The Source
07-17-2002, 02:41 AM
The Source personally has always had a thing for vampires. When other kids were sitting at home after grade school tuning into the Ninja Turtles, The Source was watching “Interview with a Vampire,” for The Source’s ninth time. The way they move, fight, and feed has always held The Source in some sort of trance. So when The Source heard that my favorite console would be bringing The Source’s favorite vampire, The Source was thrilled to say the least. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 is the sequel the killer Eidos title, Blood Omen (1996), which first appeared on the Playstation one.
Anyone not familiar with the Kain series is either younger than ten years old or living as a nun. Blood Omen 2 is the fourth installment in this series. Kain is a vampire, and as a vampire he lives a very interesting life fighting many battles against every thinkable type of bad guy. He also drinks blood, and lots of it, which in part earned this game its Mature rating. If you cannot figure out what happened to the blood in WWF Raw keep reading and you will find out soon enough.
Gameplay
Big fans of the series will be instantly happy when they realize that the storyline returns to where it left off in 1996, unlike the more recent Kain games; Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 which take place way later. Kain is not exactly the good guy just the main character. When he is awaken nearly 400 years after passing into slumber, he is shocked when he realizes that his entire world has been taken over by “Satan”. Lucky for us there is an underground resistance that will help Kain through the first steps of his journey because he is clearly too weak too battle any devils in his present state.
So take away all the bells and whistles and the story is basically to become powerful enough to defeat the enemy Satan and then do so. One of the things that made Soul Reaver so revolutionary was its brand new system of gameplay, which BO2 is stripped of. However, Blood Omen 2 still has original concepts of its own. Kain can hack, slash and toss his opponents into a bloody death. After finishing off his hacking he can then suck (literally) the life out of them. By doing this sucking your character will increase health that he may have lost during a fight. The more blood you drink the higher your life bar gets, making it more and more difficult for you to be killed.
Considering Kain is a dying vampire he will need blood all of the time. Remember this because not only will you need blood after being in a fight, you will need it every second of the game. This will lead to mass killing and lots of blood-sucking. After killing a peasant simply stand over your prey, press a button and instantly the camera begins to rotate around Kain giving the gamer a cinematic view of the actual blood transfer. Kain will also have the ability to use Dark Gifts. The Dark Gifts are as follows: Mist, Charm, Telekinesis, Fury, Berserk and Immolate. These special powers are in The Source’s opinion the most interesting factor of gameplay. Use them to hide from your opponents in the fog, or turn on Fury to do a kick-ass combination of moves against the bad guy. Without mastering these techniques, Kain will never stand a chance against the evil forces, so practice them. This game isn’t kiddy stuff.
Now lets move on to the weapons that you will find scattered all over the town of Meridian. Considering Kain is equipped with one sharp pair of claws, weapons are not essential to the success of the game but can come in handy in some particular situations. You will find swords, knives, maces, and The Source’s favorite is a double sided-crooked sword, that The Source is sure you have seen before (its on the cover), and all of these awesome weapons will make for some bloody streets. The cool thing is that you can power up any of the weapons by finding certain treasure chests and “powering” your sword up. You will spend a lot of time feeding and fighting but equally as much time searching for that last switch to open the stuck door. So be ready for Tomb Raider like puzzles.
Graphics
The overall look of the Blood Omen 2 world is as anyone would dream it up in a nightmare. The vampire/gothic town resembles medieval England with a very dark twist. There will be fog around every corner and the realistic looks of the buildings are great, these will add to the overall look of the world. The character models themselves, notably Kain, look fantastic and the color usage works perfectly with the setting. One thing The Source can say about the graphics in a negative manner is when the camera switches to certain angles the clipping problems of BO2 are very obvious. An arm sticking out of the staircase caught a little chuckle every time.
Do not get The Source wrong, the graphics in Blood Omen 2 are nothing short of spectacular even for Xbox standards. Eidos took advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities and it really shines in this department. When lined up side by side, the Xbox version of this game totally outdoes its Playstation 2 counterpart… it’s not even close people. The textures are as crisp as fresh pizza crust and the shadows that the Xbox processor throws on them bounce off in an almost harmonic fashion. Everything in the graphics department adds up to make the game an overall more enjoyable experience for both the player as well as any spectators.
Sound
It is hard to talk either good or bad about this section of the game; The Source is having very mixed feelings. Although Simon Templeman adds so much to the overall dialogue and the sound effects are not shabby either the sound still seems to fall short of the perfect line. There is practically no music throughout the game which means besides the sounds of gushing blood and screaming bats you will walk around in complete silence. The Source has a feeling Eidos was trying to give Blood Omen 2 a more eerie feeling by doing this but it came off as more of an annoyance.
As long as you have 5.1 Surround Sound this game will keep you pleased in the audio department. The dialogue is great during the cinemas and actually keeps you interested enough to pay attention to the next scene. Voice acting is a big part in a game with as deep of a storyline as Blood Omen 2 so The Source is very pleased Eidos paid as much attention as they did to this aspect. The sound effects are sub-par as are the screams and yells of Kain’s dying victims. The audio is nowhere as creepy as Silent Hill 2 but it’s still high above many other horror titles out there.
Conclusion
This game was very difficult to put a final score on. The Source means the graphics were great, as was the storyline and presentation of the game. The audio was memorable but nothing over the wall astounding. Add in the fact that The Source practically loves anything and everything with a vampire license tacked to it and you can see why The Source had a hard time coming up with the score. Basically any fan of the Kain series will drop dead love this game and anyone that has never heard of the series should still give Blood Omen 2 a try. It is a great game to start with and if you play it all the way through, I have no doubt you will come back for more Kain. With a lasting appeal of somewhere around 15 hours, this is definitely a game that you will spend some time with. Even if you have no idea who Kain is or you haven’t played Blood Omen, go buy this game, as a favor to yourself.
