Blood Omen 2

"Now this is what PlayStation 2 is all about"

Gameplay: 10/10
This game is a mixture of stealth and plain fighting. Similar stealth to Metal Gear Solid. Combat is the most fun, but unlike Soul Reaver, you can only move left in right while targeting an enemy, so blocking is a must. When you fight an enemy, of course the enemy will die, then you gain energy from sucking the person's blood. Sound familiar, just like Blood Omen. You obtain Dark Gifts, which are a must to advance at all in a game. For an example, you start the game with Mist, which if there is mist on the ground, you can hide in the mist and sneak up on an enemy to kill him, which involves getting heads chopped off or a hand though the chest. For the bosses, you fight you own kind, vampires. Each boss battle is comprised of three stages, and if you don't know what you’re doing, it is pretty hard. When you beat a boss though, you obtain a Dark Gift. The weapons are pretty limited, not much different ones, but still yet cool. You get clubs, knifes, swords, great swords, etc. When you fight with weapons, they will break forcing you to find a new weapon.

Story: 10/10
The game is following Blood Omen; so expect some familiar names, like the Sarafan, which are the main enemies in the game. As for the story, you're Kain, a vampire who leads a group of vampires to fight the Sarafan. While your group goes and fights, you fight the Sarafan Lord with your Soul Reaver. The Sarafan Lord hits you and you fall to your death. You are then revived many many years later to join the Cabal, a renegade group of vampires to destroy humans, since humans now overpower vampires. Kain then finds out some of his most trusted vampires are on the other side, and he is going to kill them and get his Soul Reaver back.

Audio/Visuals: 9/10
The sounds are great, same voice of Kain from Blood Omen 1, Soul Reaver, and Soul Reaver 2. The visuals are ok, but not many cut-scenes; the beginning has a cut scene with the fight with the Sarafan. The game play graphics are smooth and use about every bit of the PlayStation 2 power.

Replayability: 8/10
Nope you don't get really anything for beating the game, plus the game is pretty short and easy. Starting a new game is half the fun though; you might have missed something while you first played the game.

Final Analysis:
I would say rent the game if you can, it is pretty short, only about 10 levels but if you can't rent it buy it, you won't regret it. The game is too great to not even play so give it a shot.

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/02, Updated 04/27/02