Legacy of Kain: Defiance
Eidos and Crystal Dynamics deliver the best LoK yet. Find out why inside.
Published: November 13, 2003
Look, let's just get something straight right from the start of this review: I think vampires are cool. So much so that I might be willing to overlook some of the smaller things about the Legacy of Kain series that other vamp-digging like-minded people would. In fact, I'd venture to say that the series itself really depends on this. But, since most reviews are (or should be) the opinion of the person reviewing them, I felt it was probably best to warn you of my affection for fanged beasties that scour the night, and that if you're really going to dig the games, you'll need to share a bit of this same affection.
That said, there are still things about LoK: Defiance that annoyed me. Mainly the fact that as much as the graphics, combat and storyline have been refined to the point where I can't see them ever making such a huge leap again, there's still a reliance on old LoK truisms like circular item hunts and a bit of backtracking added to perhaps unnecessarily levels of combat that things aren't quite up to the level where I could recommend the game for everyone. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
For those that aren't caught up on the LoK series, have a looksee at our Defiance preview to get the basic rundown to get you up to speed. All read up? Good, we'll continue. The biggest advances in the series are twofold: the new combat system and the fact that both Kain and Raziel, characters that were previously the protagonists of their own games. Both do their part to raise the series to a level that's on par with some of the best story driven games on the PS2. It helps if you're steeped a bit in the events of the first game, but luckily the intro cinematics (rather pretty in the own right, especially if you put them in the perspective of when they were done) from the last two Soul Reaver games will help fill in some of the details. Make no mistake, Defiance was still made for the long-time fans, but it does offer plenty for newcomers to the series and is easily the most mass market-friendly game in the series.
Defiance's storyline is unfolded through chapters where you'll take turns alternating control of Kain and Raziel as each part of their respective stories is unfurled. As the game progresses, it becomes obvious that the pair's destinies are thoroughly intertwined. Again, it's by nature of the fact that the series storyline has had so many twists that it would be nearly pointless to try to describe in detail who the major players are, or to go too deeply into the events of the story because so many things are settled. Suffice it to say that fans that have stuck it out through the whole series will have a modest sense of coming full circle when it all wraps up. Along the way, more details on the identities of the savior of Nosgoth and the parts Kain, Raziel and the Reaver play in the unmaking and rebuilding of the world are revealed.
It's frustrating, really, because the storyline is one of the major reasons why Defiance is so good. Luckily, the other reason, the completely overhauled combat system, allows for plenty of explanation. If you can imagine the Devil May Cry combat system tweaked a bit so that guns are replaced with fangs, special attacks and the ability to hold, pull or fling enemies Jedi-style with your mind via telekinesis (TK), you have a pretty good idea of what's going on.
Both Kain and Raziel play essentially the same way save for a few differences innate to each character. Being a vampire, Kain will instantly die if exposed to bodies of water, but Raziel can swim. Kain can assume mist form at any time to pass through gates, but Raziel can only do so when he's shifted to the spectral realm. Both must constantly feed to stay alive, Kain on blood and Raziel on souls, and both gain the same basic elemental properties for their Reavers, though Raziel adds a few extra ones for opening doors. Both characters also gain the same special attacks; a flurry of swipes on the ground then the air, then the ability to actually bounce enemies off the ground with a powerful downstroke on the ground and then the air, and the ability to use the heroes' TK powers to hold an enemy in stasis, leaving them open to attack or freeing you up to attack another enemy. The special attacks are unlocked for both characters one at a time by simply fighting, as Crystal D developed a limited combat experience system.
Notice that other enemy part? Yeah, thought so. Taking a page from The Mark of Kri, multiple enemies will attack, often times surrounding you. Luckily, all you need to is point in the direction you want to attack and press square. You can switch to another target mid-combo to keep enemies at bay as well as shove enemies around with TK. Because the combat system is so flexible grabbing an enemy with TK, pulling them into a sword uppercut a couple times, then rising up with them to string together a dozen or so quick swipes, then bouncing them down and back up only to grab them again with TK and impaling them on a spike across the room is accomplished with a minimum of effort. It speaks volumes about what Crystal D was able to do when they looked at what other action games did so well.
