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Ah, The Children Of The Night....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Latest in the long-running vampire series, Legacy of Kain: Defiance chronicles the return of everybody's two favourite anti-heroes to the blood soaked world of Nosgoth.

To bring the newbies up to speed, Legacy of Kain follows Vampire tyrant Kain and his vengeful prodigy Raziel as they battle for supremacy across time and space in a mythical world of supernatural mystery. Both protagonists weild an ancient sword, the Soul Reaver - Kain's is the physical body of the sword, while Raziel is fused to the spectral essence of the mighty blade. The time sorceror Mobius has cast both vampires back into the past, to the roots of Nosgoth's history, and it is here that we pick up the latest chapter.

Soul Reaver is a 3D action adventure in which players alternately assume the roles of Raziel and Kain. Each character is unique in that Kain requires blood to keep his health up, while Raziel, a spectral vampire, requires souls. To this end each vampire has a unique repetoir of combat and finishing moves to dish out on enemies, such as Kain sinking his fangs in his dizzied victim's throat. In addition, both characters are able deploy complex sword combos, as well as magical powers in combat - one that looks particularly satisfying is the ability to telekenetically pick up and hurl opponents off of cliffs, or into nearby spikes, impaling them. Indeed, much of the focus for this game is an overhauled combat system, and the player will often find themselves attacked by multiple foes.

In keeping with the traditions of the series, there will also be plenty of mind-bending puzzles to deal with. Raziel is capable of shifting between the living and spectral worlds, and in each environment is able to achieve different things to solve a puzzle. For example, while Raziel cannot pick up objects in the spirit world, he can warp through gates and other thin obstacles, or jump to otherwise inaccessable areas. This gives the game a fantastic degree of scope and depth to 3D problem solving.

The graphics for the series are top notch, and its one of the first series of games to do away with loading screens - clever coding allows the game to load upcoming environments before you reach them, allowing a seamless transition through the vast land of Nosgoth. The world is realised in beautiful, lovingly crafted architecture, spooky, mist filled forests and flickering caves. The spectral world, which Raziel is tied to is rendered in eerie blues and greens, and there's a lot of excellent lighting throughout. Its one of the most atmospheric games you'll play this year.

One of the chief critisisms levelled at the last game, Soul Reaver 2, is that it was too wordy and complex a plot, with not enough action and exploring. This latest title seems to have addressed those concerns by upping the action in spades, while staying true to the devious twists and turns of the series. This should be on every fan's wish list, and I'd recommend it to anyone in search of an offbeat and spooky adventure game.

good play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this is a good game that has a great story but is for die hard fans only. get this only if you have play any outher games in the Kain seris. this should not be your starting game for the whole seriis

