Despite its repetitiveness, BO2 is a decent vampire game that continues the mythology of the Soul Reaver games.
Being a children of the night you possess some unique Dark Gifts; seven to be exact, but initially you only start out with two those being "Mist" and "Fury." Rounding out the remaining Dark Gifts are "Jump," "Charm," "Berserk," "Telekinesis," and "Immolate." From time to time you will find yourself pitted against another vampire who has aligned with The Sarafan. Defeating each of these vampire bosses yeilds one of the above Dark Gifts. Each gift (once acquired) grants you a unique power that will aid you throughout the rest of the game. For instance, "Mist" enables Kain to turn into a mist-like form, but only when a low-level fog is present. This is also the only time you can perform a stealth execution on an unsuspecting enemy which is unfortunate since that ability is not used enough in the game. The stealth attacks are by far the best moves in the game; it's a shame there are only limited times and areas where you can employ them. The game also has its fair share of puzzle solving to be had. Most of them require you to solve them to be able to gain access to another area to continue your adventure.
The graphics for this game are decent enough on the Xbox. The city of Meridian is presented in a most Gothic and very depressing state of being. It's perpetually dark in Meridian which is good if you're a vampire, bad if you're Joe Blow on vacation. The general ambiance and atmosphere of Meridian is downright foreboding most of the time. It really sets the mood for this type of game. The animations are very fluid for both Kain and his enemies, and the framerates are consistent. While the majority of the game is played in third-person, during cut-scenes you are able to see Kain's vampiric features quite well. However, during some cut-scenes when Kain or another character is talking, the words are not always synced with the lips. Nothing that affects gameplay but it's just a small annoyance.
The is a lot of clipping in this game. This happens a majority of the time in the game, and can even affect game play itself. If you kill an enemy and they were holding a weapon that you may have wanted to pick up for yourself, if they die and clip a wall sometimes their weapon will not be available for you to pick up. This is an issue that should have been addressed by the game testers before the game shipped. It makes the game look sloppy and it's just messy.
Voice acting in BO2 is superb. You will be hearing a lot of dialogue through the course of the game; even the NPC voices are brought to life convincingly. As you walk through town and pass bystanders you can catch little pieces of their conversation. Draw your sword and approach someone and they'll raise their hands in fear and start to back up, whimpering to take mercy on them. Kill someone in front of another person and that other person will run away screaming. The reactions of townspeople and enemies is very life-like. The game is available in Dolby Digital 5.1. If you have a home theater system you will take advantage of the aural quality. Control Kain is very easy, and the Xbox controller utilizes every button except the black one. I feel that the ability for Kain to make a quick 180° turn could have come in handy. You can lock on to enemies with the right trigger and are able to strafe around them that way. I didn't encounter any significant camera angle problems, or any other issues that might have affected me during play. Hitting the "X" button once performs an attack. Hitting it multiple times produces a short three hit combo attack.
All in all I had fun with this game. Many gamers might be turned off by its linear gameplay and non-existent replay value, but serious gamers can find enough fun in it to warrant a solid purchase. Fans of the mythology should definitely check it out.