Gaming Target - Xbox: Legacy of Kain: Defiance

Written by Leigh Culpin on October 24, 2003

Final Glimpse: Tonight I will suck... ::momentary pause:: YOUR BLOOD!

Way back in early June of 1997 Crystal Dynamics published a game by Silicon Knights called Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain Ц a third person RPG adventure which threw you in the boots of a vampire of high nobility with an array of cool powers, like the ability to turn into mist, a bat or a wolf. The story was amazingly captivating and extraordinarily well written, with intricate plot twists and an extreme amount of detail. Crystal Dynamics then switched to the developer role for the next entry to the series, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, which told yet another integral part of the game world's story through the eyes of Raziel, Kain's exiled first lieutenant Ц this was more of a puzzle oriented action adventure game than it's predecessor, though the intricate story continued. You find out that Raziel was exiled for evolving past the physical bounds of his kind, and his wings were taken from him in the process. This installment of the series found you able to switch between the real world and the Spectral Zone, a warped reality that offered an alteration of the real world. This game was the first to take the same story from a different perspective, with Raziel requiring souls rather than blood to survive. The series continued in 2001 with Soul Reaver 2 (which once again had you playing as Raziel) and then again this year with Blood Omen 2 which returned to Kain's side of the story, as well as being the first game of the series on the Xbox. Now, after what seems in retrospect an agonizingly long wait, the next game of the series is here, and it once again unites Kain and Raziel.

There's a difference this time, however Ц you get to play as both the Reaver and the Vampire. While they will both share similar control schemes and abilities, you'd better believe that they're going to have their own moves, powers and kickass attitudes. The story's once again a continuation of the first, bringing us back into what is perhaps one of the most immersive game worlds of all time. However, the look of the characters has been slightly revamped Ц Raziel looks more Wraith-like and far closer to being visually dead then he has in the past, and Kain's gone from a noble-looking soldier (he did look cool mind you) to an all out vampire badass. They each have their respective death-dealing weapons (in a nutshell, Kain with the physical Soul Reaver and Raziel with the psi version, though you'll have to play the other games to fully understand the complexity of it) and both have a slightly modified way of serving the pain Ц a basic attack button, an air strike button (one that will launch your enemy into the air to be further ambushed) and a telekinesis button which lets you Уforce pushФ your enemies around a little bit.

Additionally, where in previous games the enemies would generally come at you one at a time, you'll now be attacked by droves of enemies at once and will have to direct your combos towards whichever enemy you feel like attacking most. The combos themselves are significantly more complex than the previous iterations, and the camera has been redesigned to be both more cinematic and more useful during combat. This will be especially cool later on once you gain more abilities, though there's nothing wrong with starting off as someone who can turn into mist and levitate enemies.

The game's divided into chapters, starting with Raziel and alternating to Kain and then back again, with the two eventually meeting. That should make for some interesting story, both because Kain starts off 500 years apart from when Raziel does, and because there's still a fair amount of bad blood between the two. Despite having so much history behind it the developers are assuring everyone that the gamer will be able to jump into the game with no previous LOK knowledge whatsoever, though the more you have the more interesting you'll probably find the story.

While this piece of the story is significantly more action oriented that the previous parts there will still be puzzles to solve as is expected in the LOK universe Ц Raziel will have to move back and forth between the real world and the Spectral Zone to solve his while Kain's will have more emphasis on his powers (as in Blood Omen 2). While some may groan at the inclusion of said puzzles they have in fact been very well crafted and while some have been difficult, few have been excessively so.

The game's presentation has always been extraordinary, and the visuals are easily the best yet. However, nowadays exceptional visuals are expected, and the sounds, music and especially voice acting are what really sets the game apart from the rest. Kain's voice actor is one of the best to hit a video game in ages, and the rest of the cast doesn't fall behind, making the story even that much more immersive.