Defying closure

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just about the time I began to wonder when we'd see the next Legacy of Kain game this game was announced. It seems that this game was released only six months or so after the initial announcement of it and while the game is superb there are some serious problems that should not be over looked.
Legacy of Kain has become my absolute favorite game series, and it looks as though it is either over, or drawing to a close very soon, with the way that Defiance ends, however I believe the series may be over. I will explain momentarily. The plot has been one of the most intriguing and genuinely brilliant storylines ever committed to a game. The type of story that would go down in horror novel history as a true classic, only with the cinematic flare of available technology.
I remember playing through the original Silicon Knights "Blood Omen: The legacy of Kain" and while the game is very dated it was still filled with a breathtaking story, and every installment of the series since then has kept me wanting more, but now it seems there is closure, and its very satisfying.
See the events of defiance do a lot to tie many of the loose plot threads together, even giving the events of the convoluted Blood Omen 2 some semblance of credibility, leaving only one question... Vorador was killed in BO: LOK, it was reiterated in Soul Reavor 2, and again in Defiance, so why is he alive in Blood Omen 2? I rather enjoyed the twist with Janus Aldron, however, and this could explain how the Hyldan ended up imprisoning him, but unless Vorador was rescued at the last second... At any rate as you can see although this game does have satisfactory closure and it would be okay with me if they end it here there's still a few more issues to resolve. The problem is that only one between Raziel and Kain can carry on. The story for this installment is phenomenal, up there with the original BO: LOK, and Soul Reavor 2, not down in the dredges like the ill conceived BO 2. This game finally outlines the true villain, the Elder God himself, not the Hyldans, not the vampires, or the humans, and even Moebius gets a huge surprise with the revelation of the games true villain.
Although the story takes huge strides to get the series back on an artistic track (where as Blood Omen 2 was a slapped together cash cow) there are serious flaws that another month or two could have easily fixed. Legacy of Kain has always had problems with clipping. BO 2 had slowdown, and there were times when the lip-synching was of as well, but nothing like what I experienced here. Of the games the clipping in Defiance is the worst. There are times when your weapon will go right through enemies without hurting them. Walking through some scenery, while others cannot even be approached, stepping through a wall out of the gaming world an getting stuck there, and worst yet, falling through a floor into the gaming world and getting stuck in an icky green matrixy looking screen. Worst of all there was one glitch that impeded my progress for hours. Whatever happens once you have the heart of darkness DO NOT TURN THE GAME OFF until after you have resurrected Janos Aldron. The heart of darkness vanished from my inventory, and I could not go back for it. Thankfully I save on multiple files incase I miss something, but having to start that chapter over was annoying. Glitches like this need to be fixed before the game ships. I feel like this game was rushed to the shelves when it needed a couple more months.
The voice acting, once again is superb, although Mobeus's voice is strangely more like Richard Doyal's Pias Agustas from the sleeper hit Eternal Darkness (a Silicon Knights title exclusively for Nintendo GameCube) than the Mobeus I'm used to, a stark contrast from the weak old man voice that has been used in the past, and to some degree, a Kain sound a like. I do not like that change, and to know its being done by the same voice actor who has done the character all along makes it worse. Simon Templeman, and Michael Bell return to the role of Kain and Raziel, more confident in their abilities than ever, all of the original voice actors make a return and each one performs on levels that most movie stars only dream of reaching. Its only a shame that the acting in most Hollywood productions can't be this good.
Although I feel the Edios aught to consider a price reduction because of the seriousness of the glitches I do recommend this title for LOK fans. Considering that his may be the final chapter of the series newbies may want to pick up at least Soul Reavor 2 to understand where we're at in the story, although the further back you can go before playing this game the better, otherwise do not miss this title.

The Legacy Continues

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Defiance continues the saga of the Legacy of Kain (henceforth referred to as LoK) series. The characters are well-defined, exquisitely detailed, and the voiceovers are perfectly matched, and are from the same personas voicing the characters in the original founding games in the series. To review this game, I'll cover several different areas: gameplay, visual, and audio.

Gameplay is rock-solid, with only one major problem as far as I'm concerned, and that would be the camera system. Whereas previous LoK games that I've played (Blood Omen 2 and Soul Reaver 2) have a system of panning the camera about your character, Defiance uses a camera system that lets you pan the camera vertically or horizontally about the plane and angle that it's currently set at. And furthermore, the game decides which is the best angle for you to use, and doesn't allow you to adjust it otherwise. This has led me off of an edge and into a body of water, or right smack into a huge horde of enemies more than once. On the flip side, however, the combos that you can execute are simple to perform, which is high on the list of my pluses. The learning curve is practically linear, as the game prepares you to play the game efficiently from the beginning.

The graphics in the game are spectacular... crisp... clean... fresh... NEW. The effects are perfect and smooth, and hardly any of those "jaggies" you hear about in other games. What's more, the game supports progressive scan for those of you with high-tech setups. Transitioning from between the material plane to the spectral plane is a beautiful thing, and both worlds are breath-takingly beautiful... in that gothic, nightmarish kinda way.

The sound in the game is equally crisp to the audio, and it supports Dolby Digital 5.1, also for those of you con... conno... fanatics of audio. In the spectral plane, though, the audio is just a bit disconcerting, as you can hear contant moaning and wailing... so, it's a bit freaky, but not so much so that you'll be uncomfortable. Eh, that was stupid. Forget about that. The important thing to remember is that this is incredible. Simply incredible.

