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06-18-15 10:28 AM
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Soul Reaver Review

 
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06-18-15 10:28 AM
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I can remember this game from the days of when I actually owned an original playstation. At the time, though, I didn't play it at all, but my older brothers sure did. I can't give my thoughts from way back when since I don't really remember much from those days. However, playing and beating the game now, I can give you my thoughts on the game.

Story
Now, I will assume that everyone reading this review has beaten Blood Omen. If you haven't beaten that game yet, get out of here right now cause what I'm about to say will ruin the ending of that game for you. Okay, moving on. If you remember in Blood Omen after Kain is revealed to be the new balance guardian, he was given the choice to sacrifice himself to restore the pillars, or choose self-preservation. Well, he chose the latter, which caused the pillars to collapse and in turn plummet Nosgoth into decay. After his choice, he started to build a vampire empire, and it’s explained later how he resurrected the race. But, centuries pass and his empire has grown significantly with everyone fearing Kain. However, one day, one of his lieutenants, Raziel, shows that he is growing wings. Cain in response to this rips them off and has his other lieutenants cast Raziel into the Abyss, a giant whirlpool (remember water is acid to vampires). But, Raziel resurrected as a wraith and soon sets out to get revenge against Kain. Yes, the story is a simple revenge story, but it is uplifted by the game’s incredible dialogue and voice acting. In fact, almost the entire story is told through dialogue, but it is done so well that you can how far Nosgoth fallen into depravity. The visuals also help to sell the story.

Graphics

Before I talk about the game’s actual in-game graphics I have to talk the intro fmv. Usually, fmv’s from the original playstation days were pretty crummy looking, but Soul Reaver’s fmv is the best one I’ve ever seen. In fact, It is the most detailed fmv I have ever seen since those days. But, I should be talking to you about the game’s actual graphics. Soul Reaver’s graphics share similarities between, any game made by Crystal Dynamics, which means it has almost the same issues that addressed in my Akuji review. The textures look nice and everything, but they have that unfortunate side effect of shifting around when you move the camera or walk. Thankfully though, unlike Akuji, the game is well lit. But, the graphics are just one half of a game’s presentation the other half is the sound.

Sound
The voice acting is incredible in this game with the returning voice talents of Simon Templeman and Tony Jay. I found that none of the voice acting to be subpar, all of the talents were very good. The sound effects are also very well done. The music is also pretty good though I thought that it sounded a little muffled at times. However, the most important part of the game is of course the gameplay.

