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Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver tells the story of Raziel, one of
the undead lieutenants of the vampire lord Kain. Jealous of
Raziel's newly evolved wings, Kain tears them apart and casts his
former champion into the netherworld. But a powerful entity that
dwells in the netherworld has restored Raziel to a semblance of
life and has set him on a path of vengeance.
After this tantalizing movie introduction, you take control of
Raziel in the spectral realm, where your new existence is
explained to you. From there you enter the physical plane, ready
to begin your quest for power and revenge. Raziel's combat moves
are extremely brutal, as you'd expect from a vampire who has
returned from the dead. When he finds a spear, Raziel gleefully
stabs and slashes before he impales his foe, lifts it off the
ground, and feasts on its soul. Doing so enhances Raziel's power,
and devouring the souls of the rest of Kain's lieutenants is the
only way to get the special abilities--scaling walls, phasing
through gates, etc.--needed to reach Kain himself. While fun for
adults, parents should take note: this game is definitely not
suitable for kids. --John Cocking
Pros:
* Agile, fluid character animation and combat moves
* Beautiful scenery
* The Soul Reaver (think "vampiric lightsaber")
* Ability to glide using the tattered remnants of Raziel's wings
Cons:* Convoluted topography
* Sometimes awkward camera angles
* Lack of direction
Review
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Crystal Dynamics' long-awaited sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of
Kain is a far different animal from its predecessor. Instead of
being a top-down RPG, Soul Reaver is a 3D adventure game similar
to Eidos' Tomb Raider. And Kain? This time, he's the main
antagonist.
The game begins hundreds of years after Blood Omen and works from
the premise that when you, as Kain, were given the choice of
sacrificing yourself to save the world of Nosgoth or ruling it,
you chose the latter, plunging the world into darkness. Over the
millennia, Kain and his vampiric lieutenants evolved new
abilities, with Kain always developing them first and the others
soon following. When Raziel, the "hero" of the new game, grew
wings before his leader did, Kain saw it as blasphemy, tore them
from Raziel's back, and cast him into a giant swirling watery
grave. But the long-winded story doesn't end there.
After his features have been almost completely eaten away by the
water, Raziel is saved by a being known as the Elder God, who
sets him on a quest to free the world from the parasitic
influence of the vampire clans and destroy Kain. Raziel finds
himself transformed so that he no longer drinks blood, but
devours souls (luckily, since he no longer has a jaw). Also, he
can no longer die; instead, he is transported to the Spirit Realm
- a shadowy distorted version of the Material World - after
sustaining heavy damage. And surprisingly, his wings still work
after a fashion, at least letting him glide over short distances.
These are the tools you start the game with. You can also move
and stack large stone blocks and switch over to the Spirit Realm
whenever you like. You can only transport yourself back to the
Material World at select locations and only once you've filled up
on souls. This ability comes in handy, since the netherworld
often bends platforms and structures out of shape so that you can
climb them more easily and then flip back to the Material World
and continue on. Why not just stay in the Spirit Realm? Because
you can't open doors or move objects there. You can now begin to
see the shape of many of the game's inventive 3D puzzles.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your
skills. Kain's other lieutenants have evolved in different ways
throughout the last few hundred year, and each of them acts as a
stage boss in the game. One has a spidery form, another has grown
a tolerance for water, and so on. After destroying each one, you
gain his special ability, which then opens up new areas in the
environment for you to access. Beyond that, there are bonus areas
(which you don't need to complete to beat Soul Reaver). In these
areas, you can acquire elemental glyphs, which grant you new
powers that work well against the game's standard stock of
vampires.
Speaking of which, there are many different ways to exterminate
the vampires of Soul Reaver. You can set them on fire, throw them
into water, impale them with stakes, and toss them onto spikes.
Destroying vampires regularly is necessary early on in the game
because you'll eventually revert to the Spirit Realm if you don't
eat enough souls. That is, until the Soul Reaver itself comes
into play. The Soul Reaver is a blade that appears as a thin blue
energy trail that curls around your right arm from the shoulder
and extends a few feet down past your hand. Swallowing enough
souls summons it to the Material World, where it sustains you,
keeping you from having to constantly hunt down vampires to feed
on. Once you gain the Soul Reaver, you'll shatter enemies with an
explosive punch that mixes Psylocke's psi-dagger (from Marvel
Comics' X-Men) with a Jedi lightsaber. While poking vampires with
stakes can get a bit tired after awhile, this never gets old.
--Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
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