I'm not sure what the strategy behind the Legacy of Kain series is, but I'm starting to think it involves pissing off the audiance so much, they have to play more.

I never played the first game, though I hear its a great play despite horrific load times. Soul Reaver came about as close to perfection as a game could get, that is until, the shitty cliffhanger ending cornholed the game. And Soul Reaver 2? I won't even go there.

Blood Omen 2 is a damn good play, especialy if you're a fan of platform games. This isn't the RPG style you'd be used to with the first Blood Omen and this isn't the "explore" style game the Soul Reaver games were. This is a straight forward, so-linear-you-can-puke game.

But if you like that, its no problem.

The eleven levels are fast and creative. Plus, unlike Soul Reaver 2, you don't have to play them over and over and over and over again. The linear portion of the game is good in this regard, but sometimes you just want to break off the beaten bath and explore. The levels are that detailed and expansive.

Each level even has a subtitle to them. But I would suggest you get a big ass load of duct tape and cover up the bottom half of your screen just before you begin chapter ten. Nothing worse than a chapter name that plays spoiler. Other than the game itself making it so damn obvious of whats coming next.

One of the trademarks of the Legacy of Kain series would probably be the voicework. This is a good thing. Unlike Resident Evil, which is infamous for its BAD voice acting, the Legacy of Kain games have some of the best acting I've ever heard. And Blood Omen 2 is certainly no different. It helps bring along these characters and to see the same voice actors return is always a positive sign. Simon Templeton as Kain is the atypical badass. And any game that has the voice of Megatron in it gets high points in my book.

But sadly, I've got issues with multiple parts of this game. For one, at times it plays like a Godzilla movie. Technical errors lead to the voices getting ahead of the character models. This became especialy problematic in one of the last segments of dialogue in the game, where unfortunatly, I missed out on what sounded to be the beginnings of a plot point.

Now, it may not neccesarily be a part of the technical issues, but combat seemed very flawed as well. The blocking was an essential skill of the game and having the assisted blocking feature was a godsend. But dodging? Holy God, it was near impossible. I could have 2 seconds before an enemy dealt me an unblockable blow, but with the controls of any normal game, 2 seconds would be plenty to dodge. But in Blood Omen 2, trying to dodge just makes you suicidal.

The dodging actualy began to work, though.

During the very last boss fight.

Thank God.

And no Legacy of Kain game would be complete without a shitty ass ending. You can breath a sigh of relief in the fact that its not a cliffhanger. But it just kind of ends. No fireworks or special FMV. Just this ending that is ultimately unsatisfying.

Sad to say though, I'm going to whore myself to Soul Reaver 3 whenver IT comes out. I don't know for sure if its the last in the line or not, but the story of the series is ultimatly compeling and the best thing going for it.

I pray that if any of these Kain creating bastards read a review, they'll realize that a good ending might be nice for a change.

And more crotch smashing with spiked bats.

Grade: C-