Mmm.
Soul Reaver plays better than pretty much any 3rd person action/adventure I’ve ever played. It blows away the
Tomb Raider series. The game starts long after the first one in the “series,”
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, but Kain’s back and just as naughty as ever.
You’re Raziel, once the right-hand man of Kain, and now a decrepit walking corpse existing for no other reason than revenge. You are a Soul Reaver, and you must eat souls to remain in the soul of the living. Of course, being dead, you cannot truly die -- you simply get thrown into a parallel world, the Spirit world, when you lose all your health in the real world, and if you lose all of your health there, you get cast back to the starting location of the game. Of course, trekking back to where you were in the game, “warp gates” aside is often punishment enough. Throughout your travels, you’ll slay lots of vampires -- which you need to burn with sunlight or impale, else they don’t die -- solve lots of location puzzles (How do I get past here? Where is the switch I need to flip?), and see lots of beautiful scenery. You’ll enjoy every minute of it, too. Even when you’re stuck as to where to go, it’s enjoyable to just roam around the world and slip into the Spirit world and see the differences between the two. In fact, quite a few puzzles require you to slip between the two to get past certain obstacles.
True to the nature of the game, as you progress, Raziel gains new attacks and abilities, such as the ability to slip through gates or touch water unimpeded. His tattered wings also allow him a limited gliding ability.
The world is pretty big, pretty detailed, but unfortunately, the game ends a touch too quickly. After doing a touch of research, it seems that the game wasn’t really supposed to end where it did, but getting the game out necessitated a release. Quite alright, though -- the game’s still a ton of fun, “full” or not. Its depressing, dark setting does nothing more than add to the ambiance, and really gets you into the feel of the game, to feel what it is to be Raziel. The rather common voiceovers help to move the plot along as well, as you search for your brothers and Kain himself in your quest for revenge.
