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A wonderful game in every aspect

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Before, in the Legacy of Kain games, there was always something to complain about. In Blood Omen, the controls were stocky and the graphics weren't exactly the best. In Soul Reaver, half of the game's quests(Glyphs) were pointless, and the battle system was a little blocky. In Soul Reaver 2, there were no boss fights and it was much too short a game. In Blood Omen 2, the battle system was awkward and the enjoyment of the story and puzzles was diminished. Now, in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Crystal Dynamics has finally put everything together for what is quite possibly the best game of the year. The battle system has been totally revamped to resemble an improved, yes improved, version of Devil May Cry. If you thought you could do some sick juggles in DMC, Defiance will blow your mind. The graphics, as always, are excellent, and the voice acting and music is top tier in the business. Two major criticisms of the game are the lack of a map and camera problems. First of all, I think it was silly for game websites to complain about this, since Devil May Cry had the same problems, and they managed to see past them. The fact is that if you are used to controlling Raziel, then the camera will have no effect at all on your skills. I never had the situation arise where I was put at a disadvantage in battle due to the camera, and if you have any skill at all in action games it won't bother you either. The lack of a map is purely opinion. I personally think it adds to the atmosphere, and truthfully the puzzles would be way too easy if you had everything laid out for you instead of figuring it out for yourself. That being said, the puzzles have been considerably toned down since SR2, which had the best puzzles in any game in my opinion. They are still fairly enjoyable, but for an action-oriented game they tend to be a hinderance instead of a joy to solve.
Overall, so much happens in the story of this game that any LoK fan NEEDS to play it. I'm serious. SR, SR2, and BO2 all set up major questions that Defiance has answered, and answered stunningly. When it is all said and done, this is one of the best games I've played in a while.

Great game, big improvement

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was wonderful. I found that cutting into my enemys was a blast, the envoroments were very nicely done, and all the extras at the end were great. Also the way the saves were built in were perfect. And don't over look the fun of TKing people off of ledges, on to spikes, all around. Great fun, and great to use when battleing lots of enemys.
A few gripes (and yes, I gave it 4 stars dispite all this): First off, I sometimes found the fighting hard to do in a crowd. It seemed like I'd take hits no matter how I did it. Not that its not ok to take hits, but it seemed like I was getting pummeled for no reason. Second, the puzzles. Unlike everyone else I've talked to, I DIDN'T like all the puzzles. Thank god there were very few for Kain. Every time we switched charicters however, I knew I'd be doing a puzzle fest first, and a fighting fest second. Third, I'm not going to complain about the camera, since i didn't have any real trouble with it. A "pull the camera behind the player" button would have been nice though. Fourth, the final boss battle was (for me) stupid hard! And it wasn't like I couldn't get the patterns or something, I just couldn't seem to do it without taking too much damage so that I'd die before i beat him. Also, the slow down sucked. Sometimes you'd know you had a big fight because there would be this major slow down as you walked into a room. And lastly, you learn a great "rapid hit" move early on, but its hard to use when every time you use it, some enemy smacks you from the side. Not sure how to correct this, but there were times when I'd have loved to go to town on the enemy, but if I hacked at him too long, he just shrugged it off and smacked me anyway, like that sword in his face did no good.
Dispite all of that, this game is wonderfully solid, and a great experience. Its worth the price, and took me longer than the standard rental time to complete, so not a rental for me. And now that I've beaten it, I can go back and have some fun going through knowing I'm searching for the combat, not the puzzles (I know how to solve them all now).

review by Brian

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is definetely the best Legacy of Kain game yet! I hope they make more! It might not have the mysterious adventure feel that the first Soul Reaver game had, but it's a heck of a lot more fun with lots of replay value. If your'e a Legacy of Kain fan, this is a must-own! But even if your'e not, you should check this game out anyway- it's a classic! Unlike the other LOK games, this one has a lot of action with combat and story mixed together with...ohhh- combos! ...while not being too much into Arcade fighting type. And, if your'e not into the storyline and just the great fun, you can skip the cutscenes- unlike other LOK games. I highly recommend this!

A step backwards from its predecessor, but still good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the latest (but hopefully not last) game in the Legacy of Kain Series. It is also the only game in which you get to play both Kain and Raziel.

I was really excited about this game at first, hearing they had revamped the combat system, about the only thing not great from the previous games. The actual result was only really a slight improvement.

