Legacy of Kain: Defiance

This game was supposed to be a worthy successor to the two first Soul Reaver games. And maybe (at least storywise) it is. I will never know, because the game has the most annoying camera perspective I have ever experienced. Its two predecessors were made in third person perspective. Defiance on the other hand has some sort of bizarre old fashioned console faux-TPP camera scheme (think Silent Hill 2 inside buildings, only worse), suited better for adventure games set in pre-rendered locations. Unfortunately Defiance is not an adventure game - it's supposed to be an action game, where your character fights, explores and solves some environmental puzzles. Camera angles switch constantly, frequently obscuring the player's view. They switch mid-actions, mid-jumps and mid-fights. What's worse - not only angles are constantly switching, they are also very rigid - in a given location (between camera switches) you can observe your surrounding only through the previously established camera perspective - you can't change it. You can only move somewhere else and hope the view from the other location is less obstructed. Another problem with perspectives offered by the game's engine is that for an action game they are oddly diverse - through constant perspective switches you view your character from sides, from very close, from below, distantly from above, frequently from the front. The last one is particularly egregious - I don't understand how developers thought you could comfortably control your character jump (or fight) while looking directly at his face. If you can live with such camera scheme you can give the game a chance. I'm not recommending it. Try Soul Reaver 1 and 2 instead.

Fair warning: The camera system and it's somewhat repetitive nature (going to forges and gaining powers, revisiting locations to unlock new parts , etc) are still present in this game. BUT , after skipping all that stuff (regaining of powers, recapping the story so far) , the game truly shines. The combat has been greatly improved, every motion is more fluid and faster than before, even controlling the blocks for solving puzzles or opening doors and passing through them has been speed up and it gives a great feeling when you see everything happening fast and fluid. The story told in this long series of games is one of the greater stories the gaming world has ever seen. Though the ending to this game answers many questions from previous games in the series, it still leaves many more to be answered and also creates some new ones. I do hope that we will see a new LoK game in the following years because this series has been one journey that should not be so shortly lived.

The series died after this game. The game finishes on a cliffhanger (like Soul Reaver 1 and 2, by the way) and you're really left curious as to what was going to happen next. Well, business happened. While any fan will praise the series for the story and especially the voice acting, the game proper is bland, there's no way around that. The puzzles can get really boring and combat's there just to slow you down. At least it's fluid enough. You're probably better off watching it as a "movie" off youtube.

a great classic, need a remaster for the perfection

I have to say that as a long time fan of Legacy of Kain series take the rating with a pinch of salt. The game is the peak distillation of the series where you get to play as both Kain and Raziel, and while they mostly play the same, there are some subtle differences, for example Raziel is faster but Kain hits harder. That graphics are solid, even after all these years it all looks pretty great honestly. The voicework is where this game truly shines though. The game is pretty heavy on the stories and lore and sometimes honestly the cutscenes between gameplay can be a little static, but it all doesn't matter because the actors make a brilliant work of making it all sound compelling and alive. One of my favourite roles of the late great Tony Jay, as well as Renee Auberjonois. If you played any other of the LoK series and enjoyed those at all, you will love this one. The only real pain I would say is that the camera is terrible, and often difficult to control, but I would say that the rest of the game more than makes up for it. It is a Crime that the setting of Nosgoth doesn't get more stories these days.