Review #223: Legacy of Kain - Defiance

 Time t'finish the fight!

 This is it! The big pay off, where the four previous games had led to. The final game in the Legacy of Kain series, Raziel and Kain's quests come to an end! Kinda.

 It's hard to talk about Defiance without spoiling stuff, but what really matters is that almost every loose end from previous games is explained, and the few bits that aren't, well, you can search online for Amy Hennig's, the writer, words on these things, stuff like Vorador being alive in Blood Omen 2(Which this game was supposed to answer, but had to be cut), or even stuff that happens in-game. If you've been following the series since Blood Omen, or at least Soul Reaver 1, this game will satisfy you, it gives a more than worthy conclusion to the quest of these unlikely anti-heroes. That said, there was to be a sequel that would offer further insight into what happened after Defiance, but it never came to be. But I digress, unlike the previous two games that ended on cliff-hangers, this one gives us a more... open ending, but an ending non the less.

 The gameplay has suffered a major shift since Soul Reaver 2. Most notorious, now you play as both Kain and Raziel, through alternating chapters. While Soul Reaver 2 was mostly and adventure game, Defiance borrows a lot from Devil May Cry, this is an action game with some puzzles here and there. As a matter of fact, the puzzles have been dumbed down considerably, being mostly of the 'Find X item to open Y door' variety. As a rule of thumb, Raziel's chapters tend to feature more puzzles than Kain's, which in turn make his chapters much longer. Unlike Soul Reaver 2, you are now rewarded for exploring, Health upgrades, TK upgrades and unlockable extras are hidden throughout each level, waiting to be found if you explore. The combat system now allows you to juggle enemies into aerial combos or pull and push them around with Telekinetic abilities, and I really like it. Sure, it's much more limited than Devil May Cry, but I liked performing simple, stylish combos on the enemies. Personally, I like prefer direction over any other game on the franchise... but it did need a few more work.

 Raziel and Kain behave almost exactly the same in combat, their attacks might look different, but on a technical level, it's the same. As you slay enemies you eventually unlock 5 special moves with each character, and they are the same for both characters! Regardless, my biggest issue isn't that these moves are the same, but that they are too few of them. Since the game is now focused on combat and combos, it should reward you for fighting and doing well, particularly since enemies can take quite a bit of punishment. But after you earn these five moves there's little reason to waste time fighting. Late in the game, I avoided fights as much as I could, whereas during the earlier parts of the game I was enjoying trying to come up with different ways to end my enemies!

 Throughout the game, both Kain and Raziel will earn specialized versions of their weapons, and not only are they used for puzzles, but they give their attacks special properties! For instance, Kain's Dimension Reaver makes it so that once the Reaver Gauge is full(By dealing a ton of damage), attacks will spread out throughout nearby enemies, or Raziel's Water Reaver will freeze the enemies it attacks, or the Earth Reaver makes him heavy, so he can walk on water. This sounds very promising, but it's slightly underdeveloped, take Raziel's Light and Fire Reavers, they add nothing to his basic attacks, just a different special move. Don't get me wrong, I liked what they did, but they could've done much more to make each weapon feel unique.

All that said, to say that Kain and Raziel are exactly the same is wrong. The way in which they explore Nosgoth is much different, not only are they 500 years apart, but both possess certain traits unique to each.  Kain has stronger Telekinetic powers, at first, allowing him to break weakened structures or pull enemies towards him instead of just pushing. Metal Bars are not a barrier to Kain, as he can simply turn into mist and walk through them. Plus, Water is deadly to Kain. Raziel on the other hand can swim, and his TK powers only lets him push enemies. And while he can't turn into mist, Raziel is the only one who can access the Spectral Realm.

 With the new style, also come a few quirks to get used to. The game moves much faster than before in every way, except climbing which is slow as molasses. But I digress, I really liked how everything was much faster now, both combat and exploring. A consequence, perhaps, of this is that controls feel much looser than before. New to the series are fixed camera angles, which can be a bit of a pain. There's a very few angles which are terrible and makes you wonder just what where they thinking, plus, it's possible for the camera to sometimes get confused and get stuck on very weird angles, and then you have to move around hoping that you can reset it. Not to mention that as a consequence of the fixed camera angles, sometimes it's possible to get some very unhelpful angles during fights, sometimes obscuring your position or the enemies. But that isn't even the biggest offender of the new camera, it's the platforming. To put it bluntly, the platforming in this game can be horrid. To be fair, few times is the penalty for missing a jump or what not fatal, but as a consequence of both fixed camera angles and the loose controls, jumping can potentially be the most annoying thing in the game. There were some 'simple' jumps that I had to retry over 6 times, and sometimes the issue was simply getting to the platform from which to jump.

 Weirdly enough, graphics are better in some ways, and worse in a very few others, than Soul Reaver 2's. Character models have been stylized, and they look slimmer and cooler than before. All the big players look better than they ever did. But it seems that some detail was lost, easily observed by comparing the backside of Raziel's cape on Soul Reaver 2 with Defiance's, hardly a deal breaker though. The environments are less colorful than before, but much more detailed and intricate, a fair trade off I'd say. Still, the locations visited in this game feel a bit more... mundane, or down-to earth than the more fantastic areas from the previous games. As a whole, I think the game looks fantastic, there's a couple of framerate drops here and then, but they are fairly uncommon. The music is an overall high for the series, you may recognize some of the songs that play, and they manage to set the mood for the game perfectly. Award winning? Hardly, but little to complain about. As far as the voice acting goes... It's Legacy of Kain, of course it's among the best that videogames have to offer, from the major characters to the secondary cast.

 For the final entry in the series, Crystal Dynamics sure went out with a bang. I loved the new direction they took with the gameplay, even if it needed a bit more work put into it, and the story payed off big-time. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best game in the series, but in order to fully appreciate it, it requires one to have followed the story from the beginning.
 8.5 out of 10