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Every so often, a game comes along that is an example of what every other game of that genre strives to be. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is such a game. But perhaps I should backtrack.

In 1996 Silicon Knights brought us the game Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (hereafter Kain 1). It was criticized for its aged game engine, but applauded for its unique plot twist. In it you play the role of Kain, a soul who had burned in hell for the torment he caused in life. A necromancer offered him an opportunity for revenge and raised him as a vampire. In this undead form Kain wreaked havoc upon the land and became a lord of darkness.

In the years between Kain 1 and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (hereafter Kain 2), Kain brought several sons into the world to serve under him as his lieutenants. In Kain 2, you play the first born of Kain's sons, Raziel. In the opening movie sequence, Raziel narrates and explains how Kain and his family of vampires had achieved almost a godlike state, evolving beyond normal physical laws. Raziel made a mistake, though. He evolved past Kain and grew wings. For this treachery, Kain shreds Raziel's wings and throws him into the Abyss.

After centuries of suffering, your soul is taken from the Abyss and you are given a body closely resembling that which you died with. You no longer inhabit the material realm, however. Your primary existence is in the spirit realm. You are sent on a mission by the power that saved you from eternal torment. The mission is to save the souls that are being consumed before they can fulfill their destinies. The path to doing this leads to the destruction of Kain.

And so you take your first steps into a devastated world.

Aside from a quick demo and some screenshots, I didn't really know what Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was going to be like. I expected a role-playing game like the original with an updated game engine like the one in Zelda 64. I was only half right. Kain 2 is definitely an adventure style role-playing game, but above that it is a puzzle game. You must solve puzzles to accomplish almost everything in Kain 2 from getting to the next room to killing the boss. Everything is a puzzle, and most of them are dastardly difficult.

The fighting aspect of Kain 2 was somewhat disappointing. To defeat an enemy, you press R1 and mash at the square button until you hit four times. Then you press triangle to impale it and then circle to swallow its soul. Often if you're fighting two enemies, one will stand by and watch without attacking until you finish with its friend. Things do get more difficult later on, though.

The easy fighting places more emphasis on the difficulty of the puzzles. As I said, they're the real meat of the game. The puzzles range from the more obvious block pushing style to the devious move-between-realms style. Some say that there are too many block puzzles. While it is true that there are a lot of them, each one brings something new. It's not just a rehash of the same puzzle you just completed.

By move-between-realms puzzles I mean changing from the spirit realm to the material realm and vice versa. Why would you ever want to do that? There are two reasons. The first is that the spirit realm is a distorted reflection of the material realm, and many parts of the landscape take on different shapes allowing you to go places you couldn't go in the material realm. Some abilities also only work in one of the realms and not the other. This feature expands gameplay enormously because whenever you are presented with a puzzle you have to try to solve it in both realms.

The role-playing aspect of Kain 2 is played out through its highly character based plot. I lost myself in Raziel as I explored decaying ruins that used to be architectural triumphs in the golden years of Kain's dynasty. The interaction with Raziel's brothers is very well played out. Excellent plot and fantastic writing make this one of the parts of the game that I consider perfect.

You may not want to play this through a second time, but it is a long game. For the purposes of this review I did use a walkthrough to help me speed things up so I could get this out faster, and it still took a really long time to get far.

In order to avoid frustration I suggest you at least know the location of a good walkthrough. I found the walkthrough most helpful in directing me where in the world to go. The paths branching off from the Abyss are very long, and it can often be difficult to know if you're in the right place or not because of the nature of the puzzles.

Most of the controls were very good. The movement is tight, and the analog controller makes gameplay more enjoyable. I did find that occasionally Raziel would run into a wall and then start going through his little dance of bumping into it and then pushing it. This takes a couple seconds and can get you into trouble if you're being hunted by something. I also found that sometimes when I tried to pick up an enemy and carry him somewhere, I would just pick him up and throw him immediately.

The part that takes away some points is the camera's effect on the controls. Overall I actually found the camera to be very smart in its movements and locations, but there were some tight areas in the game that required tricky jumps. It seemed like the only time the camera behaved badly was during these jumps, and it made them a lot more difficult than they had to be.

This was a tough category to judge. On one hand the graphics in Kain 2 are amazing. On the downside, there are some real problems with the terrain textures. Whenever you get too close to a polygon, its texture jumps, making it look like the earth and walls are moving around. Eventually you get used to it, though, especially with all of the gorgeous graphics.

By far the best aspect of the graphics is in the transition from the material realm to the spirit realm. In the spirit realm the world is a reflection of the material realm, but it is imperfect. Everything is distorted, most notably doorways and columns. If you can remember from the movie Beetlejuice, there is a scene towards the end where the fireplace stretches out and the minister appears. That's what it's like, and it's really creepy.

The graphics for the boss character are another great achievement. All of the bosses are Raziel's brothers, so you speak to them before you fight. When the talking was done and the first boss, Malchia rushed at me, I nearly jumped out of my seat! He is huge and very frightening. Kain 2 serves as an example for 3D animators. This is the kind of realism they should strive for in order to make their works complete.

The sound in Kain 2 gets a perfect score because I really can't think of a single thing wrong with it. All of the effects are well made, and some of the bloody ones are very graphic. The music is good with clean samples, and the bass rattles my heater when it's turned up. There is a lot of reliance on drums in the music, but not in an intrusive way. Although they are the link between the different sounds of the songs and they certainly do stand out, they don't do so in an obtrusive manner. Good composing and mixing.

The voice acting is also some of the best I've heard. I know I said that before in another review, but this game tops that. I never thought to myself "Gosh, that's some actor talking." I was always engrossed in the character being portrayed. I was pleased to see that the darkness of the characters wasn't hammed up or cheesy. If there's a Kain 3, I want to hear the same actors because they are great!

Well, I lied. I can think of one problem with the sound. The transition between songs can be sudden at times, but I'm willing to overlook that flaw for such great atmospheric audio.

I want to give Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver a 10, but to be fair it does have some flaws, however minor they may be. I absolutely love this game and have lost track of the time while playing it many times. Be prepared for lots of puzzles, but also get ready for an immersive plot and excellent gameplay. Who could ask for anything more?

There is one other thing. The quote of the week goes to this game: "Step Forward, Morsel." When you hear it in context, be sure not to wet yourself. It's a frightening moment.