They modeled it after Devil May Cry (A game near and dear to my heart), but its execution was not good. There are more camera issues with this game than almost any I've played previously. Too many times did I find the camera looking at the corner of a passageway while I'm busy fighting on the other side of it. What little control over the camera you have is useless; instead of rotating around the point of interest (ie, your character) it rotates on its own position. So instead of swinging around the corner so i can actually see Raziel, it looks in the other direction.

The style in general worked well in Devil May Cry (though I recall less camera issues in that game), but that game had an emphasis on nearly equal melee & ranged combat. When enemies were offscreen, you could at least shoot at them. This game has some ranged capabilities (telekenesis or TK), its not something you can use too much of.

I will admit though that using Kain's TK to throw enemies off a bridge, onto a spike, or just pull them closer was suprisingly fun.

That said, when the camera was working correctly, battles were slightly more interesting and frenzied than in previous games, but they also became frustrating sometimes. Also, the game's attempts at bosses (ghosts of previous pillar gaurdians) were extremely lame.

Graphics-wise, the game is pretty good. Kain and Raziel both look great, and little things like Kain's mist-form looked suprisingly good. The lighting/shadowing was particularly well done.

Plot wise, the game is good, but nowhere near the greatness of any of the previous games (except maybe Blood omen 2). The pacing drags, and it seems a little forumlaic. Also, while the voice acting is top-notch as usual for this series, the dialogue seemed to suffer a bit; it was a little over the top in some places (the lines and words themselves, not the acting).

The game gets better near the end, and many people will probably prefer it than to the end of the Soul Reaver games. This one leaves off with a definite "To be continued..." feel, but doesn't leave you with a Cliff-Hanger or with a feeling of unfulfilment.

very much underrated game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

man i just beat this game today, and it ROCKS!. i'm not a hardcore fan of this series but i'll give this game its due. i only played blood omen2(which was very excellent) and soul reaver1(which was o.k). i didn't even play SR2 but i understood defiance totally. i highly recommend playing blood omen2 and SR1(both of which are under 8 dollars) before you hop on this game.

story: i'll give it a 8/10 becuase sometimes the story can get a still sidetrack.

grahics: i'll give it a 9/10. the voice acting is awesome, the character models are solid throughout the whole game.

gameplay: i'll give it a 8/10. the game is not hard to control between kain and razel.

over all i'll give this awesome game a 8 1/2 out of 10. this is the most underrated game i've seen in a while. yeah the camera angle is a little different, but trust me its not anything to cry about. i had this game twice(xbox and ps2) the first time around i hated the camera angle so i didn't give it time of day. but the 2nd time around i fell it love with it. also this is not a walk in the park game, this game is long, real long. injoy

Vae Victus

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Speaking as a true fan of the series, I loved this game. I only wish it could have been longer. I also wish they would have kept the standard third person camera angles. Kain the THE ultimate bad a**, and raziel is pretty cool too. The voice acting ( as with the whole series) is top notch, better than 98% of anything you will see in a movie. I say to Eidos, keep them coming, never end the Kain series, it will never be as lame as metroid, zelda, or megaman.

lagacy of kain rocks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: September 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this game is not out yet but I bet it will be great. the first legacy of kain game I played was the first soul reaver Iv been hooked every since. the games are very well put together the grapics are incredable and the game play is great. I recomend that every check out soul reaver and soul reaver 2 and also blood omen 2. I will for sure be getting the new game

If u love vampires.......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

god did i love this game. but then again i was always a big fan of the lok games. some beter than others but this one is definetly the best lok game in the entire series. The game gives u deversity in worlds. And of course Raziel and Kain look as good as ever. My personal favorite being Raziel. Even though the two do basically the same thing they do it in their own ruthless way. So if u love vampires pick this one up.... or else! (just kidding!)

CRUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will eat your blood and soul!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

ok i AM a real vampire and dracula geek and when I saw this game I knew I could not denie my two favorite vampires locked together in one game.The graphics are cool. you get to weeken your enemys but the reviewer was right the bad guys are easy to deafeat and they are not realy bad. You get to weeken them and either impale them on your weapon or bite into their flesh like a good vampire should.

I don't like it

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: December 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has great voice acting, graphics, and plot. So far it sounds like a good game, but it isn't. I beat it in 5 days which consisted of running around in the same looking levels fighting the same looking bad guys. It's nearly impossble to beat without a guide book. You'll have no idea whats going on if you never played blood omen or the soul reavers. One awful thing is that you can't first play the game as kain and then as Raziel. It swiches off between them.

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