Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (PS1, 1999)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Pretty much seamless world (masks some loading with corridors)
Parallel worlds theme (spectral and material realms/planes (can switch/shift from material to spectral anywhere and the other way at certain points called planar portals) - some objects and materials act differently in each (can't open doors/pick up or hold onto weapons (except for the soul reaver blade)/push blocks on the spectral plane and water becomes like air here, different enemies, can move through grates/fences/gates on the spectral plane with the phasing ability (Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu/Illusion of Gaia/Mario 64), enemy clan leaders/bosses can also switch momentarily) and the level design morphs a bit in some places which can allow you to reach new areas; similar to Zelda 3)
Can pick up and use temporary weapons that you find (spear - lets you impale stunned enemies as a finisher and can also be thrown, torch - lets you immolate enemies as a finisher (have to relight it at fireplaces afterwards though), rocks - break when thrown; dropped weapons are persistent meaning they stay where you left them when moving between areas but you can only pick them up in the material realm)
Lock-on aiming at enemies which lets you side strafe around them and you can also switch between targets with R1 (Zelda: OoT), free-look/look around mode (hold l2+r2, can't turn around nor move while looking though)
Fairly frequent teleporters (one per area and dungeon, one right before the final boss, can teleport between visited portals)
Good voice acting overall (the language and tone are pretty over the top theatrical though, quite a lot of it for a PS1 game)
Pretty good art direction (dark 90s comics, gothic, industrial)
Some nice effects (finisher moves, morphing effect on the environment when switching between realms, enemy death effect, the huge waterfall near the beginning, basic lighting from torches, currents of time/space web transition - too slow though)
Can pull blocks sideways and flip them (can also flip them onto higher ground, can push/pull blocks and climb walls while carrying a weapon)
Carry and throw stunned enemies (can throw enemies into fire/water/strong light/large spikes to kill them) - Similar to SMB3
Underwater dash/speed burst (also lets you jump out of water, have to gain the ability to swim first)
Sneaking and crawling (sneaking lets you not fall down near platform edges, can surprise some enemies - generally can't do it though?; Mario 64, TR3?)
Projectiles can be used to stun enemies that haven't spotted you yet (rarely happens though)
Can feed on human NPC souls but they'll die if you devour the entire soul (if you keep them alive they'll recover) - Similar to Blood Omen
Basic reputation system (if you kill a human NPC then the others run away when spotting you but otherwise they'll worship you)
Some interesting abilities (telekinetic force projectile - can destroy windows/wooden barriers+push blocks from afar (can reach an optional hp upgrade with it)+push enemies backwards into hazards or stun them) and spells (shift - realm switching to reach new areas etc, )
Can cling to ledges and climb up (TR1)
Optional vibration feature
Lunge attacks
Play as a former vampire turned into a wraith (feeds on souls, no longer weak to light and fire)
Audio config (music/sfx/voice toggles)
Upgradeable soul reaver weapon (touch fire on the material plane after upgrading it - stronger and immolates enemies when the finisher is used but otherwise the same)
HP and MP upgrades (some are well hidden, have to find 5 pieces per hp upgrade though)
Very good animation overall
Some good puzzles (light prism puzzle in the last dungeon, mostly puzzle-style boss fights, time stops on the material plane while on the spectral plane which is used for some puzzles (one in dungeon 2), some block (tube blocks in dungeon 2)/switch/weight puzzles, getting the sunlight glyph (lighthouse) - puzzle itself is not hard but it's a fairly intricate process, getting the sound glyph in dungeon 2 (special bell stick which you have to figure out how to get to the bell), water draining puzzles in dungeon 3 and the citadel (hp upgrades))
Some dynamic music transitions (path before the first boss and when enemies appear in dungeon 2 for example)
Basic directions are given from the elder god at the floor panel in the beginning room and from Ariel in the sanctuary (the one to go north (dungeon 4) is pretty vague though since you don't have a compass or map)
Some interesting enemies (vampire wraiths)
Pretty nice CGI cutscenes for the time (skippable) and many shorter in-game ones (unskippable..., fairly long unskippable cutscene before the final boss fight)
Raziel (player char) gives a brief description of a new area and its history as the player enters it
Memorable areas overall (most dungeons, lighthouse)
One smart bomb-style spell and six area of effect ones in total
Constrict ability (circle around objects or enemies with a band of energy to trap and manipulate them - stun vampires and rotate certain objects)
Skippable credits
Glide jumping (Below the Root) and upwards air stream level gimmick (Super Turrican?)
