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This game looks great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 23
Date: February 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have only played a demo from this game, it's not the final version but I got to say... this is a good game, it The graphics are the best I've seen, not that much but they are really good. The story is great but the game play still needs a little work, but when it comes out it's a must buy, It is the game I am expecting the most.

An Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: March 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Blood Omen 2 is the best of the Legacy of Kain games, barnone. The story, the gameplay, and the intangibles simply make this a fun and engaging game to play.

For those who aren't familiar with the series, Legacy of Kain's main hero/villain (depending on which game you're playing) is Kain, a vampire in the land of Nosgoth who eventually ends up taking over the entire world and plunging it into darkness. Blood Omen 2 takes place roughly 200 years after the first Blood Omen and after Kain's first attempt to conquer Nosgoth ended at the city of Meridian. Kain wakes up and sets out to destroy the Serafan Lord, the head of the Serafan order and the one who beat Kain two centuries earlier.

The game's controls are very basic, but to make sure you understand it, the story starts with a tutorial in the slums of Meridian. This helps you to get the mechanics down before you're thrown into battle. The fighting mechanics are very simple. You can do a three-hit combo or grab, hit, and throw your opponent. There are also several different kinds of weapons at your disposal, but they all pretty much do the same thing, although the speed and power of the attacks vary.

There are also several dark gifts for you to use in the game, including Mist, which lets you perform stealth kills, and Charm, which allows you to control the ordinary humans in the game. You can't get through the game without using these, so you really have to learn them well.

There's also a wide variety of enemies, ranging from knights to demons. Each battle is different as well, as each opponent blocks your attacks and uses their own. The boss battles are really the highlight of combat though, as each battle requires you to do more than just fight. You have to use your dark gifts in order to defeat them, for the most part, and you also must use ingenuity.

There are puzzles in the game, but they aren't nearly as challenging as the ones in the Soul Reaver games. Most of them take a little time to figure out, but eventually exploring and a good eye allow you to figure it out. I think the most time I spent on one puzzle is ten minutes.

The storyline and the cutscenes are also extremely engaging. The story is as good as any supernatural drama, with twists and turns that keep you interested in the story. There are also little touches in the gameplay, such as the regular humans conversing with each other.

The only complaint I have about this game is that it is too short. Part of that is because this game is so engaging and fun that you can end up spending hours playing it without even knowing it. But that is a minor thing.

Overall, this game is incredible and is a must-own for anyone who is a fan of either the Legacy of Kain series or action/horror games in general.

The best chapter of the Legacy of Kain series,period.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...I hope I have your trust in my opinion that this game is one of the most unique and best things that has happened to both PS2 and XBOX gaming ever. For those who don't know, heres the plot, Kain and his army are sabotaged and defeated by the Sarafan, Kain loses his prized possesion, the sword known as the Soul Reaver, and nearly loses his life due to a fall in the so-called abyss or earth down below. His body is found 200 years later where it is revived by Umah and the Vampire resistance known as the Cabal. Kain suffers from a deep amnesia but is clued in about what has happened during his hibernation for 200 years. The Sarafan now rule Kain's throne of anguish and pain and all that is cruel and evil. Kain is then taught how to kill, and to drink blood from his foes again. Kain's dark gifts are incredibly cool and easy to use, and Kain earns new gifts as he defeats the guardian vampires such as the ability to jump for great distances, much like the jumping found in Blade, seriously. Kain is easy to control which adds to the replayability alot. This is clearly the brightest spot of the Legacy of Kain series and would be greatly reccomended to Legacy of Kain fanatics or Action/Adventure gamers anyday of the week with it's deep swordplay and combat system. This is a must-buy.