Here's where things get a little bumpy in the otherwise silky smooth waters of Defiance's gameplay. While the combat is incredibly fun, and it really never gets old to lay into an opponent and then feed after whittling them down, the combat happens far too often and gets old fast. Things are kept relatively fresh for a while with the combat upgrades, but once you get all of them about [sup]3/4[/sup] of the way through the game, there's little to keep it interesting. The old staple of unlocking doors or fetching the same items for both characters also forces things to drag unnecessarily. There's still the push to find out what happens next, but for all but the most die-hard fan, it'll be hard to keep going at times. The same fight/door/find key/fight/mini-boss/get key/backtrack/fight sequence is replayed over and over until when the game finally does fade to black and roll credits, you breathe a sigh of relief that you'll never have to do it all again.
If there is one thing about the game that is consistent, it's the presentation. Both the game's audio and visuals are magnificent, particularly the graphics that the modified Soul Reaver 2 engine are able to pump out. In-game cutscenes boast fantastic detail – including some damned fine lip synch work and great nuanced body and facial movement as the lines are delivered. Quite a few of the locales (most notably on Kain's side of things) recall a bit of Devil May Cry's décor, but they still manage quite a bit of originality. Seeing enemies on pikes as you round a corner to catch an eyeful of the sun trying to poke through a veiled cloudy sky does plenty to coax the occasional "wow" out of anyone looking on (as I noted on more than a few occasions as people passed by while I was playing). The game is heavily doused in ambiance, replete with some of most detailed and intricate textures on the system, and seeing how things change from Kain's point in time to Raziel's are fun, though it would have been nice to see events from the past reflected later in the future.
Like so many games that aim this high, however, there's a semi-frequent reminder of the limitations of the PS2. All of the detail can cause the system to drop into a hideous low-res mode that was common in some of the first-gen PS2 titles. This married with an inconsistent framerate often equal unnecessary eye strain. The hiccups aren't common, but when they happen it really does bog down the overall visual impact of the game.
The LoK quintology has always boasted some of the best voice acting ever heard in videogames, from the first game on and while some of the scripting and storylines haven't held up to the standards set in the first game, Defiance's efforts in both departments are arguably the best in the series, and certainly among the best on the PS2. In an era where bigger development houses like Konami and Capcom can't manage to kick out a decent voice cast for their high-budget titles, it says even more about little ol' Crystal D's commitment to nabbing and keeping such a great voice cast. Sure, every line is dripping with melodrama, but the game easily backs it up with a story the cradles all the excess spite and hatred and carries it along through some truly memorable dialogue.
Aside from a scant few instances, there's hardly any real music to speak of. Instead the game produces some wonderfully eerie moments. When Raziel shifts into the specral realm, the weeping cries of the dead are quite unsettling. The disembodied screams and occasional snarled lines do a wonderful job of getting under your skin. Without exception, the audio in Defiance ranks among the top titles in the PlayStation 2's already impressive stable. It's just unfortunate that as good as sound and for the most part visuals are, the bulk of the game just can't hold up to extended play.
This is Defiance's biggest problem, and as much as I love the game, the gameplay steadily becomes more and more shallow as what seems fresh and innovative for the series slowly descends into repetition and a reliance on what is truly good about the series. The storyline is great and I encourage anyone who's played the previous games to give this a shot, as well as anyone with a penchant for digitally sinking their fangs into some foolish mortal neck. Thanks to a magnificently told storyline that really does tie things up for the hardcore fans, and enough to hook newcomers to the series.
