Legacy of Kain: Defiance

Legacy of Kain returns in yet another great storytelling masterpiece. The Soul Reaver storyline arc of Legacy of Kain is concluded with Defiance. Picking up some time after Soul Reaver 2 leaves off. You now take turns controlling both Kain and Raziel as they make their way through their own perspective fated paths as they try and uncover the truth and how to correct their fates. The incredible voice cast returns in full and the magnificent scripting we've all grown to love is here in abundance. However there is a major change to this game, mainly the gameplay. The typical action/adventure controls and camera type system found in Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 even, has been changed. In an attempt to capture a new audience Crystal Dynamics tried to go with a Devil May Cry inspired Combat system. Fixed camera angles based on each area, instead of following the characters directly. The actual combat altered to be more about stringing combo moves together. While the animations for the characters differ, the results in combat are mostly the same. So as you control both Kain and Raziel at various times, they actually control nearly identically. The only real difference between them is Kain levels are more combat intensive so he is a bit stronger with his Telekinetic and combat abilities. While Raziel is still a bit more puzzle influenced, though don't expect Soul Reaver caliber puzzles here. As the game progresses Kain and Raziel can learn new combo moves to use in battle. The combat can be a fun novelty for a little while but after few hours of the exact same combat and the same environments and recycled enemies over and over it becomes mind numbingly repetitive. Part of the problem is the master pacing of the Story segments is not present. For some reason the developers decided to barely give you hardly any story for the first half of the game. So by the time you get to the really really good stuff. You are numbed by repetitive combat that never seems to end. But once you do get there, Oh my.. the absolute breathtaking story will floor you over and over all the way to the end of the game. So many questions are answered, so many are resolved. a couple of plot elements or plot holes (depending on how you look at it) found in Blood Omen 2 are explained and fixed. The Soul Reaver storyline saga mostly reaches closure here and you will be full of all sorts of emotions by the end. There are a few questions that remain afterwards which I won't go into here, questions that we will likely never have closure on based on the state of the series at this point, but for the most part the series closes with a bang! As a fan you must play through this game. Enjoy it, buy it.

In an attempt to attract a wider audience 'Legacy of Kain: Defiance' focuses more on action-oriented combat, inspired by games such as Devil May Cry or Onimusha. Unfortunately its gameplay lacks any bite, pun intended, and the shallow selection in combo-, weapon- and enemy variety does not do this title any favors. You will repeat the same combos over the course of the game, not because they're the most effective but rather because the combat lacks any depth and offers little options to spice things up. You do unlock special moves but they seem so situational and mostly ineffective to the point where using them in battle makes no noticeable differences. The game later forces you into fighting waves of enemies over and over again by locking you in a room where you will have to dispatch all and every one of them in order to continue. And after the novelty has worn off and the few enemy types outstay their welcome, you will find yourself using every opportunity to run past them instead. It is then when you reflect back on the time you've spend playing and realize that 'Defiances' game design consists almost entirely of walking to the end of the level, gathering an item, backtracking to the beginning of the level, using said item, collecting a new item and then walking all the way back to the exit to get to the next level. You do this over and over again. While previous installments balanced their combat sections with entertaining puzzles to break up the pace, 'Defiances' preferable method of choice however is the 'use item or lever to inexplicitly open this door despite any plausibility or logic' and in the most primitive infant-level game design possible. Especially following Soul Reaver 2 this is quite an insulting leap backwards and transforms the already monotonous experience into an even bigger slogfest. Even the heavily criticized Blood Omen 2 had more on display. Its narrative, probably the series main selling point, doesn't fare well either. The story stagnates for the majority of the game, with barely anything of consequence happening and instead reintroduces events and characters that had already been established before. Defiance is buying its time for two-thirds of the playtime with unnecessary and tedious padding until the inevitable confrontation between our two protagonists. If you've been invested in the storyline up until this point then all your patience is being rewarded with a fierce third and final act. This and this alone is the games only saving grace. Once Defiance enters its last third a wild rollercoaster ride of twists, turns and revelations is put into motion in which every fan will be glued to the screen until its satisfying – albeit somewhat open conclusion. Ultimately the only people, who will find enjoyment out of this game, are the ones who were invested in the series to begin with. This is not without irony – considering the game was watered down to attract a fresh audience in the first place. As my final thought, 'Defiance' is only recommendable to diehard fans that not only want to see the series thrilling conclusion, but who are also able to drag themselves through hours of mediocrity until it finally picks up the pace for its final act. If you're looking for an exciting action game or a mind-bending puzzle experience then you are better off looking elsewhere.

Rich story and dark atmosphere of this vempire epic are great, and I was desperate to see how it all ends. Alas I couldn't stand the awful camera. The controls can be customized and are't that terrible themselves, but their dependance on the ever-changing camera position ruins everything. Overall it was a disappointing experinece.

Defiance gets a lot of flak even today. The game took it's combat system from Devil May Cry, the puzzle mechanics were easier and less important and the gameplay all around was fairly generic in comparison. Not to mention the player has to find all their Soul Reaver elements again in this game. (Even though you spent the entirety of SR2 finding them). But you didn't play these games for the gameplay, you did it for the story. The game does wrap up the story in an alright way, it could have been done better though. So if you expect the best of the series it's far from it. If anything I was surprised this game wasn't a colossal failure. So for that price it's nice if you want to see the end of the story. Now we just need the two Blood Omen games to wrap up the series on Gog.

Good game