Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Sony PlayStation
Developer: Silicon Knights
Publisher: Crystal Dynamics
Release Date: 31 October 1996
Rated: M
It has been nearly a decade since the first game in the Legacy of Kain series was released. Since that time, 4 more games have been released, spanning various platforms to complete one of the largest, deepest stories in gaming history. The Legacy of Kain has been a fascinating one indeed and has proven that great storytelling stands the test of time.
Though not without its problems, Blood Omen is still one of the PlayStation's best titles. Its vast world and genre-melding gameplay elements offer up plenty of hours of entertainment and the superb story will enthrall you, making you want to complete it.
The story of Blood Omen begins when Kain, still in human form, is assassinated on the outskirts of a small village. In one of the game's many cinematics, Kain is offered a chance for vengeance by the necromancer Mortanius. Blinded by vengeance, Kain foolishly accepts without considering the consequences thus becoming a vampire and one of the greatest anti-heroes in gaming.
Playing the game as Kain is some of the most amoral fun you can have on a console. As a vampire, Kain is granted many of the abilities and curses vampires have been given throughout history. Magic spells, shape-changing and weaknesses to sunlight and water are just some of the gifts and hindrances along the way. Kain's health is measured by a vial of blood towards the right of the screen. If his blood meter runs out, the game will end (unless you have a particular special item). To keep it filled you can find special items or suck the blood from enemies you defeat in combat, or innocents you meet in towns or chained up in one of the game's many dungeons. Though it has no effect on the gameplay, feeding off of innocents is both fun and disconcerting at the same time. Prisoners will beg and plead for help as you pass them but the only way to show any kind of mercy is by giving them the sweet release of death.
You'll explore the world of Nosgoth, comprised of over 100,000 screens, from a top-down perspective. The world is fairly detailed, though much of it looks similar, but the size of the world and memory limitations, make it easy to understand why more textures weren't used. Blood Omen is packed with secret areas as well, 100 to be exact, so seeing everything the game has to offer on the first playthrough would be quite a feat. The game also does a good job of creating atmosphere, from the gypsy camp to the plague-ridden town of Coorhagen, and some of the more secret locations such as the Blood Fountains and Spirit Forges. Everything has just the right touch of goth and medieval and it helps bring the world to life. The NPC characters even have their own schedules. Though they pretty much just walk back and forth during the day, they do sleep during the night, which also makes them easy victims should Kain need to feed.
The most noticeable thing about the graphics is the lighting. As was common in early PlayStation games, Blood Omen makes heavy use of lighting techniques, similar to those seen in the Interplay's Loaded. Lighting is used for both atmosphere and to call attention to objects in the gameworld that may be of use to the player or required in order to pass (switches, levers, or just collectable items). It gives the game a very ethereal feel and looks great. Unfortunately, it also causes massive slowdown anytime there are more than two characters on screen, including Kain. This is easily the biggest problem that plagues Blood Omen. The slowdown can, at times, seem unbearable, but if you're patient enough to stick with it there is a deep and rewarding story throughout.
The game's cinematics don't look very detailed at all, even by PlayStation standards. Most of the characters are flat-shaded and lack detail. The animation is also rigid and almost comical to look at today, but they do still do a good job of telling the story, largely in part to the fantastic voice acting. Simon Templeman provides the voice of Kain, and luckily he has stayed with the series until its end, because you can't imagine any other actor playing the role once you hear him. Listening to Kain shout "Vae Victus!" or his sadistic laughter during combat seldom gets tiring.
The voice-acting all around is outstanding. The game features hours of voiceovers to flesh out the story. Kain can sometimes be a little long-winded and it can slow the game down a bit as you have to wait until the V.O. is done before you can enter a new area or even a menu, but it also makes the storyline that much more intriguing.
Rounding out the presentation is the stellar soundtrack. The music is very moody and has a distinctly gothic feel to it. Unfortunately, there aren't too many songs so you will find it a bit repetitive, but the music is generally so good you won't mind. In addition, the sound effects are well done. Picking up an item yields a satisfying choral chant and the weapon sounds are well done, featuring varying types of swipes for each different weapon. The creatures in the game use a fairly generic set of sounds but, overall, the audio is very solid all around and even excels in some areas.
The game plays like a mixture of hack 'n' slash, Legend Of Zelda-style adventure and RPG. As you progress through the game, Kain gains new powers, spells, weapons, armor and items. Bat form, for instance, allows you to travel great distances in the blink of an eye while mist form allows you to pass through cracks in walls and barred doors.
Combat takes place in real-time and the different weapons you'll acquire at various stages of the adventure add some flavor. The mace will stun your enemies, allowing you to suck their blood easier rather than worrying about swinging your sword one too many times and killing your foe by accident. The axe is a devastating weapon and a useful tool for cutting down trees that block off paths and the flame sword will turn your enemies to ash in a couple of hits. On the defensive side, Kain can acquire different types of armor as well, such as the Chaos armor, which deals damage back to the enemy every time you get hit, and the Flesh armor, which sucks the enemy's blood up for you. The downside to the Flesh armor, however, is that it does not differentiate between the different blood types so it will suck up poisoned or dark blood just the same as it would red blood, thus potentially harming Kain.
Kain also has a decent array of spells and magical items at his disposal. Defensive spells such as Repel and Sanctuary, which send projectile attacks back towards your attacker and returns Kain to his crypt to regain some energy respectively, are just as useful as offensive spells such as Energy Bolt and Blood Gout. Items such as Flay and Implode work in a pinch if you run out of magic.
Unfortunately, the combat is very repetitive and boils down to little more than hitting the square button as rapidly as possible to swing your weapon. Enemies can be very cheap and will gang up on you. You'll take a lot of cheap hits in battle, especially from off-screen enemies with projectile weapons or magic spells. Eventually, you'll just try to avoid as much of the combat as possible.
The game is fairly linear, but the game world is so large that you won't really feel it. Though it is necessary to travel from point A to point B to advance the story, there are plenty of little stops you can make along the way. Some areas of the game are completely optional, though they can be very beneficial, to visit.
Puzzles boil down to pushing a switch to open a door and won't tax your brain at all. You'll also do a lot of backtracking, which can be a bit bothersome, but as this is an action game at heart, you don't necessarily need to bog it down with frustrating, brain-teaser puzzles.
If there is any major problem with the game, besides the slowdown, it's the load times. Even taking into account when the game was released, the load times are quite insufferable. It's not so much when you're entering a new area, simply because you can at least understand why it might take a while, but entering the menus, which you will have to do quite frequently, especially later in the game, also brings up the dreaded loading box. Entering the menu screen takes you out of the action for a minute or two which can really be frustrating when all you want to do is switch your weapon. Since certain areas will not be accessible without using a particular weapon to smash a boulder or cut a tree down, you're forced to wait for the menu to load just to switch then you must wait again to get back to the game.
Even with its problems, however, Blood Omen's positives far outweigh the negatives. The gripping storyline alone is good enough to keep most players from abandoning the game and the graphics are still fairly impressive, despite the often horrendous slowdown. Overall, Blood Omen is a fantastic start to one of the best storylines in all of gaming and PlayStation owners shouldn't miss it.
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