Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Eidos Interactive

Format: 2

Release Date: March 2001

By Erik Reckase

When Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was released, it was immediately
hailed as a technological achievement on the Playstation console. Although
many PSX games suffer from “Long Load Syndrome,” Soul Reaver
found the cure somewhere and presented a fantastic gaming experience
with virtually zero loading times. Soul Reaver also featured smooth,
lifelike character animation, a handful of puzzles, and a compelling storyline.
The public rewarded Crystal Dynamics/Eidos for their efforts by purchasing
over one million copies of Soul Reaver.

That is not to say that the game was perfect–for example, a few features
discussed in the game’s instruction manual were not included in the final
distribution of the game. There were also some plot inconsistencies, and
of course, the “hidden” audio tracks on the game disk that detailed
an ending very different from the standard one. Regardless, I thoroughly
enjoyed the time I spent playing Soul Reaver, and I have been looking
forward to the sequel, Soul Reaver 2, for months. Eidos released
a few tidbits about Soul Reaver 2 during E3–here are some highlights.

Story: In pursuit of Kain, our “hero” Raziel travels
back through time into the dark past of Nosgoth. Your goal is to uncover
Nosgoth’s mysteries and the cause of the vampire extinctions. If you are
not familiar with the story, don’t worry! Soul Reaver did a great
job of bringing you up to speed with the story during the introductory
movie, so I expect that Soul Reaver 2 will also be given this treatment.

Atmosphere: The original Soul Reaver storyline, as well
as the in-game environment, was very gothic, down to the 18th-Century
costumes worn by the human characters encountered by Raziel. Soul Reaver
2 will have the same foreboding gloom, with additional enemies (inquisitorial
Sarafan warrior priests and malevolent demons from a parallel dimension
will be keeping you company) and additional new abilities, weapons, and
spells.

Techno-features: The successful “continuous data streaming”
architecture, allowing zero load times during game play, will be retained
from the original Soul Reaver. As well, Soul Reaver 2 will
keep what I consider to be one of the niftiest gimmicks in the last five
years of gaming: the ability to play on both the material plane and the
spectral plane. Having trouble getting where you want to go? Switch planes
and watch the architecture twist and morph into a new path. Enemy a little
harder than you thought? Switch planes and you’ve got a new lease on life.
It takes a little getting used to, but it’s a great feature.

Platform: Much of the discussion surrounding Soul Reaver 2
has been with respect to the release platforms. Originally, Soul
Reaver 2 was to be released on the Playstation, but with the new features
of the Playstation 2 generating considerable interest, the development
team switched platforms in mid-stride. Soul Reaver 2 will also
be released on the PC and Dreamcast platforms.

For more information, visit the Eidos
web site. (Currently, there is only sketchy information on their E3
page, but as the release date approaches, there will inevitably be more
information on the main site.)