became a daunting, Herculean challenge when the camera positioned itself in such a way that it was impossible to judge distance or even gauge your relative position. Now, it is important to point out that it is good to introduce difficulty and challenge to a game, however shoddy game design is not the way to achieve this.

Now it could be that I am being slightly harsh, for the most part the camera does behave, and the intensity of the plot often hardens the player against the repetitive boredom of the puzzles, making the pill easier to swallow. When the camera does go wrong however, it cannot help but stick in your mind.

Score - 7/10

Graphics

Fancy, dazzling FMV sequences are almost non existent in Defiance, which is a slight disappointment, however the overall quality of the games appearance more than compensates. The environmental designs are excellent, adding character to the backdrops and helping add to the overall atmosphere of the game. The character graphics are also excellent, I would give special note to the facial expressions, primarily on Kain and Moebius. Realistic facial expressions, ones that convey emotion are the black arts of the animation world, and the developers do a fantastic job, certain pivotal scenes are heightened by the use of facial expressions in a way that not many games of that time could achieve.

Score - 8/10

Audio
Fantastic as ever, the score to Defiance is at times distractingly excellent. However it is not the score that deserves the attention here, as with its predecessors, the voice acting in Defiance is of the highest quality imaginable. Each voice matches the character in an exquisite manner, enhancing them and giving them another dimension. You don't mind the large mountain of dialogue in the game when it is delivered with such class. My favourite has to be Simon Templeman's Kain, his voice seems to elevate the character into a plane of greatness unseen in most games, and he remains one of my favourite fictional characters of all time.

Score – 9/10

Summary

Defiance improves on many of its predecessor's flaws, and allowing the player to battle it out as both Kain and Raziel was a wonderful addition. This said, the game is let down by the introduction of seemingly pointless and careless flaws and the ending it utterly lamentable, bittersweet but still lamentable.

Fans of the series will still love it however. Despite its numerous flaws, the fantastic plot and characters compensate well, an elaborate and interesting foundation, which conceals with class, the spotted face. As for those new to the franchise, I can only speculate but I would imagine they wouldn't be too impressed. However they would be partly to blame, you don't join a franchise at its end.

I and many others hope that this will not be the last ever outing for Kain, and even if that hope is false and misplaced, it is hope none the less.

Overall Score – 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/09

Game Release: Legacy of Kain: Defiance (EU, 02/06/04)