Legacy of Kain: Defiance Preview

In this little segment, we focus on that lovable vampire, Kain.

We've seen some mighty fine PS2 titles this year. The beautiful thing about it is that they just keep on coming. There seems to be a great deal of promising games on the horizon, such as Deus Ex: Invisible War, LoTR: Return of the King, and, naturally, Legacy of Kain: Defiance. After Soul Reaver and Blood Omen games, Crystal Dynamics set out to concoct another installment that elaborates more on the events and characters from the immersive Legacy of Kain universe. Playing Blood Omen 2 was the last time we took a step into this world when we had an opportunity to follow the destiny of Kain - one of the most cunning and relentless vampires out there. Blood Omen 2 never really managed to live up to the glory and splendor of Soul Reaver 2 however. In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, players will take on the role of legendary vampiric characters Kain and Raziel. (Both of them, baby! - Ed) Thanks to the folks at Eidos, we've spent some quality hands-on time with the latest beta build of the PS2 version.

Gimme those wings, boy!

Steady on, baldy!

Many fans will be pleased to know that the story in Legacy of Kain: Defiance will finally reveal many facts regarding certain characters and events which remained a mystery in the previous games. As the plot begins to unfold, players will find themselves switching between Kain and Raziel, eventually leading both characters to their inevitable destinies. At the beginning of the game, Kain embarks upon a new quest - he must hunt down Raziel, his fallen creation. Raziel, on the other hand, is entrapped by the Elder God and must escape and embrace his own fate. Thankfully, the story still sustains an admirable quality, with action, intrigue, and unforeseen twists and turns.

As part of our Legacy of Kain coverage, we've decided to stick to describing the missions where players get to lead Kain. When we began playing as Kain, we were a bit disappointed with the game's linearity. To our relief, the boundaries of gameplay seem to loosen up a bit once your character assumes his mist form. In other words, Kain can walk through closed gates, which gives him the freedom to explore a wide variety of areas. As before, much of Kain's endurance depends on combat skills and, as expected, a relentless desire to drain the soul and blood from his prey.

From our experience the game's difficulty was balanced pretty well, with a considerable number of baddies in your way, and enough victims to satisfy your vampiric lusts. As you play you'll even find a victim or two helpless and chained to the wall. As before, don't feel too bad about using these poor souls to aid your cause, remember you are a vampire and eating people is what you do. Of course, this is more or less the kind of stuff we've already seen in previous games. This time around, however, we also got a chance to test Kain's numerous new moves. In Defiance, Kain will always have a trick up his sleeve to surprise enemy soldiers in mid-combat. Of course, fighting is always challenging. Players are required to perform a series of well-timed strikes and blows, which may ultimately lead to a variety of lethal combos.

And then you jump like this, and that’s how the dance goes.

Hm, I don’t think there’s an easy way outta this one.

A rather impressive move is when Kain uppercuts unfortunate enemies and sends them flying into the air and then finishes them off with up to three deadly moves before they hit the ground. As we progressed, we managed to unlock rapid fire attacks, which can easily be pulled off by a few button presses. During his ventures Kain also relies on instincts and his telekinesis skills, which proved helpful on many occasions. These skills actually are a lot like force powers from Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. You may use them to jerk enemies around or pull 'em closer and finish them off at close range - this proved particularly useful against archers or similar foes armed with long-ranged weaponry. Understandably, we also used the powers of telekinesis to tumble down walls and stonework in order to locate and gain entrance to secret areas.

After playing the game for some time, we quickly got used to the intuitive auto camera system. The camera can be panned around freely with the right analog stick, but when you perform certain actions like fancy sword moves or combos, the angle quickly shifts, adding that special kind of cinematic flare to the atmosphere. I think it's safe to assume that a majority of gamers will grow to appreciate this camera system, since it effectively allows you to view your character from the best possible angle. It also increases the sense of drama and action as you play. We've witnessed equivalent camera movement patterns in PS2 titles such as Devil May Cry and Sony's Ico.

And what about the visuals? Well, I wouldn't want to jump the gun here, but this game appears to feature the finest graphics ever seen in the Legacy of Kain series. One of our main disappointments in Blood Omen 2 was the somewhat shabby model of the main character. This time the developers created a model that can be described as a worthy representation of a nasty vampire such as Kain. As always, a sincere applause goes out to the art team and animators for creating and realizing such a convincing world. The audio design matches the quality of the visuals, while character voicing is, as always, the shining aspect of the game.

That's all we can say for now, children. Kain and Raziel are to be resurrected on November 18, 2003, so start saving up your money 'cause this is going to be a must have.