+/-
Mostly linear structure (have to do the main dungeons and their sub areas in order, some freedom in the order in which you can sidetrack and collect optional upgrades and spells by passing ability gates - most abilities are gained by defeating bosses)
Your health is slowly drained while on the material plane and when near death you're pulled into the spectral plane where you have an additional health bar - however you'll slowly regenerate health for both planes while on the latter (health also stops draining after acquiring the soul reaver blade but it in turn can only be wielded when at full health on the material plane)
Shortcut between dungeon 3 and the road to necropolis/dungeon 1
You end up in the beginning room after dying on the spectral plane
Have to be at full health to switch to the material realm for some reason - can be tedious when you have to switch between planes to progress and there's no soul nearby to refill since you also lose some health when moving from the material plane to the spectral one (however this stops happening once you get the soul reaver blade which is fairly early on)
Pull health power ups/souls towards you to pick them up (similar to the electric shield in Sonic 3, problem is you have to stand still plus it's often kinda slow due to pathfinding problems and you can't just run into the souls to pick them up)
Interactive but forced tutorial in the beginning (pretty short though)
Moving into fires doesn't hurt you
No blocking in combat
Can't do a safety drop/move into clinging position near a ledge (TR, PoP)
Can save anywhere (3 slots, simply named A-C - they don't show status/location/time taken) but you'll start at the beginning (elder god's chamber) when loading and have to pick quit and then continue to load
Some hp and mp recharge spots
Gore
Can't break pots
Early enemies tend not to attack if you're not facing them and if you're also standing on higher ground you can stand very close to several enemies without them attacking (looks silly but is overall a good thing for gameplay flow and avoiding out of sight attacks)
Jumping is a bit faster than running
No weapon inventory
Pretty basic third dungeon in terms of puzzles
You don't gain any new melee combat moves (focus is on platforming/exploration/puzzles though and you can avoid a lot of regular enemies)
Can't use petrified enemies as platforms
Getting the fire glyph is an alright puzzle but could've been more interesting if you had to avoid losing the flame on the way to the statue, story ends on a cliffhanger (continued in the sequel)
Torches don't light up areas more than when you're not using them (never needed to traverse a room/area)
Can't hit two enemies at the same time with the sword?
You don't really need any of the glyphs nor most of the stat upgrades to beat the game (some of the latter helps but there's no optional challenge to make getting all of them worth it)
Can't use attack spells against any of the bosses?
-
Control/interface issues (unskippable in-game cutscenes (this includes tutorial comments by the elder god, some can be skipped by avoiding the trigger point but you'd have to learn where they are first), no maps (not even a world map in-game nor in the manual and no compass either) and it's hard to get a good overview of some rooms/areas (makes it harder to spot the openings to the chambers connected to the first boss room for example), can't pause during cutscenes, sometimes when lunging at an enemy if you quickly start pressing attack (square) you'll keep lunging instead of switching to an attack combo, slow camera turning - holding both buttons makes it turn around faster but it's still somewhat slow, no subtitles during cutscenes, an overly long animation plays when trying to push something that you can't, the kinetic shot is replaced by an ineffective melee attack if standing too close to an enemy, somewhat slow bock pushing, the game's a bit picky about your placement when picking up dropped weapons or opening doors)
Dead space (no dash or roll moves)
No control config (reversed camera rotation buttons)
Fairly frequent framerate drops (better on DC where it also runs at 60 fps instead of 30 for the most part)
Shorter draw distance than in Spyro 1 (uses fog to mask this which does work for the game's atmosphere but makes it harder to get a good overview of various rooms/areas - much less of an issue in the DC version)
Lunging into an enemy tends to knock it back so it can be tricky to use it as a way to shorten the distance between you and the enemy
Some tedious parts (some of the platforming in dungeon 3 makes you backtrack pretty far if you miss a jump and the platforms are small - similar thing happens in one room of dungeon 4, too many block puzzles (during some of them you're attacked by respawning enemies as well (wtf), some of them also make you repeat the same thing too many times), the first boss sometimes stops following you even if you stand fairly close and in front of him, minor backtracking for shift points/planar portals)
Can't talk to human NPCs/neutrals
No jump attacks and no crouching attacks (can shoot while swimming though)
