Great story, great ending, fun combat, but some ruined camera angles...overall a great a game...
Graphics 9/10
It might not seem much nowadays, but in 2004 I enjoyed the graphics greatly. It was no groundbreaker like TES Oblivion a few years later, but the graphics were nothing to frown upon back then. I especially liked the detailed main characters - Raziel and Kain - as well as palette of supporting characters. Environmental graphics aren't as good, but won't get in your way either.
Sounds 10/10
I like the game OST, especially the menu song (which is a revamp of soulreaver 1 and 2 menu songs) is great and has been a steady addition to my playlist ever since. Other soundtracks are great as well, unfortunately you do not hear the good ones in the game often enough. But what really makes the sounds a 10 is the great voice acting of the games characters. I like both Kains arrogance as well as Raziel confusion and overall the voice actors did a grea job.
Story 10/10
Another 10ner. The story of LOK is in my opinion great, that is if you get to know it, if not and you play only this game, most of the conversations won't make much sense. The first thing is, this game starts exactly where Soulreaver 2 leaves off, so you need to know that game otherwise you won't understand a lot of conversation. Then the whole lore of LOK is needed as well to enjoy the story fully, but what everybody can appreciate is the ending, an epic fight and such. The main story tagline in the LOK series is that the games are not chronologically one after another, each happens in a different time or era and some games include quite a lot of time travel, this makes the story more complex and revelations and understanding the story more harder, but also makes the story look better in general once you get into.
Without providing any spoilers I can only say that both of the characters will continue their goals (which they had in previous games and which conflicted somewhat) until a last confrontation between the two. A lot of back story to the land itself and history is provided as well, mainly through murals concerning the history of the ancient vampires of Nosgoth (the land in which the game is set in).
Gameplay 7/10
This is the point where the game hangs in the balance. The combat is greatly improved over previous instalments and is real fun once you get the hang of it. It is quick paced and for the first gameplay challenging, at some points. When the game in + for the combat it unfortunately gets - in camera controls and angles. Previous games in the series had a third person camera behind you character which suited the playstyle just fine. This game instead has set camera angles for every situation. This, is some cases increases the experience since you can overlook a big room and have full control of the area, but in most other cases can be firstly disorienting and secondly whenever a camera switches, your control direction switch as well. So it might happen that without warning in the middle of the fight you forward key changes to, lets say, left key and you attack left instead of forward (since the camera shifted to your left side). Over time you will get used to it, but especially some jumps (camera changes in the middle of the jump! this is freaking ridiculous!!!) or some cramped space combats, are just bad, bad, bad...
Replayability 7/10
Replaying the game is somewhat fun, you are used to the camera angles, you know what to expect, you enjoy the combat more now that you know how to use skills properly, you might understand more of the story especially if yo have played other games of the series in the meantime and so on. Unfortunately for most casuel players, replaying the game won't be necessary or fun. You can play only for the two characters, secrets are too few and too unimportant to bother, there are no sidequests just a few very small sidepaths otherwise only a straight path forward and so on.
Overall, this is one my favorite game, that's why I decided it warrants a review even after all these years. If you are a fan of good storylines and are willing to replay even the older games (soulreaver series especially) you will get a lot from the story. The casual play might enjoy the simple but quick and engaging combat. But overall this game, especially given its age, is not for everybody.