Back in 1999 when I was so young that I could not afford to buy actual games, I got the demo for this on a magazine CD. I played the demo hundrets of times (180s free roaming in a certain area) and I loved it to bits. The game, sorta Tomb Raider meets GTA3 with lots of brawling - is generally good but doesn't hold out for it's entire length. It gets a bit old towards the end. If you ever held the peculiar and rather detailed fanatsy of being a sassy and extremely violent black female cop in a dystopian city... this delivers.
Hoo boy... Yes this game deserves all the stick it gets. The design is muddy and the difficulty is wonky as fuck. I remember standing around a locked door for 30 minutes because it was not at all clear how to open it... BUT! It had many, many memorable ideas and for that alone it is worth a look. It is a study in failed design, hopeless ambition and unfullfilled promises. Especially the multiplayer, with all the funny weaponry.
... why no multiplayer? Check this game. It's neat.
Chaser isn't bad. Sadly, it also isn't good. In amazement I played some six hours straight of burning mediocrity. The shooting works, the forced stealth is forced, the plot plods along an ok pace and the voice acting is not too terrible. And that's it. There is NOTHING unique of exceptional about this game, everything has been done and much better (and much worse). If you have played every and all shooters on your list, MAYBE this one is for you. Though I'd rather recommend something else. Like Quake 4, Doom 3, Breed, Timeshift... There's a lot around.
It*s a cool hack n slash game... but has nothing to do with the source material except names... so if that*s important, don*t but it.
So yeah.. it's a Tomb Raider'esque thing with a vampire, dual-world gameplay and a good story. Sold? Good. It also has terrible controls and suffers from cut-content. Still sold? Good. The thing with Soul Reaver is it's uniqueness in assembling parts that are not that unique. We've all done 3rd person jumping and fighting, collected souls and shifted between worlds, but not maybe in the same game in the same bizarre universe. A recommended journey with some beauty flaws.
Like Freespace2 Thief2 perfected a genre. Unlike Freespace2 there were MANY games that followed (Splinter Cell being the most dominant) but never caught up. I can't add anything that other reviewers have already said, except reinforce that this is the definitive stealth game gameplay wise, combined with a good story, a detailed world and stellar voice acting. Garrett is the man.
... still the second best sneak game ever. The graphics are more ugly, the controls more difficult, there's more fighting, the missions less spacious, the plot a little less excellent... but nothing really detracts from the sheer fun experience of sneaking around and stealing EVERYTHING along to a good soundscape, voice-acting and lots of little details that give the setting depth. Now we only need Thief2!