Good stuff, some bad.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Good: Defiance is incredible. The world it's set in, the characters, the complex plot. The graphics are simply awesome, the sound is mind blowing (and somewhat frightening when Raziel is in the spectral realm). The puzzles were well thought out, decipherable with a bit of effort- most of them involve the reaver in some way. Along the way there are some really awesome surprises for long time LoK fans, and, at last, the ending is satisfying even if it leaves only a partial finality.
The Bad: First off, if you've never played any earlier Legacy of Kain games, at least pick up 'Soul Reaver1' and gain a rudimentary understanding of the plot...because it's a twisted knot. The worst thing about Defiance is the camera angles. Ugh. The camera angles. They cause you to get confused, fall to your death, back into enemies, not see important things, fall off ledges-etc. Even after gaining a working understanding of it you're still annoyed by it. One last bad, hidden in one of the goods: Defiance is much more combat oriented than earlier LoK installments, and implements special combo moves you attain with combat experience. The're fun to use, but after awhile you get sick of using the same set of moves on opponents.
Summary: The best Legacy of Kain since 'Soul Reaver'. Playing both Kain and Raziel on their entwined paths and facing their fates is enthralling.

Meh...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: January 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Alright...This game has very good graphics, and very cool combat features..ie the telekinetik powers, and the awesome swordplay. I think a major major setback is the horrible camera angles. The game is in 3rd person which is fine but I think it sucks when you have to play a game watching the person running at you. At points you have to run through doors and you can't see whats in front of you because the camera in facing you and you fall straight into water or something just as terrbile ( and we all know that Kain dies instantly from water ). Everything else seems to be fine though. Its a decent game.

big disappointment

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As a big fan of Legacy of Kain, i have to say i was very disappointed with this game. The camera angles are horrible and there are alot of glitches. In one level, level 8, the glitch is so bad that you will have to start the game all over again.
The game was entertaining, but more frustrating than anything if you have played the other games.

This game is sweeeeet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've never played the previous games in this series, but I'm going to after playing Kain:Defiance! The gameplay is so much fun, giving hours of entertainment hacking and slashing enemeies up. The puzzles to get to all the sword powerups were not too hard, and the powerups are defintely worth it! The experience system for getting new moves took a little while to figure out, but once you do it shines a whole new light on the action, since there are some moves that give you more xp than others. The graphics, sound, and music are all hauntingly beautiful too. If you haven't yet, get this game and play it! It's well worth it.

You'll get SUCKED in!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is great and a HUGE improvement over the last LofK game for Xbox. The graphics are top-notch and although it is a bit hard to see with the camera angle from time to time, the game is fast-paced and the downright creepy characters keep you involved. Good original story line, great voice acting, easy to use controls, playing as two different characters, etc. all make this one of the best games available on Xbox. Don't miss out...as soon as you load this you'll get sucked in.

A Powerful Epic Game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After beating Blood Omen 2 for GCN, I figured something out: Legacy Of Kain would, most likely, be my favorite horror/adventure series ever. I played Soul Reaver for PSOne a little after, but I unfortunately hated it, so I wasn't sure about what I said anymore, until I got this game.
What's special in this title, why should you buy this title among many others you can buy? It has the best virtual character ever: Kain; it has the best voice acting ever (tied with Blood Omen 2, and since it's also avaliable for the Xbox, you should buy both, just as I did), it has amazing graphics, awesome combat system and outstanding storyline (specially if you have played the previous games and if you understood the previous games' history, because this series has one of the most complicated stories I've ever read). Ok... Any extras? Yes! Once you beat the game (it has no difficulty setting, but the game is a perfect challenge: not too easy, not too hard) you get lots of extra photos and lots of videos about the game (videos include the guys recording their lines for the game, some videos showing some scenario's development, from beggining until the complete thing that you see in the game, among others). Other very fine extras are the Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 intro movies, avaliable since you start the game. As if that wasn't enough, you can also collect little objects found thoughout the game that unlock even more photos, rare photos about the series. Being said that, this game is worth every penny you put in it (you'll spend atleast 10 hours playing the main game from begging to end, if you have a walkthrough in hand; because if you don't, you can get to 18 hours easily).
What are you waiting for, gamer? Buy this game along with Blood Omen 2 right here at Amazon.com, or anywhere alse you can find. You won't be disappointed.

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