Kain, Thy Name is Tedium

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: March 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Blood Omen 2 is an example of what happens when bad choices are made for the design of controller pad commands. This is easily one of the most frustrating games to play for me personally. For example, during combat with one of the bosses by the name of Faustus, you have to be able jump away when he does one of his special attacks. Unfortunately, you also have to remember to let go of everything else on the controller pad in order to set up for pressing the "A" button to actually jump, all this within about half a second. Needless to say, if you forget to let go of the right trigger (which provides the essential auto-focus targeting for combat), the jump won't work and you'll get a boot to the head and lose an eighth or so of life. You'll end up fighting some of the bosses dozens and dozens of times unless you're just really coordinated. I play classical guitar and am pretty accurate with some faster pieces. Even so, I have a tough time keeping track of all the controls during combat because of the need to either keep both triggers down, or letting go of all triggers to move or jump, or leaving just one trigger down for attacking with the "X" button. Thankfully, the game does at least include a brief tutorial to familiarize new users with the theoretical functioning of the various control combinations.

For the most part, the standard citizens and solidiers you'll encounter in the early levels are too easy to kill. Unlike the bosses, they have little or no ability to take more than four quick blows, so they go down quickly and you don't have to worry about getting tangled up in the controls as much. Frankly, I seldom if ever bother with blocking because toe-to-toe is generally easier. You know once they're dead that you can recover lost life by sucking their blood. The animation of the sucking is always the same, but it's neat the first couple of times it occurs. I'm sure in later levels (4th & up), the foes become tougher.

The game itself is a standard hack and slash with a nice 3D environment that is generally always dark. Even if you turn out all the lights in the room to reduce glare on the tv screen, it still puts a huge strain on the eyes after about an hour of play. If you typically don't game for more than an hour at a time, you'll probably be okay.

Overall, I think this game had alot of potential, but its annoying command design makes it incredibly tedious to play at certain points, like the battle with Faustus.

A tired idea. Over and over again.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: March 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's ok, nothing spectacular, and it feels a bit tried. A bit old. It features no new game play that takes advantage of the added muscle of the next generation systems; it seems contrived, essentially like a Playstation (one) game that has been rejigged with better graphics. Eidos has been bereft of new ideas for a while now, and the trend continues. One example, in a tavern in the early part of the game, I quickly disposed of all of the local townspeople, but could still hear the chatter and the talk of the crowd. Hey, there's nobody around. The AI needs work, since in many cases; some of the townsfolk can see the brutal murder and blood sucking of one of their "friends", as they continue to chat among themselves as if nothing happened. Come on guys. Also, block puzzles. Block puzzles? Seems like somebody doesn't have any new ideas. Finally, I have read that the Xbox version "is the only version" that comes with real time shadows. However, as you walk around a light source, close then further away, you would expect to see your shadow loom larger or smaller depending on your position. But in the game, nothing. Seems like a case of bad execution.
The story is two-dimensional, doesn't offer a lot of suspense, and is essentially straightforward with no real twists. The voice acting, as usual in this series however, is superb.
Not a horrible game, but just more of the same. I would strongly recommend Max Payne over this if your interested in this genre. If you've played that, then I would just keep waiting for some new ideas. This is not what we were looking forward to.

This Game is AWESOME!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I had never played one of the "Legend of Kain" series untill now, but I'm glad that I did play this one. I saw it ... and thought it was awesome, so I bought it the next day when it was released. It was hard to put down because it was so awesome. I finished it the next night. If you have ever been interested in "Darkness" like Vampires, ect. then you will LOVE this game. It is so gruesome and disgusting that you won't believe it. Kain feels no pitty!! Attack and Kill unarmed civilians without mercy and be rewarded for it! Puzzles to keep you thinking but not hard enough to make you mad. The controls are not hard, I rate the graphics about an 8, and the fun-factor is a 10. I mean whats wrong characters losing their heads, having their heart ripped out from behind(ever see "End of Days"?), or crawling a way as they bleed to death? This is NOT a game for easily disturbed people!!! But this IS a FUN game!

Blood Omen 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Pretty good game, seems quite repetitive but good action.

