While this game is not completely worthless, it pales in comparison to the other games in the series from both a gameplay and storyline standpoint. Now, as others have mentioned, the reason for this is that it was developed by a different creative team. It shows. The gameplay is clunky and slow compared to its immediate predecessor, Soul Reaver 2. Many of the levels have glitchy instances, from minor instances of music suddenly being absent to major instances of being stuck in graphics, unable to open doors and proceed, and other issues resulting in having to shut the game off and reload. But the biggest grievance is the storyline and atmosphere. Although most Soul Reaver/Blood Omen games controls are tight, outside of the first and latest games in the series (Blood Omen and Defiance respectively) one would be hard pressed to that the battle controls are the highlight of the games. Fighting games, they are not. Blood Omen 2 fails to deliver the unique flavor of Soul Reaver. The vampires speak in faux-Anne Rice/ Dracula nonesense half the time, complete with bad English accented peasants in a sprawling "London" style town. The character design and visual aesthetic breaks with prior depictions of Nosgoth and feels cheap, trite, and hackneyed. Many of the antagonists are also ludicrously garbed in goth and bondage club gear with garter belt wearing warrior nuns making their first and thankfully only appearance in the BO/SR universe. The plot (The most essential aspect of any LoK game) is generally poorly written compared to the other games, with massive plot holes abounding. The boss fights, which some found a redeeming quality, are somewhat lackluster. These are not the Pillar Guardians of BO1 or monstrous vampire kin of Soul Reaver. Instead, we are provided with a bunch of fops that stepped right out of bad fanfiction to destroy. In so many ways, Blood Omen 2 fails to live up to the Legacy of Kain. The Good: The controls are tight and the levels, although lacking that particular Nosgoth flair, are large, sprawling, and undoubtedly epic. The Eternal Prison, Cathedral, and Sarafan Keep are quite entertaining. I highly recommend the Legacy of Kain series to any and all, but I cannot recommend this game unless one is a completionist. It has no relevance, whatsoever, to the rest of the series.
