Blood Omen 2

"The legend of Kain continues"

What have we here ? Just when you think the Blood Omen saga was as dead as one of Kain’s victims, it rises from the dead in this sequel to the first Blood Omen, released in 1996 for the PSX.

Game Info-
1 player
82KB on your Memory Card
DVD-Rom

Story- The story is what makes the Legacy of Kain series worth buying the games. Centuries have passed since the original Blood Omen, and Kain has been defeated by a powerfully warlord. He awakes from a coma to discover that the vampire race is being hunted to extinction. Kain’s memories of the past are faded, but he knows he must stop this new threat in Nosgoth.

For those of you who have played any of the other Legacy of Kain games, as this game progresses, you’ll find plot holes in previous games start to fill up, and leaving you wanting even more.

Gameplay- Blood Omen 2 is a 3rd person adventure game, much like all the LoK games. You play the part of Kain, running around killing those who get in the way.

Combat is simple. Just press the targeting button and unleash a flurry of combos on your victim. Your opponents will be various types of knights and demons, and you can even attack simple town folk. What I found different about this game than with other 3rd person adventure games is: YOU NEED TO BLOCK !! If you don’t block, you’re probably gonna end up getting killed. At the beginning of the game you’re given a choice of auto-block (Just hold down the block button and you’ll block your target), or advance blocking (You’ll block only one attack at a time, so you’ve gotta hit the block button e-v-e-r-y time the enemy swings at you).

Now, before you think it’s just run up and kill everything on screen, you can stealth kill in this game. Using your Mist Form (a Dark Gift), you can approach the enemy from behind and unleash an instant kill on them (be it ripping out someone’s heart or cutting off their head).

As you progress through the game, you are given Dark Gifts. These are Kain’s vampire powers. Most of them are gained just like in Soul Reaver 1. You defeat the boss, you get his power. Now some Dark Gifts are used for combat, in which you’ll have to block attacks to build up your Rage meter to use them. The other Dark Gifts help you get around the various Nosgoth hazards.

Well, you don’t just have Kain’s claws for your offensive attacks. You’ll find various weapons scattered around Nosgoth. There’s giant broadswords to a cool looking Darth Maul type double-saber. Each weapon has it’s own stealth kill animation, some having at the most 3. But… Don’t grow to attached to your weapon, because as you use it, it starts to dull, eventually exploding into shards. You’ll have to constantly pick up a new weapon, if you want to deal the most damage to your foes.

Blood Omen 2 doesn’t just deal with killing your foes. You’ll also have to deal with puzzles to make your way through a room. Most of them have to do with pulling switches and moving boxes, just like the Soul Reaver games.

As you roam Nosgoth, killing everything you see, you’ll have the choice of draining the blood out of your fallen opponents corpses. This is highly recommended, as it will fill your Lore bar, which, when maxed, will give you a longer lifebar. There is a slight drawback to this, as you’ll be forced to watch the same animation over and over and over…

You can save your game at various points in a level, over a weird looking symbol on the ground.

Graphics and Sound- The graphics are alright, but they aren’t quite as good as Soul Reaver 2. The characters can’t don’t really show emotion on their faces, they depend on the voices to do that. Ohh and before you think you’ll be looking at the same boring Kain throughout the whole game, you’ll find that in each level he slaps on a different kind of armor. It’s a great change, although certain armors can look… weird.

There will be a small problem toward the end of the game. It seems that Eidos rushed this game a bit, and the lip synch went straight to hell. It sort of ruins a certain conflict…

You’ll recognize some of the voices from previous LoK games. Simon Templeman returns as Kain, and does a mighty fine job at it. Another voice familiar to the LoK games is Paul Lukather, who plays Vorador. All the voice actors did a stellar job in Blood Omen 2. The guards actually sound surprised when they see you, and the townfolk screaming when they see you getting ready to kill them.

The sound effects are also well done. From the drinking of blood to the sound of metal hitting metal.

The music on the other hand, isn’t very well. But then again, you won’t be paying much attention to the music, as you’ll be listening for enemies.

Replay Value- As with any other LoK game, there isn’t very much point to playing this game again. There are no secrets to unlock, or even bonus features. The only reason I play it over again is because the story is so well done.

Rent or Buy- I would say rent it. You can beat it if you rent it. But if you’re a fan of the series, you have to buy it. You might need a walkthrough for it, but probably not.

My final score - 9/10

As a fan of the series, I enjoy every LoK game there is, and ever will. With each game you play, you start to understand more and more of the world of Nosgoth. The game isn’t as well done as Soul Reaver 2 was, especially the lip synch.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/02, Updated 09/25/02