Soul Reaver 2

"Has a little more ... and a little less. I love it all the same."

I'm not really sure how to write one of these. I could put it in a format like everyone else, but there are a few things (i.e. music and sound to some extent) that really don't matter too much to me unless they're incredibly bad. NOTHING is bad in this game as far as I'm concerned. Be forewarned that I'm sure my opinion is bias, as I'm a HUGE fan of this series. I stayed up hours and hours, night after night playing Blood Omen. My neighbor said he could even hear the screams of my victims and Kain's sinister laugh through the apartment walls. Soul Reaver 1 was no exception. Anyway, here's my review of Soul Reaver 2.

First, the graphics are outstanding. The environments. The characters. Everything looked fabulous. Definitely no complaints here. I can't believe how dead on the lip movement was with the dialogue in the FMVs. Most games look like a poorly dubbed Godzilla movie or like the characters are all ventriloquists. Not this one. I can't believe some people dogged SR2 in this category.

Next, gameplay. This is where most people have a problem with this game. Apparently there are several bugs (getting trapped in certain areas), but I haven't experienced any. The linear design of the game is another complaint amongst gamers. One reviewer (sorry, can't remember who) had a fantastic explanation for this. It was that the game is supposed to be linear because Raziel was being manipulated the entire way; following a path that was laid out in his destiny. While this is all well and good (I bought it), it doesn't quite work. Raziel was following a designed path in the first SR too, but at least he wasn't following the same road to get to every place he had to be, passing every place he'd been before along the way. Even I got tired of going back and forth. I just couldn't shake that ''Alright, I did it! I solved the puzzle! Crap, now I've gotta make the long haul all the way back through the same old stuff.'' syndrome. Still, being Raziel made it alright.

Third is combat. What? No spells?!? Why did Raziel lose all of his cool spells? What happened to setting people or creatures on fire when hitting them enough times with the fire reaver? Why did he lose the fire reaver to begin with? Why can't you fire a force projectile without having to manually aim every time (and getting slaughtered in the process)? That's a lot of questions, huh? Well, I couldn't figure any of it out. It doesn't make sense to lose some powers and yet keep others. I DID like the way they did the soul reaver this time. Call upon it any time, but abuse it and suffer the consequences. Some have said the enemies were tougher, but I don't see it. They ARE a bit smarter, but when attacking in groups I think the vampires were MUCH tougher. Weaken a guy enough in SR2 and he'll just drop dead. You actually had to finish off the vampires, which could leave you open to attack. All in all, though, the combat seemed much smoother and Raziel seemed much more agile this time around. At any rate, I LOVED it, even though I did miss some of the attributes I acquired for our little blue friend in the first Soul Reaver.

Finally, I'll add the little extras. Art's good. Voice recording videos good. But what I loved most were the cameos. It was FANTASTIC to see Vorador and Malek again. I have loved Malek since the first game, and was praying for a game where he was the playable character (as I wanted to play as the ninja in Metal Gear Solid ... no, the two missions in VR missions was not enough). He still looks too cool. They did a great job bringing him back. I hardly think Edios could squeeze a title just for him in the story now though. Three characters is probably asking too much. I'll just have to go on dreaming.

Well, I guess that's it. In visuals and control, this game improves nicely upon its predecessors. As far as depth goes, though, it may have slipped a notch. It's not nearly as big as the two before it. Hopefully SR3 will take much longer to complete. I cant wait for it, or Blood Omen 2 for that matter. Now if only they could do that Malek game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/01, Updated 11/14/01