This One Sucks, But in A Good Way

Author's Rating:

Pros: Engaging Storyline, Gothic Setting, Great Protagonist

Cons: Irritating Sound Effects

The Bottom Line: 
This sleeper hit from the PS1 is, in my humble opinion, one of the most intelligent and darkly satisfying games of the 32-bit era.

Author's Review
INTRO or, DRAWING FIRST BLOOD

I'm just going to say straight off the bat, Kain is the coolest video game protagonist ever. Ever. He's intelligent, ruthless, cunning, violent, powerful, quick, able to leap small buildings in a single bound, you get the picture. He's been either the protagonist or antagonist of two great series, The Blood Omen series, and The Soul Reaver series, both of which are beacons of intelligent storylines in this seemingly bottomless morass of style over substance. Not to say that there's no style involved, there's a lot, but it's not the prime concern of the games, especially the game that started it all, Blood Omen, the Legacy of Kain for the good ol' PS1.

Released in 1996, "Blood Omen" slipped through the cracks for many gamers. Being the maiden voyage of 'Crystal Dynamics,' a company that to the best of my knowledge only puts out games for this series, it didn't get the press that it deserved. That didn't keep people from finding and playing the game, especially once copies began to magically appear in stores years after the fact as part of Play Stations "Greatest Hits" series, even though the game sold just enough original copies to keep the company out of total bankruptcy. That's where you'll find the game today though, if you can find it at all. Swinging by your local game store and checking the previously owned titles will be sure to garner you that last copy that hasn't been snatched up by people who have enjoyed the later games in the series and wanted to know how it all began.


GAME PLAY or, TAKING A BITE OUT OF CRIME, LITERALLY

In "Blood Omen" you control Kain, a young noble who was slaughtered outside of an inn one night, but was granted the chance for vengeance if he would return to earth as nosferatu, a vampire. Kain agrees and the game begins. Your quest is to find those responsible for killing you, and, as you find out as the game progresses, return balance to the land of Nosgoth. Kain, it seems, was destined to be one of the nine guardians of the pillars of Nosgoth, but with his untimely death, the fate of these pillars is in turmoil. Now Kain must not only seek revenge, but he also must return order to Nosgoth. Actually Kain could seemingly give a rat's patoot about returning order, this game is primarily about the killing.

Kain, being a vampire, possesses great physical strength and speed which he uses to wield a number of melee weapons, enhanced agility, the ability to shape-shift into a wolf, bat or mist, the ability to take over the wills of weak-minded humans, even to immolate whole armies by just thinking about it. As the game progresses you unlock more and more of your vampiric gifts until Kain is truly a force to be reckoned with. The downside, however, is that Kain also has many vampiric weaknesses such as water, fire, sunlight and the need for blood. Your health meter constantly drops unless continuously refilled with blood, anybody's blood. Kain has absolutely no sanctity for life; everyone is food. Even if you wanted to be Mr. Nice Guy and leave the helpless people alone, you couldn't. Kain needs to feed, and that means on villagers on occasion. Such is life, or I guess un-life if this case.


GRAPHICS or, C'MON, CUT THEM SOME SLACK, THE GAME'S 7 YEARS OLD FOR PETE'S SAKE

Being one of the earliest PS1 games, the graphics aren't terribly impressive by today's standards, but they're still nice to look at. The colors are vibrant at times, and darkly muted at others, depending on the time of day and the area you're exploring. Because the game is shot from a 3/4's birds eye view, you get to see a lot of the surrounding area at once, giving you an idea of how vast the world of Nosgoth is. There are some areas in the game, however, that look like you could have done them on the Super Nintendo, but even then, it's still attractive to the eye, just not as impressive when compared to the whistles and bells we're used to these days.

The characters and enemies are a fantastically imagined and well-drawn conglomeration of the macabre and gothic. Since this game is about vampires, and set in a sort of Dark Ages Germany gone wrong, much of the game's cut scenes and story sections tend toward the dark and disturbing, which makes for some fairly chilling game play.


SOUND or, AH, DE CHILDREN OF DE NIGHT, WHAT BEAUTIFUL MUSIC DEY MAKE

The soundtrack to "Blood Omen" is your typical vampire game music, full of synthesized organs and cellos and whatnot, very reminiscent of the Castlevania series. It's suitable for the vein *wink* of the game, but not terribly memorable or catchy. It's atmospheric without being intrusive which is really all that can be asked for.

The dialogue of the game is all right, for the most part. The voice acting in the cut scenes is actually quite good, especially the actors playing Kain and the decadent elder vampire Vorador. Their cultured British accents make a nice dichotomy with the bloodthirsty natures of their characters. The sound aspect that really bugged the hell out of me though was the things Kain yells while in the heat of battle. The maniacal laughter whenever someone gets killed gets old really quickly, as does the phrase he yells during berserk mode, something like 'flay victory,' I can't quite understand it. The repetition tends to become mind numbing if endured for too long.


CONS or, OLD AGE CAN SUCK THE LIFE OUT YOU

The only major flaw this game has is its age. Seven years is a long time in the gaming industry, and "Blood Omen" does nothing if not show its age. Personally that doesn't really bother me much though, I can handle outdated graphics and sound if the story is good, which is the case here. If you can get over the somewhat antiquated graphics, then you won't have any other problem.


CONCLUSION or, LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL

"Blood Omen: The Legacy of Kain" was one of those sleeper hits that got pushed aside by the juggernaut that was Final Fantasy 7 but now that it's sequel and spin-offs have proven to be so lucrative and critically received, it's almost a shame not to give the original a try. Even if you haven't played the following games, especially "Blood Omen 2" which made the crossover to the X-Box with flying colors, don't feel you have no reason to play "Blood Omen 1." This continues to be a great game about vengeance, murder and, the thin line between good and evil.