Gameplay
Soul Reaver is an action adventure game unlike its predecessor. In that sense the rpg elements that were in Blood Omen are gone. You play as Raziel, Kain’s former second-in-command who Kain executed, but has been resurrected seeking revenge. Raziel is a wraith, so his abilities differ from Kain. First and foremost is that he can consume the souls of his enemies to regain health. He also has the ability to shift between the material realm and spectral realm. Shifting is useful for retreating from a battle to get souls in the spectral realm, and traversing the landscape with his gliding, as structures change size when in the spectral realm. However, while you can shift from the material realm to the spectral realm at any time, you can only shift back using these portals at full health. Speaking of health, if Raziel loses all of his health he’ll automatically go to the spectral realm, but if he loses all of his health there he’ll be sent to the beginning. But, the difficulty of the game is reduced to the shifting since he easily regain his health in the spectral realm. Raziel will also as you go through the story will gain new abilities, such as climbing on certain walls and telekinetic projectiles. Most of the abilities that Raziel throughout the story are used mostly to get into areas that were otherwise unreachable. Reaching these areas will possibly garner you the chance to get a health power-up, eldritch energy power-up, or glyph. Health power-ups will increase Raziel’s health after five have been collected. Eldritch energy power-up increase Raziel’s eldritch energy, which in turn power your ability to use glyphs. Glyphs are essentially just area of effect attacks that can have different effects depending on the glyph used. These can be useful when you wish to incapacitate the enemies to retreat into the spectral realm, or later in the game use them to destroy enemies. Though you probably won’t find yourself using them often, until late in the game. These are just one of the tools at your disposal when combating your enemies. The combat in Soul Reaver is probably my favorite part of the game. Combat consists of dodging an enemy’s attacks whilst hitting them with Raziel’s claws or a weapon that you’ve picked up. However, striking an enemy a bunch will not kill them (unless they’re human) it will only be stunned. From there you have to finish them off by impaling them with a weapon. You can throw them on a wall spike, into water, or sunlight. But, grabbing and holding is frustrating since Raziel does not seem to want hold enemies long enough for you to get near anything. Finally though, you can incinerate your enemies. However, impaled enemies will return to life if you pick up the weapon from their body. Same goes for drowned enemies if the water can be drained. So, in order to permanently kill those enemies you have to consume their soul before it disappears. However, you can gain the wraithblade to destroy your foes, but it can only drawn with full health. You also gain a ranged attack to deal with enemies. It also helps to solve a couple of the game’s puzzles. The puzzles in Soul Reaver could be summed up with one word: blocks. Seriously, pretty much 98% of the puzzles are block puzzles. However, later block puzzles will call for you to get them to a higher platform, and even move them from a distance. The rest of the puzzles are primarily switch-based. The game’s boss fights are more or less puzzles, as you do not directly combat, which make for the most interesting boss fight I’ve done. For example, there is one boss where you have to get behind a gate while leading the boss towards it. You pull and hold a lever to keep open, then drop on the boss just as it enters. But, lack of intriguing puzzles doesn’t make Soul Reaver anything less.

Despite the loss of the RPG elements, Soul Reaver is still a good game. With fantastic voice acting, great story, and innovative combat. The boss fights were also interesting since they felt more like little puzzles than the typical ‘hit this thing till it’s dead’. However, the game’s puzzles are a bit subpar compared to the features that are offered. In the end, though, Soul Reaver is a great entry in the Legacy of Kain series.
I can remember this game from the days of when I actually owned an original playstation. At the time, though, I didn't play it at all, but my older brothers sure did. I can't give my thoughts from way back when since I don't really remember much from those days. However, playing and beating the game now, I can give you my thoughts on the game.

Story
Now, I will assume that everyone reading this review has beaten Blood Omen. If you haven't beaten that game yet, get out of here right now cause what I'm about to say will ruin the ending of that game for you. Okay, moving on. If you remember in Blood Omen after Kain is revealed to be the new balance guardian, he was given the choice to sacrifice himself to restore the pillars, or choose self-preservation. Well, he chose the latter, which caused the pillars to collapse and in turn plummet Nosgoth into decay. After his choice, he started to build a vampire empire, and it’s explained later how he resurrected the race. But, centuries pass and his empire has grown significantly with everyone fearing Kain. However, one day, one of his lieutenants, Raziel, shows that he is growing wings. Cain in response to this rips them off and has his other lieutenants cast Raziel into the Abyss, a giant whirlpool (remember water is acid to vampires). But, Raziel resurrected as a wraith and soon sets out to get revenge against Kain. Yes, the story is a simple revenge story, but it is uplifted by the game’s incredible dialogue and voice acting. In fact, almost the entire story is told through dialogue, but it is done so well that you can how far Nosgoth fallen into depravity. The visuals also help to sell the story.

Graphics

Before I talk about the game’s actual in-game graphics I have to talk the intro fmv. Usually, fmv’s from the original playstation days were pretty crummy looking, but Soul Reaver’s fmv is the best one I’ve ever seen. In fact, It is the most detailed fmv I have ever seen since those days. But, I should be talking to you about the game’s actual graphics. Soul Reaver’s graphics share similarities between, any game made by Crystal Dynamics, which means it has almost the same issues that addressed in my Akuji review. The textures look nice and everything, but they have that unfortunate side effect of shifting around when you move the camera or walk. Thankfully though, unlike Akuji, the game is well lit. But, the graphics are just one half of a game’s presentation the other half is the sound.

