technophile

By Emily A. Diehl
Technophile

Platform: PS2, PC

Genre: Action-Adventure

ESRB Rating: Mature

As my nickname suggests, I like the Legacy of Kain. From the original Windows 95 Blood Omen to the current gaming goodness, I have found myself wrapped up in the tale of Nosgoth and eagerly awaiting more twists to the fascinating storyline. Fortunately 2001 has brought me much gaming joy with the release of Soul Reaver 2 and the announcement of the now-February release of Blood Omen 2.

As with Silent Hill 2, Soul Reaver 2 promptly ended up in my reserve list when I heard of its release, and I happily took the game home earlier this week to try out and enjoy.

While my thirst for a continuation of the tale was satiated, I unfortunately was in for several unpleasant surprises....

The Storyline....

Soul Reaver 2 held true to the Nosgoth legacy in the aspect of the story line; it was a fitting addition to the tale and introduced more aspects to the age-old battle of Kain versus Raziel (and basically the rest of the world), and explains the roles of Mortanius and other mysterious characters in greater detail. I especially enjoyed the continuation of the story due to the fact that I am the type of gamer that tends to be obsessively immersed in storylines. The story and plot are laid out in an extremely intelligent fashion, using intellectual language and a use of symbolism in the telling of the tale. In other words if you are not a fan of big words and listening to a "professor-like" reading of cut scenes, you will most likely find the story over bearing and boring. For those who enjoy hearing a story told in an elegant fashion, you will enjoy this aspect thoroughly.

The Controls....

The actual moving play is almost identical to the previous Soul Reaver series, with Raziel having the same abilities such as being able to hold his ragged wings and glide and high jump. This game also retains many of the same controller configurations as the prior version. Consequentially, while there are many controls in the game, the configuration is such as to allow ease of play. In addition to the controller layout, I especially enjoyed the dodging and whirling ability added to Raziel's fighting. But then again, I have always been a sucker for fancy swordfights.

Control-wise I had several gripes. The first of these complaints was the fact that there is not a button or even a trigger set for "run". In situations where you need to travel across a large amount of area, Raziel's slow, loping gait is frustrating enough to make me want to spike my controller off of the floor. While I may simply be a speed freak, this aspect is certainly frustrating. Another major problem I had with the control layout was the completely sporadic swimming abilities of Raziel. I found that even a slight tap of the analog sticks while in the water will cause him to dive to the bottom of a body of water, where he will weightlessly bob around until you force him to the surface by pressing the left analog DOWN. Does this make sense? This is like a controller inverse mouse, and get extremely frustrating due to the fact that while underwater, Raziel loses life. I spent well over fifteen minutes trying to swim in a straight line, and figured out that you need to only use the swim button and the arrow buttons (or EXACT right and left analog) to swim anywhere. I thought that this unnecessary hassle in which I ended up in the "Spectral Realm" twice due to health loss was extremely irritating. Couple the swim and run problems with the fact that there is still a need for exact jumps, a camera angle that is simply not that great, and several areas where you need to be EXACTLY in the right place in order to perform a simple action, and this explains why I sat sputtering and swearing for quite some time while playing. If you are not patient and despise any fluctuation in control, this game will most likely make you crazy.

The Graphics....

Looking on the good side once again, I must say that the graphics are very well thought out and designed. This is a beautiful game in the aspect that all of the levels, textures, and details are beautifully laid out. The detail in the realm is fantastic, and the objects are creatively made and set into the environment as to create a distinctly fantasy/gothic feel. In general, I was very impressed with the general layout of the game and enjoyed the cut scenes immensely.

Sadly, I also had several complaints with the graphic aspects of Soul Reaver 2. The first and foremost problem I had with the game (which almost caused me to stop playing out of irritation) was the heinous use of lighting within the levels. There were sections in the game that were SO dark that I could not tell whether I was walking into a crevice in the wall or walking into the wall itself, and there were other times that I could not tell if I was walking on the floor or about to fall off of a ledge. This was an awful aspect of the game that I found could only be remedied by turning off every light in the room, which led to me not being able to see anything else in my surrounding and eventually causing me to feel sick. I realize that his is a "dark" game and is not supposed to be shiny and bright, but there are ways to use the brightness factor in such a way as to create a feeling of dark, yet have it light enough for players to be able to not walk into walls and off of ledges (see previous article on Silent Hill 2). In addition to the lighting problems, I also had a major problem with the slight glitch (or frame rate) problem during game play. I remember several instances where I would try to run a certain way or move past a certain object only to find my character jerked back and forth in that choppy, laggy animation. As I am sensitive to movement, (I admit to having to run and barf while playing Quake and Doom in the past...But yes, I continued to play feverishly) this made me want to gag. I have never encountered this choppy animation in another PS2 game (with the exception of *blah* Rune: Viking Warlord *blah*) and did not like the introduction of it into my long-awaited Soul Reaver 2. As a final gripe, I did not like the models in this game whatsoever. Perhaps I got spoiled from Silent Hill 2, but the fact that the monsters were ridiculously uncreative and horribly modeled made me extremely sad. Even Raziel himself looked exactly as he has in the Dreamcast (and at times the PS1) version of Soul Reaver. WHY??!!

The Sound Quality....

The sound quality for this game was above average when played on our surround sound system. I have no complaint about the haunting and Egyptian-like music, and I found the British sounding voice-overs to be exceptionally well done. Although some may say that the background sound during play is a bit irritating, I challenge you to come up with a theme to be repeated for hours and not become annoying. In all, the current sound choice was not too shabby.

The Gameplay....

My final area of review is the general game play of Soul Reaver 2. In this aspect, I enjoyed the game quite a bit. I found that the development team did hold true to their claim of harder and more challenging puzzles and tasks. While the puzzles are semi-straightforward, they are challenging enough to make you sit and think for quite some time before you get the actual sequence of actions correct. Expect to make many mistakes and second guess yourself, because this is a game that you cannot simply fly through. (Unless you have a guide, and in that case I shall call you a weenie :)) My only complaint is the fact that several crucial aspects are not fully apparent during the game, but are crucial to know. I knew the aspects from the previous Soul Reaver, but a Reaver n00b will have a hard time because (as mentioned earlier) positioning must be exact for a "hint" to appear on the screen. If you are slightly skewed, you will be lost. An example of this is the fact that Raziel can climb "striped" walls by walking up to them and pressing X. As this is not apparent, many other aspects are not either. My suggestion is to keep the instruction manual handy at all times, (even though you may need to play in complete darkness to be able to see).

The Final Conclusion....

My final rating for this game is sadly an average to OK, which would probably be a 6 to 7 out of 10 if I had to say it in this manner. There are simply too many small things that make the game a painful thing to play. I would recommend giving it a try if you are a fan of the series, or if you would simply like something to do. Other than that, I would recommend another title.

I believe that the next game I will be purchasing is Devil May Cry. It is my hope that it will provide more of a thrill than Soul Reaver 2.

(01-1114)

related links:

Soul Reaver 2 - official site