Everyone has their vices, dirty little secrets that they like to keep tucked away from the world. We all have our guilty pleasures, some way more than others. Some people love the drink, some love gambling their lives away, and some love becoming totally evil and slaying everything in sight. While Blood Omen 2 will not do a lot for the casual gambler, the evil side in you will be totally saturated.

I got Kain for my PS2 back in March. I played the game and loved it, but due to circumstances that happened at the time, I was divorced from my PS2 and Kain. In October, I picked up an Xbox, and found Kain waiting on a store shelf for me. It was a really bad time in my life, and Kain was just what I needed to cheer me up. I bought Kain for a second time. I started playing it again, and again due to certain changes, I was separated again. Late November, Kain, my Xbox and I were all reunited once again, and the killing started once again. This time, there was no stopping us.

For those of you who do not know, Kain is a vampire lord, the ultimate incarceration of evil. At the beginning of Blood Omen 2, Kain is cast down by an evil warlord, but Kain is ultimately saved by a renegade vampire resistance group who are struggling to keep the race alive. Kain agrees to help the group, not out of any sympathy for their cause, but in order to restore his throne and seek out his personal vengeance. Kain’s vengeance involves killing anything anyhow connected to his overthrow, and any civilians who happen to be on the way. Kain beheads foes, slices their stomachs open, pummels them to death and even rips through their chests. After killing a foe, Kain will suck their blood out of their bodies from a distance up to six feet away. The process is sloppy, often leaving blood on the ground, but Kain does wipe his lips after every feeding.

For those of you who think that every game has some morality in it, think again. Kain is evil to the core. This is a tale of vengeance, and it comes at a cold price. In order to play this game, you will have to completely cast away your nice side. This is a game for people who love the lore of vampires. If your life isn’t empty without a little blood-sucker in it, you need not apply.

Kain has several vampire powers at his disposal. He can glide from extreme heights. He can jump about 100 yards. He can turn invisible in the mist and assassinate enemies in extremely violent manners. He can charm humans to do his dirty work, and he can use telekinetic powers to affect the world. He also has a wide arrangement of combat weapons and moves to help him through the game.

The gameplay involves solving series of puzzles from checkpoint to checkpoint. Some of the puzzles will make you think, while others are painfully obvious. You must fight monsters from point to point, but like the rest of the game, the monsters are mainly puzzles too. Once you figure out a monster’s fighting style, you can easily defeat him with a counter style. It only takes skill if you go straight hack and slash. With every kill, you gain experience points which help you level and obtain greater levels of health.

The graphics will not win any awards, but they definitely do the job for the game. The sound, however, is superb. The voice acting of Kain and the other vampires is top notch. The dialogue is also extremely well written, giving Kain’s monologue an intelligent, foreboding overtone.

Overall, I love the game. Then again, I love vampires and dark things. I’ll probably marry one someday. I know that killing people for saying things like “Get out of my way” is a little excessive, but Kain is all about excessiveness. If you had a bad day in life, it is fun to escape to your home computer, and pick someone up by the neck and choke the life out of them. Well, it was for me at least, and maybe that is saying way too much. Keep the kiddies away from this game, far away. Keep the Bible thumpers away too. This is a game designed for one audience only, and that audience will find it to be a masterpiece.

Final Grade: B

System Requirements (PC version):

• Pentium® III 450 MHz or equivalent processor
• Windows® 98/ME/XP
• 128MB RAM
• 8X CD-ROM drive
• DirectX® 8.1 or higher
• 100% DirectX 8.1 compliant 3D accelerator card with 16MB RAM
• 100% DirectX 8.1 compliant sound card
• 1.8GB uncompressed hard disk space
• Keyboard and mouse

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Pentium III 600 MHz or equivalent processor
  Windows 98/ME/XP
• 128MB RAM
• 24X CD-ROM drive
• DirectX® 8.1 or higher
• 100% DirectX 8.1 compliant 3D accelerator
  card with 32MB RAM
• 100% DirectX 8.1 compliant sound card
• 2.0GB uncompressed hard disk space
• Keyboard and mouse