Some may feel that the series' potential was squandered on overrepetition and a refusal for the gameplay to advance far from what was done to death in the previous games, but for those of us to just plain dig vampires and their innate cool factor. There's still enough here to warrant a purchase. I said it in the preview and I'll say it again: there's a good chance that this will be the final chapter in the series (as the ending suggests), and if it is, there's probably no better way to close up the story and give the fans what they were looking for: closure.
That said, there are still things about LoK: Defiance that annoyed me. Mainly the fact that as much as the graphics, combat and storyline have been refined to the point where I can't see them ever making such a huge leap again, there's still a reliance on old LoK truisms like circular item hunts and a bit of backtracking added to perhaps unnecessarily levels of combat that things aren't quite up to the level where I could recommend the game for everyone. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
For those that aren't caught up on the LoK series, have a looksee at our Defiance preview to get the basic rundown to get you up to speed. All read up? Good, we'll continue. The biggest advances in the series are twofold: the new combat system and the fact that both Kain and Raziel, characters that were previously the protagonists of their own games. Both do their part to raise the series to a level that's on par with some of the best story driven games on the PS2. It helps if you're steeped a bit in the events of the first game, but luckily the intro cinematics (rather pretty in the own right, especially if you put them in the perspective of when they were done) from the last two Soul Reaver games will help fill in some of the details. Make no mistake, Defiance was still made for the long-time fans, but it does offer plenty for newcomers to the series and is easily the most mass market-friendly game in the series.
Defiance's storyline is unfolded through chapters where you'll take turns alternating control of Kain and Raziel as each part of their respective stories is unfurled. As the game progresses, it becomes obvious that the pair's destinies are thoroughly intertwined. Again, it's by nature of the fact that the series storyline has had so many twists that it would be nearly pointless to try to describe in detail who the major players are, or to go too deeply into the events of the story because so many things are settled. Suffice it to say that fans that have stuck it out through the whole series will have a modest sense of coming full circle when it all wraps up. Along the way, more details on the identities of the savior of Nosgoth and the parts Kain, Raziel and the Reaver play in the unmaking and rebuilding of the world are revealed.
It's frustrating, really, because the storyline is one of the major reasons why Defiance is so good. Luckily, the other reason, the completely overhauled combat system, allows for plenty of explanation. If you can imagine the Devil May Cry combat system tweaked a bit so that guns are replaced with fangs, special attacks and the ability to hold, pull or fling enemies Jedi-style with your mind via telekinesis (TK), you have a pretty good idea of what's going on.
Both Kain and Raziel play essentially the same way save for a few differences innate to each character. Being a vampire, Kain will instantly die if exposed to bodies of water, but Raziel can swim. Kain can assume mist form at any time to pass through gates, but Raziel can only do so when he's shifted to the spectral realm. Both must constantly feed to stay alive, Kain on blood and Raziel on souls, and both gain the same basic elemental properties for their Reavers, though Raziel adds a few extra ones for opening doors. Both characters also gain the same special attacks; a flurry of swipes on the ground then the air, then the ability to actually bounce enemies off the ground with a powerful downstroke on the ground and then the air, and the ability to use the heroes' TK powers to hold an enemy in stasis, leaving them open to attack or freeing you up to attack another enemy. The special attacks are unlocked for both characters one at a time by simply fighting, as Crystal D developed a limited combat experience system.
Notice that other enemy part? Yeah, thought so. Taking a page from The Mark of Kri, multiple enemies will attack, often times surrounding you. Luckily, all you need to is point in the direction you want to attack and press square. You can switch to another target mid-combo to keep enemies at bay as well as shove enemies around with TK. Because the combat system is so flexible grabbing an enemy with TK, pulling them into a sword uppercut a couple times, then rising up with them to string together a dozen or so quick swipes, then bouncing them down and back up only to grab them again with TK and impaling them on a spike across the room is accomplished with a minimum of effort. It speaks volumes about what Crystal D was able to do when they looked at what other action games did so well.