Not bad, but not great either

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: March 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a fan of the Legacy of Kain series since the very first Blood Omen, released on the PSX in 1996, I was dying to get my hands on this game. Finally being in control of Kain again after all this time was quite a pleasure, but unfortunately, the game is not all its cracked up to be...

First off, the gameplay is strictly mediocre. Soul Reaver veterans will recognize the mechanics right away. Unfortunately, it seems the problems of the Soul Reaver games have come over as well. This game focuses more on combat than anything else, and is designed as such. However, given that the game is loosely a Soul Reaver clone, you'll find yourself wanting to avoid combat more than actually throwing yourself into it. Unfortunately, the game's central focus is combat, and successful progression in the game is based on your ability to fight. A pity, because the problems begin there.

Enemies, just like in Soul Reaver 2, are always better fighters, with many more attacks than Kain, and a plethora of unblockable moves. You may find yourself outnumbered, and while you can easily handle your enemies if you're good, Kain will probably just end up on the ground, and you'll be shaking your head in frustration. And once again, the ATROCIOUS auto-targeting system of Soul Reaver 2 has returned. When you auto-fix on an enemy, all it takes is a sidestep, and you'll have Kain hacking away in the opposite direction while the enemy charges up his unblockable attack or unleashes his own combo on you.

'Stealth Kills', like in such games as Tenchu, are probably one of the better parts of combat, but serve little purpose. The only time a 'stealth kill' can be performed is if there is mist on the ground. Even if you sneak up on an enemy without mist on the ground, you cannot perform a 'stealth kill', which makes stealth kills utterly useless and just forces more of the mediocre combat on you.

Collision detection is pretty awful. In fact, it seems to be 2-d, shown in the simple fact that you cannot seem to jump over enemies. If you are standing in front of an enemy, although you clearly jump higher than his head level, you cannot jump OVER him, thus making you an easy aerial target. Also, your weapon seems to pass through enemies more than it hits them, leaving you as an open target yet again.

Sound is strange...often times, ambient sound that is completely inappropriate for the moment(such as the blood guzzling sound) begins to play out of nowhere during cutscenes. The sound is so loud that it drowns out the voice-overs, effectively ruining whatever story element there is(and there isn't much). There are also many other glitches in the game that are just too glaring to be overlooked.

Story.....all the games in the past had a great, involving story. This game lacks the gripping story element of the previous games, which is why even die-hard LoK fans may overlook this game. What little story there is gets expressed through small cutscenes, which could basically be considered 'Mission Briefings' as opposed to story progression. Sometimes there are cut-scenes during the mission which convey the story rather well, but overall, the strongest element of the previous games is very weak in this game.

The bottom line: Only Die-Hard LoK fans will enjoy this game, and even as such may find the game to be bland, devoid of story and interesting gameplay. By today's standards, this game is mediocre in every sense of the word. Gamers who are not knowledgeable about the LoK series will definitely want to avoid this game all together, and LoK/SR fans also may want to avoid this game due to lack of story and good gameplay. Being a diehard LoK fan, I found the game remotely enjoyable, but the game simply gets too repetitive as it goes on. Very disappointing, but good entertainment for a little while.

Awesome game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've played many, many games like this but this is definitely the best I've played. At first look you may think it's just a game where you go around killing people, but after you play it for a while you'll realize the engrossing story which goes along with it. People may say that it's slow paced, which I saw in a few reviews, but the story is so good that I actually play the levels to see what happens in the story! It's that good. I highly recommend buying this game, but as always, rent it first.

Blood Omen 2 a must buy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I got this game and started playing and loved it. You get new abilities as you progress and puzzles that arent that hard. The battling is cool but gets hard, but later when you get use to fighting the hard enemies its fairly simple. This also has stealth like abilities like in tenchu but you can still battle like any other game. If you didnt like soul reaver or blood omen 1 this is different and should still be given a shot.

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