Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen II
It quite literally, 'sucks'.
Well now. Vampires appear to be very ‘in’ at the moment, they certainly are quite chic in their own way. You only have to look at the current flood of vampire flicks at your local cinema to see that they are a very popular subject matter (Blade II and Queen of the Damned are the two most recent). Why is this? Well, it’s because vampires make a bloody (sorry) good movie. They are ‘cool’ and interesting, conjuring up all sorts of sordid imagery in the viewer’s eye. So then, how come there are very few vampire games in relation to the hundreds of movies? Sure there are a few kicking around, but how many contain true vampires, letting you do all of the things that a vampire would really be doing? Not many. Hopefully, this game will change all of that. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Kain’s return, in: Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen II. I’m thirsty already (I think you’ve taken this far enough, Ben – Ed)…
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Blood Omen II places you in control of Kain, the star of the first Blood Omen title. Kain is a truly nasty piece of work, unlike the ‘just’ and ‘true’ Azriel of Soul Reaver fame. In fact, Kain is the guy that you are up against in Soul Reaver, he’s that nasty bloke at the end, you know, the vampire Lord. Anyway, this game is set long before Kain had his wicked way with the land of Nosgoth. Here we see a weaker Kain trying to regain control of the land from the clutches of the tyrannical Sarafan Lord, after he was defeated 200 years earlier. It’s kill or be killed for Kain, he has nothing to lose and must struggle back to full strength once again. If you contain blood, you must die for his cause. Lovely.
Blood Omen II is a beautiful looking game, it really does portray the feeling of scum ridden streets very well. You do begin to think that there could be a ruffian around every corner, ‘wanting your wallet, Guv’. The graphics are amongst some of the best on the PS2 (look at these screens), and the special effects (such as when Kain blends into the mist) have to be seen to be believed. It’s all very nice, except for the faces on some of the character models - they look like they have just wandered-off of the latest Star Wars set; they’re that ugly. There is only one problem with Blood Omen II’s graphics, that’s the slow-down. Occasionally, normally during loading, the graphics will chug along at a terrible rate, making gameplay almost impossible. This doesn’t seem to effect the Xbox version, only the PS2 one. It’s a tarnish on otherwise great graphics…
Blood Omen II plays a lot like Soul Reaver, although the emphasis is a lot more on not being seen, kind of like a Medieval Metal Gear Solid, with vampires. You must guide Kain back to full strength so that he stands a chance of defeating the Sarafan Lord. However, to regain strength, Kain must refill his ‘Vampire Lore’ (a bar at the side of the screen), to do this he must drink blood, so therefore, you must slay anyone who crosses your path. Of course enemy knights yield more potent blood than innocent civilians, but it can’t be helped if you slay all of the human scum…
Comments
I agree about the side stepping maneouvre. The only time that I found this really handy was when fighting the bosses, who charged at you causing hideous amounts of damage...unless...you side step and watch your unworthy adversary take a run into a wall.
I agree with Ben, I really enjoyed playing this game. I enjoyed using each of the different skills that you acquired, and loved the way you can do a sneak attack on your victims whilst in mist mode. I dont really see a downside to this game, I suppose its just to do with opinions in the end and everyone is entitled to a different one.
I must hava played a different game to you. The one I played was the dullest most repetetive excuse for a game on earth. If repeating the same kill/suck blood move 10,000 times in a dull bland non interactive setting sounds like fun then this is the game for you. For everyone else, stay well clear
The name is Raziel, not Azriel.
incredible looking game, im gonna buy it very soon, wipee! ^.^
ok i bought this game on the off chance i felt like buying a new game and tryin something new i had played demos of soul reaver 1 and 2 and thought they were ok so when i came a cross this i thought why not and i was plesently suprised it was a fantastic game im a huge vamp fan to begin with and i read reviews sayin it suck and that th graphics were awful well i have to disagree the game had very good graphics not as good a soul reaver on the videos but still the levels were detailed and the toughness of ur enemys made it challenging i hav beeen back and play the game since and think its really kewl still so i have to say if i was raten this game id hav givven it 8/10
asena
THIS GAME IS COOL !
CUM SA IL OMOR PE VAMPIRUL DE LA SFARSITUL DE LA INCHISOAREA ETERNITATII?
SCUZATIMA CA AM SCRIS IN
ROMANA ,DAR VREAU SA NU
FIE PUBLICAT ACEST MESAJ
VA ROG!
Kain is cool
it is already 2006 4 me and yes i hve a ps3
II dai TK pana cade de 3 ori in apa. Astepti sa plece ( intervine un cinematic ), te duci dupa el si folosesti iar TK-u k sa il atragi spre statuile alea. Cand le va lovi va aparea un simbol pe care il recunosti pt ca folosesti TK-u. Faci asta de 4 ori, statuia mare a lui Moebius se reface il atragi spre baza acelstei statui si va cadea p el.
I'm an English guy, sorry if my Romanian language is poor. :-)