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Great story hindered by AWFUL controls and HORRIBLE glitches

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Eidos really dropped the ball here, folks. As usual the story is great, although there are a few notable inconsistancies that will hopefully be explained in the next game. However, the poor controls and obvious lack of beta testing kill this game. First, to attack you have to target an enemy. Usually not a problem, but while targeting, you cannot jump. You can also only dodge left-right, not back or jumping. Second, while sucking blood, you're stuck in the equivalent of a very repetitive cutscene, where you are still vulnerable to attack though can do nothing to avoid the blow. Third, if you die, you have to watch any cutscenes between you and the last checkpoint over again, no way to skip them.
As for glitches, there are hundreds if not more. Clipping is horrible, people fall through walls. Not a problem, unless you wanted their weapon. Well into the game, many people, myself included, lose the ability to save, by either getting a Save Failed message or a corrupt new file, which has led to a few people having to start over. As much as I love the story, this hardly seems worth the hassle and frustration of playing a game Eidos and Crystal Dynamics failed so horrifically on.

Simply Boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: April 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

In Blood Omen 2, you again take on the role of Kain. Hundreds of years after the original Blood Omen, you awaken in Nosgoth in the company of a group called the "Vampire Resistance." As it turns out, the Sarafan have taken control of the land after Kain destroyed the pillar of balance and was defeated by none other than the Sarafan Lord. Kain begins, guided in his journey by an only-in-the-game-because-she's-supposed-to-be-hot female character called Umah. This only mentioned to show how lame the game direction went. In that light, Kain eventually finds that the Sarafan are only puppets on the strings of a load of aliens. What the --? Aliens? So the Sarafan Lord is actually the head alien and their purpose is to eliminate the vampires as revenge for getting whooped a long, long time ago. There's the plot. You're a vampire and you've got to kill the head alien. How weak is that? I swear, monkeys write this stuff.

As far as gameplay is concerned, things are generally pretty cool. The game looks almost identicle to Soul Reaver, aside from the altered HUD. In opposition to the original game, in Blood Omen 2 your 'stats' increase by drinking bloods and filling a 'lore' bar. No blood fountains or anything cool like that. Also, no matter how strong Kain gets, his health will always decrease periodically. This game is completely hack'n'slash in nature, as you don't have to think about who to kill and who to save for when you come back through the town. Instead of selectively feeding only to refill your health, you must tear through every enemy and civilian you find to increase that lore bar. Oh, and the reason you can just tear everyone up is because you never back-track. After you enter a room, the door closes behind you and you can not go back. You never hit the same area twice, which doesn't give you a very good opportunity to explore. In combat, there is this horrible "combo" attack that results from pressing the attack button three times in a row where you strike three times and then you need to take a second to relax. Very annoying. As far as bosses go, the boss fights are generally pretty difficult. When fighting the first boss, you will become unbelievably surprised after the boss' 'first defeat' to see the boss come back for more. Each boss fight is composed of three different stages where you need to defeat the boss three times. Oh, and the bosses generally have at least twice the health that you do. When you finally defeat a boss, you gain a special power called a "dark gift." The dark gifts are pretty dumb and only two of them will get much use out of you. You have the ability to transform into mist, jump really far, use mind control, or something really stupid called 'telekenisis.' The latter works to control switches from a distance that are in your vision. Oh, and only special kinds of switches that are completely unnecessary. You also eventually gain three 'rage' attacks that do massive damage. The first being a super hard punch, the second being many super hard punches, and the third where you can light your enemy on fire.

The game looks really nice, honestly. Unfortunately, it lacks what it needs to be a really good game. It's full of bugs (clipping seems improperly configured as enemies are constantly running 'inside' of the walls, the speech over the movies is off and if your game is loading too slowly there will be no speech at all, the game stalls and freezes), there is a very limited weapon selection (in the whole game you will only encounter 6 different weapons: a dagger, a sword, a pirate sword, an axe, a switchblade pole weapon, and something I call "The Beast"), the puzzles were way too easy, there wasn't any "dark diary" (the coolest thing ever used in the original of the series), and the game seems to be generally poorly thought-out in some areas (there is often an invisible "wall" surrounding the enemy which causes you to be unable to jump OVER your enemies, the same such wall exists over many jumpable objects in the game [a table or merchant stand], and for some reason or another Kain is unable to stand on even the slightest slant).

But it does have it's good points. Kain can do some awesome "sneak attacks" while in mist form and can behead people if he has certain weapons. It seems like they kept some of the original speech samples from the first game, which was really cool to hear (stuff like, "Help me, kind sir!" and some of the moaning). Kain also got to try out four different outfits during the game, the last of which was wonderful. It looked like Marilyn Manson's costume in the "Rock is Dead" video. Kain's dialogue was unbelievably [censored] cool and he said some things that were so bad that I had to smile (in his final confrontation with Uma, for example).

All in all, a crappy game. It has its moments, but it really made me bored silly. The worst thing of the game, though, which I saved for last, is that Kain gets to use the Soul Reaver sword only ONCE at the very end of the game. You don't get it until the very end, and then you get just a couple of hits with it to kill the boss. Game over.