Here's where things get a little bumpy in the otherwise silky smooth waters of Defiance's gameplay. While the combat is incredibly fun, and it really never gets old to lay into an opponent and then feed after whittling them down, the combat happens far too often and gets old fast. Things are kept relatively fresh for a while with the combat upgrades, but once you get all of them about [sup]3/4[/sup] of the way through the game, there's little to keep it interesting. The old staple of unlocking doors or fetching the same items for both characters also forces things to drag unnecessarily. There's still the push to find out what happens next, but for all but the most die-hard fan, it'll be hard to keep going at times. The same fight/door/find key/fight/mini-boss/get key/backtrack/fight sequence is replayed over and over until when the game finally does fade to black and roll credits, you breathe a sigh of relief that you'll never have to do it all again.
If there is one thing about the game that is consistent, it's the presentation. Both the game's audio and visuals are magnificent, particularly the graphics that the modified Soul Reaver 2 engine are able to pump out. In-game cutscenes boast fantastic detail – including some damned fine lip synch work and great nuanced body and facial movement as the lines are delivered. Quite a few of the locales (most notably on Kain's side of things) recall a bit of Devil May Cry's décor, but they still manage quite a bit of originality. Seeing enemies on pikes as you round a corner to catch an eyeful of the sun trying to poke through a veiled cloudy sky does plenty to coax the occasional "wow" out of anyone looking on (as I noted on more than a few occasions as people passed by while I was playing). The game is heavily doused in ambiance, replete with some of most detailed and intricate textures on the system, and seeing how things change from Kain's point in time to Raziel's are fun, though it would have been nice to see events from the past reflected later in the future.
Like so many games that aim this high, however, there's a semi-frequent reminder of the limitations of the PS2. All of the detail can cause the system to drop into a hideous low-res mode that was common in some of the first-gen PS2 titles. This married with an inconsistent framerate often equal unnecessary eye strain. The hiccups aren't common, but when they happen it really does bog down the overall visual impact of the game.
The LoK quintology has always boasted some of the best voice acting ever heard in videogames, from the first game on and while some of the scripting and storylines haven't held up to the standards set in the first game, Defiance's efforts in both departments are arguably the best in the series, and certainly among the best on the PS2. In an era where bigger development houses like Konami and Capcom can't manage to kick out a decent voice cast for their high-budget titles, it says even more about little ol' Crystal D's commitment to nabbing and keeping such a great voice cast. Sure, every line is dripping with melodrama, but the game easily backs it up with a story the cradles all the excess spite and hatred and carries it along through some truly memorable dialogue.
Aside from a scant few instances, there's hardly any real music to speak of. Instead the game produces some wonderfully eerie moments. When Raziel shifts into the specral realm, the weeping cries of the dead are quite unsettling. The disembodied screams and occasional snarled lines do a wonderful job of getting under your skin. Without exception, the audio in Defiance ranks among the top titles in the PlayStation 2's already impressive stable. It's just unfortunate that as good as sound and for the most part visuals are, the bulk of the game just can't hold up to extended play.
This is Defiance's biggest problem, and as much as I love the game, the gameplay steadily becomes more and more shallow as what seems fresh and innovative for the series slowly descends into repetition and a reliance on what is truly good about the series. The storyline is great and I encourage anyone who's played the previous games to give this a shot, as well as anyone with a penchant for digitally sinking their fangs into some foolish mortal neck. Thanks to a magnificently told storyline that really does tie things up for the hardcore fans, and enough to hook newcomers to the series.
Some may feel that the series' potential was squandered on overrepetition and a refusal for the gameplay to advance far from what was done to death in the previous games, but for those of us to just plain dig vampires and their innate cool factor. There's still enough here to warrant a purchase. I said it in the preview and I'll say it again: there's a good chance that this will be the final chapter in the series (as the ending suggests), and if it is, there's probably no better way to close up the story and give the fans what they were looking for: closure.