Some trial & error (easy to miss some climbable walls as well as the block near the water glyph in the human citadel+the tomb reaver lock on the way to necropolis (optional upgrades), finding the optional mp upgrade and glyph in dungeon 2 (hard to spot the climbable wall leading to the former, the glyph path you might find on your first visit but will probably forget about or not realize it was breakable glass blocking the way), finding the flame sword - fairly easy to go through the third dungeon without noticing the stained glass near the boss, pointless climbable wall near the beginning of dungeon 2?, fairly easy to miss two of the pipe parts in dungeon 2 (you pass them quickly as you're being elevated by air blowing upwards in the elevator shaft-like room they're in), apparently you can topple the pillars at the force glyph altar on the way to necropolis which is needed to get it, sometimes hard to tell which parts of a room morphed when switching between planes (silenced cathedral area for example), sometimes hard to tell what you can interact with (pipe parts in the second dungeon for example), )
Souls from killed enemies switch into the spectral realm after a few seconds (can be annoying during combat with multiple enemies if you get hit and wanted to keep one nearby to heal up and keep using the soul reaver without switching back and forth between realms - less of a problem after you get the kinetic blast attack though since it can be used without the sword)
Somewhat dated 2D elements in the visuals (spear weapons, gates/bars)
Can't do a three hit combo with the soul reaver and it feels a bit slow (can do a finisher move though but it has to charge up so it's not that good when facing multiple enemies) - overall it's too easy to get hit and lose it in combat
Fourth boss's (Dumah) solution is too similar to the first one
Few interesting abilities/spells gained (two spells that stun enemies and several that just do damage)
Not enough enemy variety within some dungeons
Pretty easy dungeon 3 boss fight (can stand on the first pillar and still reach every window, can also switch realms and heal from there)
Easy final boss (could've been more interesting with more melee combat/having to use a glyph spell/having to also hit the clock switches to keep him from overpowering or something)
A bit short if you don't explore the optional content (5 dungeons, a few hours shorter than OoT for example)
No difficulty options or second quest
Notes:
-Can use built-in codes to give yourself some or all abilities from the get go and make the game more non-linear: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/197763-legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver/cheats
-World map (fan made): http://www.nosgoth.net/soulreaver/maps.html
-Various glyph and upgrade locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19PyOwcuAgg
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Pretty much seamless world (masks some loading with corridors)
Parallel worlds theme (spectral and material realms/planes (can switch/shift from material to spectral anywhere and the other way at certain points called planar portals) - some objects and materials act differently in each (can't open doors/pick up or hold onto weapons (except for the soul reaver blade)/push blocks on the spectral plane and water becomes like air here, different enemies, can move through grates/fences/gates on the spectral plane with the phasing ability (Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu/Illusion of Gaia/Mario 64), enemy clan leaders/bosses can also switch momentarily) and the level design morphs a bit in some places which can allow you to reach new areas; similar to Zelda 3)
Can pick up and use temporary weapons that you find (spear - lets you impale stunned enemies as a finisher and can also be thrown, torch - lets you immolate enemies as a finisher (have to relight it at fireplaces afterwards though), rocks - break when thrown; dropped weapons are persistent meaning they stay where you left them when moving between areas but you can only pick them up in the material realm)
Lock-on aiming at enemies which lets you side strafe around them and you can also switch between targets with R1 (Zelda: OoT), free-look/look around mode (hold l2+r2, can't turn around nor move while looking though)
Fairly frequent teleporters (one per area and dungeon, one right before the final boss, can teleport between visited portals)
Good voice acting overall (the language and tone are pretty over the top theatrical though, quite a lot of it for a PS1 game)
Pretty good art direction (dark 90s comics, gothic, industrial)
Some nice effects (finisher moves, morphing effect on the environment when switching between realms, enemy death effect, the huge waterfall near the beginning, basic lighting from torches, currents of time/space web transition - too slow though)
Can pull blocks sideways and flip them (can also flip them onto higher ground, can push/pull blocks and climb walls while carrying a weapon)
Carry and throw stunned enemies (can throw enemies into fire/water/strong light/large spikes to kill them) - Similar to SMB3
Underwater dash/speed burst (also lets you jump out of water, have to gain the ability to swim first)
Sneaking and crawling (sneaking lets you not fall down near platform edges, can surprise some enemies - generally can't do it though?; Mario 64, TR3?)
