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Blood Omen 2 Legacy of Kain

October 11th, 2002 Jason Rybka Leave a comment Go to comments

400 years have passed since the vampire Kain damned the world in the original Blood Omen, choosing to rule the world in damnation then die for it’s salvation. Now Kain, who once controlled the land of Nosgoth with his vampire armies, finds his brethren slain and his dark powers stripped by a mysterious figure. To reclaim his rule and exact his vengeance, Kain must dispatch armies of zealot soldiers and overcome legions of demons in order to uncover the ominous plot that threatens the land he seeks to conquer in Blood Omen 2. Take control of the most evil character to grace the Xbox platform, in Kain’s first appearance on the Xbox. Blood Omen 2 is the fourth game in the Legacy of Kain series, yet it takes place just after Blood Omen, and before the Soul Reaver spin offs.

Gameplay

Worry not if you’re unfamiliar with the series, as the blood sucking action in Blood Omen 2 is straightforward and fans a newcomers to the series will be wreaking havoc in the streets of Nosgoth to seek vengeance and reclaim supremacy. Awakened after two-hundreds of years of unconsciousness, Kain finds himself stripped of memory, strength, and many of his vampiric skills, known as dark gifts. It’s up to you to re-gain his strength by sucking the blood out of everyone you come in contact with. Dark Gifts are reclaimed after the boss battles, which are a challenging combination of strategy and medieval style whoop-ass. The sexy vampire Umah will act as a guide and friend to Kain throughout his journey.

Played from a third person perspective, controlling Kain is quite simple, but can become a bit repetitive in battle. Use of dark gifts like Mist, Charm, Telekinesis, Jump, Fury, Berserk, and Immolate can really offset the repetitive nature of some battles. Mist for example, will allow Kain to go virtually undetected through some of the low level misty fog areas (which are quite plentiful throughout the game) and perform many different stealth assassinations. Sneak up behind someone, and drive your sword through the back of their head, snap their neck, decapitate with one swift swing, or shove your hand through their chest, grabbing their heart and dropping it to the ground before releasing them to the ground and sucking them dry. Believe me when I say there are some truly gruesome ways to finish off an opponent, and Kain has mastered them all.

Basic fighting action is simple, press the right trigger to auto face, left trigger to block, with different buttons for attack and the use of dark gifts. Blocking is simple, just hold down the block trigger and you’ll automatically block most of what your opponent throws at you. There is an option to make this more difficult, forcing you to press the block button deliberately for every blow sent your way, but I would recommend the auto block option, as you’ll find the fighting scenes are already challenging enough based on the sometimes unresponsive controls. There are plenty of different and unique weapons, and every time you kill someone you can take their weapon from them. You’ll need to do this since over time your weapon will become brittle and eventually shatter, rendering it useless.

Sucking blood is not just an old favorite vampire past time, it’s required, and is the source of Kain’s power. You have a blood meter, which will slowly drip and quickly empty when injured. Sucking the blood out of every fresh kill will keep this full, and throughout the game expand your capacity to carry more blood, making you more powerful. So the next time you enter a dungeon where men and women scream, helplessly shackled to the wall, don’t hesitate to kill them and suck every ounce of blood they have to offer. Being the truly evil man that he is, Kain will demonically laugh as you do so. There are also coffers placed throughout Nosgoth that will increase Kain’s lure, which will inevitably increase his power, as well as Vampire Weapon Power Up Chests. While Kain is purely evil, you’ll find yourself liking him because he is out for himself, and always says what he means, making him a respectable character.

Blood Omen 2 is an adventure/action game that is a good mix of hack n slash fun, and interesting puzzles, but the one thing that really sets it apart from other titles is it’s engaging storyline, presented through a good ratio of action to cut scene information. One drawback is the inability to fast forward through a cut scene, which can become quite annoying when you are forced to replay a level, or section of a level. Fortunately there are plenty of save points, and saving the game at anytime will bring you back to the last encountered save point.

Graphics / Presentation

While the graphics in the game as a whole seem to lack the polish and detail we would expect in an Xbox game, they do a great job at setting the tone for this gothic story. Characters are a bit jagged, but the environments are done nicely, right down the the demonic artwork hanging on the walls. Street lights have bugs buzzing around them and sewers have rats running around. The level of detail in the structural elements, such as castles and churches, is very convincing. Excellent water, lighting and shadow effects can be seen throughout the entire game. The frame rate is for the most part consistent.

Audio

While there is little music throughout the game, it does seem to pop up when needed and the sounds of Kain stalking, killing, and sucking blood are chilling. The audio section shines when the voice acting comes into the picture, which is almost constantly. While the voice acting for Kain is superb, the voices of regular townspeople is also impressive. More often than not you’ll come across someone with something to say. People speaking of contemporary artwork, the vampires on the street, or just finding people having an argument. Don’t like what they’re saying, kill them. Ahh, if only real life where as satisfying!

Replay Value

An adventure action game that will take 15 to 20 hours to complete, it’s likely that you won’t be replaying it anytime soon. But occasionally, you may feel the need to get some blood, or perform some of the gruesome kills!

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.5 [Not an Average]

Additional Comments

An excellent storyline with lots of blood and action. If you’re into this type of game, then we Recommend you pick it up, or at least give it a rental, as the experience is worth the time.

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