Kraven

I'm bored, so I decided to post a review I wrote a long time ago. Read if you want, even though it is an old game.




Playing as Kain, you are a vampire that has just awakened in the strange city of Meridian (capital city of Nosgoth) with no memory of your former self. Assisted early on from a mysterious vampire mistress, Umah, she relates to you the recent events of the past while you were knocked out. From these bits and pieces your memory is slowly revived. Your main objective is to defeat the one who calls himself the Sarafan Lord. You agree (albeit if a bit reluctantly) to help a small resistance sect known as The Cabal which is composed of other vampires trying to protect their species from extinction from a radical group of militant humans known as The Sarafan. Because the Sarafan are not aware of Kain’s existence this makes him the perfect agent to hunt down and kill the Sarafan Lord.

Gameplay
Gameplay in BO2 is as linear as a game can get. Every level is presented in a straightforward fashion and there is little room for exploration or personal agendas. A strong feeling of "get from Point A to Point B" persists throughout. In between this you have the mechanics of play and what Kain can do which is also pretty straightforward. Kill...suck blood...solve puzzle…move on…repeat. Your only worries in this game are to keep your blood meter (life bar) full of blood since not only do successful enemy attacks drain your blood, but your blood will slowly deplete on its own over time re-enforcing your need to continually feed. This keeps the pace of the game constantly moving since you can’t afford to dawdle too long in one are and must move on to new areas with new victims to satiate and replenish your blood bar.

Kain can either attack with his claws or he can pick up a weapon from a fallen foe. However, the weapons in this game develop "stress" over time after they have been used in attacking or blocking. They will literally shatter in Kain's hand if used too long. An icon is displayed that shows the current weapon Kain has and it will turn red indicating it is close to breaking. Once you have killed it is time for Kain to feed by sucking the blood from his victim.

But limited weaponry is not the only form of attack Kain possesses. Innate powers called Dark Gifts are also at Kain‘s disposal. With seven Dark Gifts altogether Kain has a formidable arsenal to pull from. He initially starts out with only two: "Mist" and "Fury." "Jump," "Charm," "Berserk," "Telekinesis," and "Immolate" make up the remaining Dark Gifts. Kain acquires a new Dark Gift after every mini-boss battle. The vampires that comprise the Cabal are not the only vampires out there. Rebel vampires that have joined forces with the Sarafan Lord roam the world as well, and each one possesses a unique Dark Gift that Kain acquires after he defeats them. And each mini-boss encounter involves a specific technique to defeat them. They aren’t too hard to figure out and once you do you just have to keep repeating the process until you kill them. Each gift has its own purpose and you will inevitably use all of them throughout the game to either solve puzzles or in combat. The most notable feature associated with one of the Dark Gifts is the ability to pull off stealth kills while utilizing the “Mist” gift. These are the coolest moves in the game and it’s a shame their use is limited only when there is fog present.

The game also has its share of “puzzles” to solve that are scattered throughout the levels. I use the word “puzzle” lightly since the most you will ever have to do is either move a crate here or pull a lever there, or a combination of the two. These serve less as a challenge than they are to break up the gameplay a bit from the usual bloodletting and carnage.

Graphics
The graphics are not the shining example of what the Xbox hardware can perform, but they’re acceptable. The city of Meridian is presented in a very gothic and depressing state of being. The general ambiance and atmosphere of Meridian is downright foreboding, and it does a job well done of keeping this mood throughout the entire game.

The story is presented through in-game cut scenes. They do a great job of keeping the story flowing. However you can't skip through them, and they can really become tiring after a while especially if you happen to die and you are forced to start over from that point and have to watch the same cut-scene again. One time through is great to push the story along but the inability to skip these often long cut-scenes for gamers who play through the game a second or third time is quite frustrating.

The only other serious issue are the many clipping problems found during the game. It just looks downright sloppy sometimes. Many times you will have backed a bystander up against a wall, and after killing them, their body will fall and half their body will magically disappear into the wall behind them. Or one of their arms or legs will disappear through the ground. This happens the majority of the game and can sometimes affect the actual gameplay itself. If you kill an enemy and they were holding a weapon, if they clip a wall sometimes their weapon will also disappear into the wall and not be available for Kain to pick up. Most annoying if you don’t have a weapon at the time or the one you’re currently carrying is about to break. A little more polish in this area would have been nice.

Sound
Perhaps to counter the many clipping problems that plague Kain throughout his journey is the superb voice acting. Even the NPC characters are done well. As you walk through town and pass bystanders you can catch little pieces of their conversation. Should you draw your sword and approach someone they will raise their hands in fear and start to back up, whimpering to take mercy on them all the while. Kill someone in front of another person and that other person will run away screaming. Music is dynamic and isn’t pervasive throughout (until the final level).



Control
Controlling Kain (for the most part) is relatively painless. It’s only when you engage in combat that things become a little more annoying. For instance, while blocking you cannot move at all at the same time. You are locked into the position and direction you are facing until you let go of the left trigger. That might not sound so bad except for the fact that the enemies you face switch around their attack patterns, and anticipating their attacks (while easy) is hampered by the fact that you can’t maneuver when you see them coming more often than you’d like to. The guards have a basic combo plus a “super” attack that you cannot block at all. If you’re blocking what you think will be a combo and they throw a super attack at you, Kain is so slow to get out of the blocking position so you can jump out of the way that the guards most often are able to get a direct hit on you. And when facing multiple opponents the frustration is amplified since guards tend to surround you thus disallowing you to jump back or out of the way at all. It is at those moments that the super attacks will hurt you the most and your inability to maneuver out of the way. Other than that control is smooth and simple.

Replay Value
Here is where the game suffers the most. Being as linear as it is there is really no room for replay value. Once you have played through and beaten the game there really isn’t that much incentive to go through it a second time. I would suggest that only die-hard fans of the series buy this game while casual gamers can find just as much pleasure in a week long rental.

Overall
Despite the few glaring problems with this game I did enjoy my time in Nosgoth as linear as it was. The combat control can use some improvement and the game can use more overall polish, other than that this is a fantastic addition to the Kain series. If you love this series you would do well to pick it up. For others you can probably get satisfaction out of a rental.


Graphics: 7.0
Sound: 8.5
Gameplay: 7.0
Replay Val.: 2.0
Overall (avg.): 6.1

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Viper 776

Eh, Blood Omen still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. By far the worst LoK game ever made.(Even Blood Omen is better than it )

BTW, good review.

I believe you mean after. sorry, but I'm a big LoK fan.

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Kraven

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Viper 776

*spoilers*

Defiance was amazing!
The only problem I have is that the story wasn't quite as deep as it normally is (and they killed Raziel, the coolest charatcer ever), but the better action made up for it.

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Orta

I had that game and beat it
fun game but some hard parts and retarted enemys and cheats that don't help unless you use them b4 you start a game

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Google it noob

Noxicity

Crap game, but a great review.

Kudos, Kraven...

XBS Jason

I know this is old but since I just saw it what the heck . . .

First off, Good review Kraven.

Second - for everyone that is saying the game sucked, I really liked it and the best part is the storyline. I have played all of the legacy of Kain games starting from Playstation 1 and I think they did a great job. Sure the graphics could have been tweaked up a notch for the Xbox and the controls might have been better, but all in all it was worth playing.

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