An excellent horror/fantasy adventure that houses two of the most memorable characters, with gameplay so great.
That's just how it goes in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Imagine a REAL LoK game with everything that defined the series into what it is today, and include BOTH Raziel and Kain as playables. The ability to wield the two different versions of Soul Reavers (and their corresponding power-ups) and two different characters are enough to make the common LoK fan drool, and probably attract a lot of newcomers who have been reading magazines and discovering a lot of stuff about the LoK series.
And fans are definitely in luck: Coupled with the exciting premise are great graphics. Rivalling the likes of LotR: TRotK, it has a constant 60 fps framerate, so it's smooth. It's a good thing, too. The environments are constantly changing, character movements are subtle and neat, and enemy and character designs require a lot of complications to turn out into smooth-looking figures.
Musically, LoK: Defiance is an ear-candy. The nice sound effects and background music set the right mood for some good puzzle-solving, enemy-whacking activity. But the narrative then goes, and it's clear that the voice acting is an extremely well-done job. Movie-quality script is something very good, indeed.
LoK: Defiance plays likely the same as the other LoK games, with a lot of platform-hopping puzzle-solving affairs, covered with enemy-killing. Of course, the health and TK upgrades are welcome, as well as an interactive environment. Certain areas are also impossible for one of the two characters, as these are their weaknesses. A welcome quest for hunting out some good extras is also present. Although it can get a bit tedious, it's still good. One of the better features is collecting various Reaver upgrades, all mandatory for the story. Each of the Reaver upgrades have their corresponding element and function, useful for puzzle solving. Defiance is a great game, especially in its boss fights, which can be largely classified as epic.
Overall, LoK: Defiance is a great game. The only flaw is absence of actually playing the whole game as one character with his own viewpoint of the game's story. Playing as Raziel and undertaking his own quests in his own viewpoint is simply a welcome addition.