Result :
9 - Makes me yearn for blood-sucking death. 
 | Graphics: 10 - Imperfections? I think not!. |
| FMV : 10 - Eye candy all round. |
| Sound : 9 - I love impaling vampires just for the sounds. |
| Music : 8 - Adds to the atmosphere, moody, but non-distracting. |
| A.I. : 8 - The smart, nasty enemy are just that. |
| Lifespan : 9 - Mammoth. |
| Gameplay : 9 - Think bad Lara. Bad Lara with big spiky two-handed weapons. |
| Adrenaline : 8 - Good for this genre, but it's no Doom. |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a wonderful piece of eye candy. After you get past that, you may then take note of the storyline. Kain, from the first game, chose power over sacrificing himself for mankind. He then created his 6 powerful vampire lieutenants, and they their armies. All of which lead to a serious bad-hair day for the humans. This lead to an imbalance in the spirit world, with souls not returning to "the wheel of rejuvenation" (or some such idea). You play Raziel, Kain's 2nd in command, but one day you grow wings, and since Kain doesn't have them, he gets a little pissed and chucks you into an abyss that is meant to torment you for eternity. After some large amount of time you recover your senses to realise you are not dead (but badly mutilated), and some Elder Force has saved you to kill your old buddies and free the dead's spirits. Being a vengeful sort of chap, you take his offer, which handily includes the ability to forsake a physical form, and become pure spirit, thus allowing you to swap between the material and spirit worlds easily. As your material form decays with time, you must "eat" souls to regenerate your energy, or, if you become spirit, you must eat souls to get enough power to once again take physical form.
The graphics need a long list of superlatives to describe them, WOW being the summary. Smooth, detailed, and pretty, I haven't found anything to complain about yet. There is no (little) loading, as it uses a "streaming" method that loads in the map as you approach the next segment. Sound is really sickening. Blood splurting, impalation, burning flesh all wonderfully recreated for you on your humble Playstation. Music is the weakest of the sensory inputs, it sets the scene, but doesn't chill you, or get you tense like a horror movie. That said, it is still moody, and gently tugs your emotions with it. The dual-shock pad has lots of appropriate vibrations, and Raziel responds quickly and smoothly under your control. The game is one big level - sort of. Some areas you cannot get to until your powers increase. These include immunity to water, climbing, phasing through semi-solid objects, etc. It is wonderfully detailed, you can explore off into what seems an obscure bit, and it is still detailed, with no clipping. And Soul Reaver actually feels like a "game world", with no noticeable loading once you are playing, you it could take you over 30 minutes of continuous running just to get from one area to another! Fortunately their are "warp-gates" which allow teleporting back and forth. This adds a massive feel to the game, and only reinforces the impressive nature of the whole playing involvement.
The camera angle does take a little getting used to, but I don't notice the way it swings around until you get to combat, where walls can make it go a little screwy if you run back and forth rapidly. You soon adjust, and then it feels nicely natural and gives you a level of freedom to view your surroundings with that few games equal. The landing for your jumps can be a trifle imperfect, but that may just be me... If you have any interest in vampires you will take great joy from experimenting on ways to kill them. The standard things are there, sunlight, fire, throwing them into water, variations of impaling and much, much more.
Wonderfully dark, brutally gruesome, and amazingly beautiful. This is Soul Reaver, buy it now (or borrow if from me)!
Pause the game, hold L1 or R1, and enter the following codes:
Refill health Down, Circle, Up, Left, Up, Left
Upgrade health Right, X, Left, Triangle, Up, Down
Maximum health Right, Circle, Down, Up, Down, Up
Refill magic Right, Right, Left, Triangle, Right, Down
Maximum magic Triangle, Right, Down, Right, Up, Triangle, Left
Pass through barriers Down, Circle, Circle, Left, Right, Triangle, Up
Hurt Raziel Left, Circle, Up, Up, Down
Get Soul Reaver Down, Triangle, L2, Right, Right, Down,
Down, Left, Triangle, Down, Right
Wall climbing Triangle, Down, L2, Right, Up, Down
Get Force Left, Right, Circle, Left,
Right, Left
Get Constrict Down, Up, Right, Right, Circle, Up, Up, Down
Get Fire Reaver Down, Up, Right, Up, Down, Left, Circle, Right, Down
Make Fire Reaver Triangle, Right, Down, Circle, Up
Infinite Health
During gameplay, press Start and then press Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, Circle,
Square, Circle. Now press Start again and if you did it right you will hear a growl and
you'll have infinite health.
