Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
Raziel, the Soul Reaver is back in one of the best ports from PlayStation to Dreamcast yet. Much like Shadow Man, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver looks better, plays smoother, and is ultimately a lot more fun on Sega's more powerful console.
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Blood�Wise�Er
In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, the sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, you play as Raziel, a member of a vampiric brotherhood that's noble and genteel, even if they do suck. You and your kin rule under the gaze of Kain, who now runs the underworld of Nosgoth like his own little fan club. But because you learned how to sprout wings and fly, Kain decided to end your party a little early. He banishes you to vampire death, and in the process you lose the bottom part of your jaw and your wings are left in tatters. And to top things off, you wake up centuries later with a real bad headache. What's a vampire to do?
You decide on a little revenge, and are helped by an omnipotent force that wants to see Kain go down like the Tennessee Titans. You gain control of your vampiric powers by being able to withstand certain things that were deadly before, like daylight, water, and fire. Besides that, you have the ability to tear into the remnants of your old clan, impale, burn, or otherwise dispose of them, and suck their souls. You can also change from the spiritual world to the physical world, which helps when you need to transform the terrain.
Don't Fear the Reaver
In your quest to seek out the clan leaders and dispose of them (along with the side effect of gaining their special abilities), you'll see some of the creepiest enemies and surroundings ever in a game. What's more, there are some outstanding cinema sequences in between the action. The introductory graphics set the creepy atmosphere for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, even though the fog is set farther back than in the PlayStation version, there is some draw-in.
The sound is a delight, thanks mainly to some excellent voice acting and a fairly well written script. Ambient sound effects throughout the eerie settings are also well established, along with lots of moaning, whispering, and subhuman wailing.
The control is simple, but when the going gets tough and there are a number of enemies around, the auto-face function doesn't work as well as it should. You'll find yourself slashing an enemy at one point, then almost standing directly behind it soon after. There are also some perilous jumps and narrow catwalks that get annoying when you don't execute them correctly.
Fangs for the Memories
The above-the-line story, excellent animation, and fluid game play blur the game's minor flaws. Soul Reaver will be a legacy to Kain that Eidos should be proud of.