Decent Level Design, AWFUL Game Play

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This series keeps getting worse. The first game, for the PS1, was good. The second in the series, Soul Reaver, was fairly entertaining. The third, Soul Reaver II, was so-so, but far too short. Blood Omen II is just plain bad. On the plus side, the urban feel of the level design is a nice change from the rest of the series where the developers focused more on ancient ruins, canyons, and forests. On the down side, game play is sluggish, at best. The controls are not responsive, making fight sequences tedious. The dialog during the cut scenes is totally off. I don't mean by a second or two, I'm talking about voices coming from the wrong characters. Sometimes the soundtrack is nonexistent. On top of that, ambient sounds have a tendency to get stuck in a loop, repeating themselves over and over, drowning out every other sound. The only remedy is to restart the game. I have also had some problems with the graphics. On occasion, when I enter a new area, the entire screen, aside from Kain, goes blank. Once again, the only effective remedy I have found is to restart the game. I've used other discs on my console, so I know my system isn't on the blink. Last, but not least, this game suffers from the curse of mandatory cut scenes. I'm tired of having to sit through long, drawn out movies with no bypass option every time I replay a section of the game. I really wish I could give this game a better review, seeing that the developers must have put some sort of time and effort into making it, but I can't

Decent game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Not a bad game for genre lovers. The Xbox version is slightlly better as it has smoother graphics and more gameplay.

As Ususal For Edios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: October 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IT'S A DEFINITE WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and in the end it's a game controller thrown across the room. Especially when you have to beat the bosses!!This is the end of the line for eidos games for me!!!!!! If you love eidos and you play this eidos game YOU WILL NEVER WANT ONE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!Fair warning "DON'T PLAY THIS EIDOS GAME" just clear it from your mind.(PS,it is fun at first until you get to a boss stage that is.)

BOOOORING

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

From what I had heard of this game from my friends, I expected to be glued to the Ps2 for hours or even days till I finished this "best game ever." Then I realized something... this is definately not the best game ever. While the idea of slicing the heads off mutant creatures and rogue vampires and then drinking their blood seemed appealing, I soon found that that is all you do!!! This game is extremely monotonous and don,t get me wrong, I love hack and slash but this game is not even worth the [money] they are asking. Go rent it.

Pah! Horrible.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is fun initially, but gets old really fast. Completely linear. 'Nuff said.

Only for fans of the series

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game was quite hyped up since I first heard about it. But, don't believe the hype. This game has more bugs than any other game I've played on the PS2. It runs choppy every time more than 3 people are on screen at the same time. Also there are glitches during cinematic scenes which make the voices go about 2 seconds before the animation, leading towards a VERY annoying experience. Although not total trash,(especially if you have followed the series from Blood Omen) gamers who are fans of the Kain series will enjoy this game slightly. I myself have followed the series since the very first Blood Omen so the technical issues on this game are almost tolerable, however the story has many pacing problems. Not to mention that there are plot holes. I wont comment on the ending to prevent any mishaps. Fans deserve to learn the facts. But, I'd say just rent this one unless you are a LoK fanatic.

BLOOD "BORING" 2

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: April 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

"KAIN'S BACK FROM THE DEAD...AND THIS TIME, HE'S BORING AS ...AND LOVING IT!"

Despite having a gripping, dark tale to work with, and superb graphics to match, this game sequel is just too pain-stakingly slow and poorly paced for effective and fun gameplay. Here's some PROS and CONS, and, unfortunately, the CONS win:

PROS:

>>> Dark, creepy tale --- fun to jump into this world, if just for a short while.

>>> Good graphics, voice-overs, and music. Kain's jump and glide move is a cool way to cruise around town. Also, the side-kick vampire chick is a hottie.

CONS:

>>> Slow, slow, slow. I'm ready to play, but have to wait through seemingly endless hours of painful dialogue.

>>> Awkward fighting. I know this Kain guy can tear some action up, can leap 20 feet into the air, can suck blood, and vanish into the mist, etc. --- but he fights like a total ..., with a big, "...here it comes, I'm about to hit you with my claw, look out, ready..." One would hope he'd be a little more coordinated. "...wait, I'm turning around, wait, hold on, I, just, I..."

RECOMMENDATION: All in all, solid package, but not paced quickly enough to keep my interest --- finally, when the fighting does begin, it's just a little too awkward, and sucking blood out of these corpses tends to get old after the 23rd time. Rent first, then buy.

Could have been so much better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game was simply a waste of potential. I am glad I rented this game first,because after completion, I had no further desire to play it again. This game portrays the vampire sub-culture in a very cool way. The story was entertaining, but the voice acting is where the game really shines. I sometimes want to play the game again just because of the great dialog. UInfortunately the gameplay is terrible. You fight with the same couple moves EACH time you get into a battle. Punch, punch, grab, throw. Unless you have a weapon then expect chop, chop, big chop. The only thing that adds diversity in the monotonous fighting is the few vampire ablilities you can use. Even then, its still going to be the same silly fight after you use one of your abilities. They would be better off making a really intriging movie from this series, because the game itself offers nothing but linear gameplay and tedious fighting, puntuated with wonderful dialog and great voice acting. Keep the directors and actors, fire the game developing team.

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