One of the highest production values ever for a videogame, and some other great features
User Rating: 9.4 | Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver PS
Soul Reaver is one of the most well put-together videogames ever made. It is by no means the best or the most fun, but everything the game does, it does very well. From the first cutscene, the whole, vast scope of the game is laid out. While many games have a theme of revenge in them, Soul Reaver is able to provide more than just simple payback. This game is about pure, cold vengeance, and I actually feel compelled to bring justice to those who wronged my awesome looking avatar. There's no denying that the storyline is the main focus of this game, and while that may sound bad considering its a video game, it makes all of the actions of my character even more important. The way the game unfolds is just astounding. The secrets you uncover are amazing and don't seem corny, even for a vampire game. This game is very quick to show a completely different mythology of vampires. No Bela Lugosi here. In this game, vampires are less creepy and sneaky and much more powerful and god-like. The amount of stuff in this game is incredible. Besides the power-ups you gain from defeating each boss, there are glyphs, incredible and distinct worlds, shifting in real-time, and a good variety of ways to dispatch foes. Some downsides include laggy framerate at certain areas. This is mainly due to the game really pushing the PS hardware, but it never becomes so annoying that it's unbearable. This game can also confuse you on where to go, because the worlds are very vast and open. The best part of the game, though, has to be the absolutely superb voice acting. The quality is that of a first-rate Hollywood production. There are no corny lines, and while the dialogue has every chance to feel silly and overly pretentious, it always comes out sounding excellent. To this day I still consider it the best voice acted game of all time, even better than any of LucasArts' classics such as Grim Fandago or Day of the Tentacle. To do serious, epic dialogue like this in a video game is hard enough, and yet it just sounds so darn good. It's amazing that this is a PS game. Soul Reaver is not afraid of who it is. It makes no apologies for what type of game it is, and it really puts its storyline as the epicenter of the gaming experience. Even in 1999, that's an admirable trait, because even then gameplay was starting to become the main focus of games. Soul Reaver gives a well-thought and complex game with unique and rewarding challenges with an extremely rewarding storyline, and anyone who likes video games needs to play this game.
