Blood Omen 2

"Never before has it been so great to be a sociopath, outside of BO of course..."

This review must first begin with this disclaimer: If you only liked BO and not the Soul Reaver parts of the series, then you ought to look for another game to play, as this is much closer in gameplay to the latter than the former. This game is not Blood Omen reborn, but more of a great way to get through a few days. Gameplay as previously stated is much closer to that of the Soul Reaver games, with a few important differences:

1.Blockings new role in the combat system.
Combat in BO2 is based somewhat loosely on the soul reaver style with a major shift toward blocking being a major proponent to Kain's survival. While the dodge ability is as it is in SR and SR2, blocking has become far more useful, as it eliminates all damage outside of ''red'' unblockable attacks. The two blocking styles differ in the need to use either timed button presses (learn the choreography of the enemy movements and press L1 just before they strike), or holding the L1 button until the enemy launches an unblockable and jumping out of the way. (with the exception of the bosses, using the dodge ability is highly impractical, for some reason the way the game design comes out, it is far easier to leap out of the way of an unblockable than it is to dodge; most probably to the clunkily slow animation of kain dropping his guard and dodging that does not occur for as long when you jump.)

2.Switches are the name of the puzzle game.
For those of you who love Tomb Raider-esque block puzzles be afraid, the new monotonous ''puzzle'' mechanism that is only slightly less boring and slightly more challenging than SR's block flipping that is implemented in Blood Omen 2 is switch flipping. it seems that only vampires like building blocks, humans seem to love glyph switches. Most of these involve first finding a hidden switch flipping it to find out what it does, then repeat with the other 1-4 switches in the mechanism until you figure out the right order to throw them. (most puzzles will only require 1 or 2 switches, but a few have several.) Causing humans to flip some ''dangerous'' switches also provide the ''challenge'' section of the game. (it is however quite fun to see the humans under your control not only blow themselves up, but also blow up the Sarafan standing around while the worker sets off the dynamite...)

3.Your weapons break. Frequently.
One of the more annoying facets that come with ''realism'' are weapons that break after being used. Every block that you or your enemy causes to contact your weapon will weaken it till it breaks. Thankfully your weapon will turn red to show you this, so you know to pick up one of the copious other weapons strewn about. Finding a new weapon is no problem, it's just annoying to have to lose your favorite weapon type for a crappy Sarafan long sword. (personally I like the axe type from the later missions the best.) It usually takes 3 or so fully blocked enemy combos before your weapon will go into the damaged red mode.

4.Platforming is fun, really it is.... or so Crystal Dynamics would have you believe.
Kain seems to like platforming jumps and hops a lot. thankfully it isn't too tough to perform most of the feats required of you, especially after Kain gains the jump ability.

5.The greatest gameplay addition: Stealth Kills!
Every weapon you have, including your claws, can perform a special kill animation while you are in mist mode. These are not only fun, but some of them are really humorous and/or interesting. I won't ruin any of these, explore, use the mist, and enjoy being evil.

6. Why BO2 is worth playing for the full game:
Being an evil vampire whose goals are murder, vengeance, mayhem, blood sucking, etc. really is quite fun. The antihero take on main characters really inspires the same unique sense of sociopathism that came with the first game. Although most of the depth of the first games RPG elements is gone, the feel of the first one remains.

Story wise, the game continues the series in that grand gray area between Blood Omen and Soul Reaver. Kain awakes to find himself upon a small ornate bed, awaking to find himself in the presence of Umah, a rather ''gifted'' female vampire.(Why is it that female leads in games such as this and the aforementioned Tomb Raider must border on the ludicrous in this area? Umah must have a lot of back pain…) Apparently Kain's armies had built themselves up to massive proportions and were rampaging and conquering all of Nosgoth until they arrived at Meridian, capitol of Nosgoth, 200 years after BO1. Kain then learns that an army of humans led by a being calling himself the ''Sarafan Lord'' claiming to be the Sarafan reborn defeated his legions and left him for dead in a deep chasm. Umah's group the Cabal found and nursed him to health over the next 200 years. That brings us a grand total of 400 years after Blood Omen and somewhere beyond 1000 years prior to the Soul Reaver games. (some estimates go as high as 2000 years before, some as few as 600, but Raziel indicates that he has served Kain for a millennium prior to Soul Reaver, and he does not yet exist, hence my estimate.) The story is told in grand LOK style through cut-scenes featuring some of the best voice acting ever. While Umah is a tad annoying, Simon Templeman returns in grand style and is half the reason that this game is so great. All other returning parts are done by the same actors as before, and are every bit as good as you remember. New coming voices are quite well done as always, and are quite fitting to the ''personalities'' of the characters. The only comlaint is that most of the story is completely irrelevant to the series outside of the last few levels, but it is good. And for all of us scratching our heads after Raziel's last showing, some of those questions, including some of the one's about Soul Reaver 2's ending sequence will be cleared up some.

While I will not say that the game's visuals are astounding, they are quite good. Character models are quite detailed, especially Kain's various incarnations and costumes. Some series vets may not like the Iron armor lacking much whiter Kain, but I like it. It adds to the ''bad-ass'' attitude Kain has going for him. My only complaint (outside of Kain's ears and hair which seem to look rather odd in close ups) is the choppy combat animation of your enemies. Especially with the blocking system. I believe this was done to make the manual blocking mode more feasible. It's not earth shattering, just a little annoying when it comes down to it. Overall I would give the visuals an A-, but for all of you fanboys: the graphics on this version match the Xbox almost perfectly.

The sound is the crowning achievement of this title. Outside of the music of course, which is a tad overdone. Between the voice acting, blade clangs and screams of the dying humans, it just concludes the atmosphere perfectly. If there is a clear reason for a replay, its just to hear these over again. They are not without its hindrances though… In a rather important sequence towards the very end of the game, the voices become completely out of synch with their speaker, thus Kain seems to become the other character and vice versa. Outside of this little mishap, which does fix itself by the next scene, the sound is some of the best I've heard. (no squeaky Tidus like voices, only malicious blood sucking evil demagoguery)

Replayability in LOK:BO2 is really a matter of taste. If your like me and you love Legacy of Kain's story and voice actors, you will want to play it again, perhaps choosing a different blocking style. If not, you may have an inkling to replay some key areas, but probably not the entire game. The two blocking styles won't really impact this choice unless you're a purist gamer.

Purchase/ rental falls in the same as replayability, if you're a fan of the series: BUY IT. Otherwise, rent definitely, and buy if its up your ally.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/02, Updated 05/02/02