Sound
The voice acting is incredible in this game with the returning voice talents of Simon Templeman and Tony Jay. I found that none of the voice acting to be subpar, all of the talents were very good. The sound effects are also very well done. The music is also pretty good though I thought that it sounded a little muffled at times. However, the most important part of the game is of course the gameplay.

Gameplay
Soul Reaver is an action adventure game unlike its predecessor. In that sense the rpg elements that were in Blood Omen are gone. You play as Raziel, Kain’s former second-in-command who Kain executed, but has been resurrected seeking revenge. Raziel is a wraith, so his abilities differ from Kain. First and foremost is that he can consume the souls of his enemies to regain health. He also has the ability to shift between the material realm and spectral realm. Shifting is useful for retreating from a battle to get souls in the spectral realm, and traversing the landscape with his gliding, as structures change size when in the spectral realm. However, while you can shift from the material realm to the spectral realm at any time, you can only shift back using these portals at full health. Speaking of health, if Raziel loses all of his health he’ll automatically go to the spectral realm, but if he loses all of his health there he’ll be sent to the beginning. But, the difficulty of the game is reduced to the shifting since he easily regain his health in the spectral realm. Raziel will also as you go through the story will gain new abilities, such as climbing on certain walls and telekinetic projectiles. Most of the abilities that Raziel throughout the story are used mostly to get into areas that were otherwise unreachable. Reaching these areas will possibly garner you the chance to get a health power-up, eldritch energy power-up, or glyph. Health power-ups will increase Raziel’s health after five have been collected. Eldritch energy power-up increase Raziel’s eldritch energy, which in turn power your ability to use glyphs. Glyphs are essentially just area of effect attacks that can have different effects depending on the glyph used. These can be useful when you wish to incapacitate the enemies to retreat into the spectral realm, or later in the game use them to destroy enemies. Though you probably won’t find yourself using them often, until late in the game. These are just one of the tools at your disposal when combating your enemies. The combat in Soul Reaver is probably my favorite part of the game. Combat consists of dodging an enemy’s attacks whilst hitting them with Raziel’s claws or a weapon that you’ve picked up. However, striking an enemy a bunch will not kill them (unless they’re human) it will only be stunned. From there you have to finish them off by impaling them with a weapon. You can throw them on a wall spike, into water, or sunlight. But, grabbing and holding is frustrating since Raziel does not seem to want hold enemies long enough for you to get near anything. Finally though, you can incinerate your enemies. However, impaled enemies will return to life if you pick up the weapon from their body. Same goes for drowned enemies if the water can be drained. So, in order to permanently kill those enemies you have to consume their soul before it disappears. However, you can gain the wraithblade to destroy your foes, but it can only drawn with full health. You also gain a ranged attack to deal with enemies. It also helps to solve a couple of the game’s puzzles. The puzzles in Soul Reaver could be summed up with one word: blocks. Seriously, pretty much 98% of the puzzles are block puzzles. However, later block puzzles will call for you to get them to a higher platform, and even move them from a distance. The rest of the puzzles are primarily switch-based. The game’s boss fights are more or less puzzles, as you do not directly combat, which make for the most interesting boss fight I’ve done. For example, there is one boss where you have to get behind a gate while leading the boss towards it. You pull and hold a lever to keep open, then drop on the boss just as it enters. But, lack of intriguing puzzles doesn’t make Soul Reaver anything less.

Despite the loss of the RPG elements, Soul Reaver is still a good game. With fantastic voice acting, great story, and innovative combat. The boss fights were also interesting since they felt more like little puzzles than the typical ‘hit this thing till it’s dead’. However, the game’s puzzles are a bit subpar compared to the features that are offered. In the end, though, Soul Reaver is a great entry in the Legacy of Kain series.
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(edited by Supergamer on 10-11-15 12:03 PM)    

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