Legacy of Kain: Defiance screenshots   The Final Say! Gameplay 8.2 Graphics 8.7 Sound 7.9 Value 8.1 Legacy of Kain: Defiance -  reviewed by Tory Favro  Review Date: February 2004 Review Score 8.2/10  Distributed By: Atari

The latest and greatest in this popular series is here and about time too! The mega popular Legacy of Kain series is loved for it's intense mysterious storyline, immaculately detail characters and environments and quite frankly two of the coolest anti heroes to grace a console game. Gamers will be pleased to know that in this game you get to play both of these hot characters in Kain and Raziel. A lot of the questions that are raised in the series are finally answered and the answers just might shock you. I won't go into too much detail here about the actual storyline for the simple fact that the story is a huge part of why this game is so damn popular. Let's just say that many things will be revealed and it's well worth the wait. Whilst this game is leaps and bounds better than Blood Omen, it's not without it's faults. We'll have a quick look at them now so as you know what you are getting into. There are two areas that I think throw this game into contention and they are the camera and also collision detection. The camera for the most part runs nicely along following the action. It's when you really need it that it's no longer your buddy with a really crappy viewpoint of just looking at your player and not the surroundings. This problem with the camera actually forced me on more than one occasion to run into groups of enemies unwittingly and get into all sorts of strife. The same camera troubles can be a problem when you are about to cross large areas platfrom style and the dodgy camera makes you fall into the water, which as Kain is simply something that you cannot do. Kain dies with the smallest touch of water, to the point that even being brushed by water will max him which is a bit ridiculous considering the age and power of this vampire. There was one key part to this problem that I found really annoying and it happened at almost the start of the game where Kain has to jump from one area to another with a small dribble of water coming out of a hole in the wall behind him. Thanks to my mate the camera, I briefly brush the "waterfall" and die. It's a bit silly and really served to do nothing but annoy me. The other thing about this game that is partially related to the first problem with the camera is the difficulties experienced with collision detection and auto lock onto an enemy. Be prepared to spend some time locked onto characters who are not even in the same room as you or trying to hit an enemy who is behind a pillar. This fault doesn't occur all the time, however enough that you will possibly get annoyed with it on occasion.

The girls also have access to dress spheres that lets them change their costumes (oh.. how and cute sexy) which also allows them to change jobs and give them access to new weapons and powers. These jobs include professions such as warriors, mages and gamblers that all have unique abilities.

Another change in the game is the combat system that supports the traditional turn based interface or the real-time interface that lets both the player and the enemies attack at the same time. Although a nifty idea that helps speeds up the battles, it does get annoying trying to organise everything so I eventually switched back to the trusted turn-based interface. Your characters can also perform various battle combos, depending on how fast you can get out your manoeuvres that also leads to the chain attacks. These attacks mean if you successfully hit your opponent without missing, you basically do more damage to them because it is a continuous attack and also looks quite impressive, needless to say. Apart from that the interface is fairly similar to Final Fantasy X where you must walk around, solve puzzles and of course battle your way through a plethora of enemies.

Graphically, X-2 looks almost identical to the previous game and the only major changes to the game are the improved special effects and of course the improved character models. Rikku, Yuna and Paine are probably the most sexiest computer generated characters since Lara Croft appeared on the market those so many years ago. Some of the costumes that the trio wear are quite revealing and I'm sure any teenager male gamer will get a kick out of seeing their favourite characters dressed in skimpy outfits. The backgrounds of X-2 are a little bland but fortunately the beautiful CGI scenes that are littered through the game are worth admission alone. 

The voice acting of X-2 has been professionally done and some of the actors that performed the voices for the previous game have returned to once again lend their talent to this highly addictive and entertaining game. The sound effects sound quite brilliant and contain everything from Hollywood style explosions to deadly sounds of magics flying around the screen. X-2 also contains a new musical score that is quite upbeat when compared to the previous game and is extremely light-hearted and pays homage to the Final Fantasy series.

All things said and done this is a title that fans of the game are going to love and finally there's some resolution to all the questions that player would have harboured for years. Legacy of Kain: Defiance comes highly recommended to all fans of the genre!

-  Tory Favro