The Verdict is in!
Overall: 7/10
Well there you have it folks! Just yet another review for all the people to enjoy
The Source!
Anyone not familiar with the Kain series is either younger than ten years old or living as a nun. Blood Omen 2 is the fourth installment in this series. Kain is a vampire, and as a vampire he lives a very interesting life fighting many battles against every thinkable type of bad guy. He also drinks blood, and lots of it, which in part earned this game its Mature rating. If you cannot figure out what happened to the blood in WWF Raw keep reading and you will find out soon enough.
Gameplay
Big fans of the series will be instantly happy when they realize that the storyline returns to where it left off in 1996, unlike the more recent Kain games; Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 which take place way later. Kain is not exactly the good guy just the main character. When he is awaken nearly 400 years after passing into slumber, he is shocked when he realizes that his entire world has been taken over by “Satan”. Lucky for us there is an underground resistance that will help Kain through the first steps of his journey because he is clearly too weak too battle any devils in his present state.
So take away all the bells and whistles and the story is basically to become powerful enough to defeat the enemy Satan and then do so. One of the things that made Soul Reaver so revolutionary was its brand new system of gameplay, which BO2 is stripped of. However, Blood Omen 2 still has original concepts of its own. Kain can hack, slash and toss his opponents into a bloody death. After finishing off his hacking he can then suck (literally) the life out of them. By doing this sucking your character will increase health that he may have lost during a fight. The more blood you drink the higher your life bar gets, making it more and more difficult for you to be killed.
Considering Kain is a dying vampire he will need blood all of the time. Remember this because not only will you need blood after being in a fight, you will need it every second of the game. This will lead to mass killing and lots of blood-sucking. After killing a peasant simply stand over your prey, press a button and instantly the camera begins to rotate around Kain giving the gamer a cinematic view of the actual blood transfer. Kain will also have the ability to use Dark Gifts. The Dark Gifts are as follows: Mist, Charm, Telekinesis, Fury, Berserk and Immolate. These special powers are in The Source’s opinion the most interesting factor of gameplay. Use them to hide from your opponents in the fog, or turn on Fury to do a kick-ass combination of moves against the bad guy. Without mastering these techniques, Kain will never stand a chance against the evil forces, so practice them. This game isn’t kiddy stuff.
Now lets move on to the weapons that you will find scattered all over the town of Meridian. Considering Kain is equipped with one sharp pair of claws, weapons are not essential to the success of the game but can come in handy in some particular situations. You will find swords, knives, maces, and The Source’s favorite is a double sided-crooked sword, that The Source is sure you have seen before (its on the cover), and all of these awesome weapons will make for some bloody streets. The cool thing is that you can power up any of the weapons by finding certain treasure chests and “powering” your sword up. You will spend a lot of time feeding and fighting but equally as much time searching for that last switch to open the stuck door. So be ready for Tomb Raider like puzzles.
Graphics
The overall look of the Blood Omen 2 world is as anyone would dream it up in a nightmare. The vampire/gothic town resembles medieval England with a very dark twist. There will be fog around every corner and the realistic looks of the buildings are great, these will add to the overall look of the world. The character models themselves, notably Kain, look fantastic and the color usage works perfectly with the setting. One thing The Source can say about the graphics in a negative manner is when the camera switches to certain angles the clipping problems of BO2 are very obvious. An arm sticking out of the staircase caught a little chuckle every time.
Do not get The Source wrong, the graphics in Blood Omen 2 are nothing short of spectacular even for Xbox standards. Eidos took advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities and it really shines in this department. When lined up side by side, the Xbox version of this game totally outdoes its Playstation 2 counterpart… it’s not even close people. The textures are as crisp as fresh pizza crust and the shadows that the Xbox processor throws on them bounce off in an almost harmonic fashion. Everything in the graphics department adds up to make the game an overall more enjoyable experience for both the player as well as any spectators.
Sound
It is hard to talk either good or bad about this section of the game; The Source is having very mixed feelings. Although Simon Templeman adds so much to the overall dialogue and the sound effects are not shabby either the sound still seems to fall short of the perfect line. There is practically no music throughout the game which means besides the sounds of gushing blood and screaming bats you will walk around in complete silence. The Source has a feeling Eidos was trying to give Blood Omen 2 a more eerie feeling by doing this but it came off as more of an annoyance.
As long as you have 5.1 Surround Sound this game will keep you pleased in the audio department. The dialogue is great during the cinemas and actually keeps you interested enough to pay attention to the next scene. Voice acting is a big part in a game with as deep of a storyline as Blood Omen 2 so The Source is very pleased Eidos paid as much attention as they did to this aspect. The sound effects are sub-par as are the screams and yells of Kain’s dying victims. The audio is nowhere as creepy as Silent Hill 2 but it’s still high above many other horror titles out there.
Conclusion
This game was very difficult to put a final score on. The Source means the graphics were great, as was the storyline and presentation of the game. The audio was memorable but nothing over the wall astounding. Add in the fact that The Source practically loves anything and everything with a vampire license tacked to it and you can see why The Source had a hard time coming up with the score. Basically any fan of the Kain series will drop dead love this game and anyone that has never heard of the series should still give Blood Omen 2 a try. It is a great game to start with and if you play it all the way through, I have no doubt you will come back for more Kain. With a lasting appeal of somewhere around 15 hours, this is definitely a game that you will spend some time with. Even if you have no idea who Kain is or you haven’t played Blood Omen, go buy this game, as a favor to yourself.
The Verdict is in!
Overall: 7/10
Well there you have it folks! Just yet another review for all the people to enjoy
The Source!