Projectiles can be used to stun enemies that haven't spotted you yet (rarely happens though)
Can feed on human NPC souls but they'll die if you devour the entire soul (if you keep them alive they'll recover) - Similar to Blood Omen
Basic reputation system (if you kill a human NPC then the others run away when spotting you but otherwise they'll worship you)
Some interesting abilities (telekinetic force projectile - can destroy windows/wooden barriers+push blocks from afar (can reach an optional hp upgrade with it)+push enemies backwards into hazards or stun them) and spells (shift - realm switching to reach new areas etc, )
Can cling to ledges and climb up (TR1)
Optional vibration feature
Lunge attacks
Play as a former vampire turned into a wraith (feeds on souls, no longer weak to light and fire)
Audio config (music/sfx/voice toggles)
Upgradeable soul reaver weapon (touch fire on the material plane after upgrading it - stronger and immolates enemies when the finisher is used but otherwise the same)
HP and MP upgrades (some are well hidden, have to find 5 pieces per hp upgrade though)
Very good animation overall
Some good puzzles (light prism puzzle in the last dungeon, mostly puzzle-style boss fights, time stops on the material plane while on the spectral plane which is used for some puzzles (one in dungeon 2), some block (tube blocks in dungeon 2)/switch/weight puzzles, getting the sunlight glyph (lighthouse) - puzzle itself is not hard but it's a fairly intricate process, getting the sound glyph in dungeon 2 (special bell stick which you have to figure out how to get to the bell), water draining puzzles in dungeon 3 and the citadel (hp upgrades))
Some dynamic music transitions (path before the first boss and when enemies appear in dungeon 2 for example)
Basic directions are given from the elder god at the floor panel in the beginning room and from Ariel in the sanctuary (the one to go north (dungeon 4) is pretty vague though since you don't have a compass or map)
Some interesting enemies (vampire wraiths)
Pretty nice CGI cutscenes for the time (skippable) and many shorter in-game ones (unskippable..., fairly long unskippable cutscene before the final boss fight)
Raziel (player char) gives a brief description of a new area and its history as the player enters it
Memorable areas overall (most dungeons, lighthouse)
One smart bomb-style spell and six area of effect ones in total
Constrict ability (circle around objects or enemies with a band of energy to trap and manipulate them - stun vampires and rotate certain objects)
Skippable credits
Glide jumping (Below the Root) and upwards air stream level gimmick (Super Turrican?)
+/-
Mostly linear structure (have to do the main dungeons and their sub areas in order, some freedom in the order in which you can sidetrack and collect optional upgrades and spells by passing ability gates - most abilities are gained by defeating bosses)
Your health is slowly drained while on the material plane and when near death you're pulled into the spectral plane where you have an additional health bar - however you'll slowly regenerate health for both planes while on the latter (health also stops draining after acquiring the soul reaver blade but it in turn can only be wielded when at full health on the material plane)
Shortcut between dungeon 3 and the road to necropolis/dungeon 1
You end up in the beginning room after dying on the spectral plane
Have to be at full health to switch to the material realm for some reason - can be tedious when you have to switch between planes to progress and there's no soul nearby to refill since you also lose some health when moving from the material plane to the spectral one (however this stops happening once you get the soul reaver blade which is fairly early on)
Pull health power ups/souls towards you to pick them up (similar to the electric shield in Sonic 3, problem is you have to stand still plus it's often kinda slow due to pathfinding problems and you can't just run into the souls to pick them up)
Interactive but forced tutorial in the beginning (pretty short though)
Moving into fires doesn't hurt you
No blocking in combat
Can't do a safety drop/move into clinging position near a ledge (TR, PoP)
Can save anywhere (3 slots, simply named A-C - they don't show status/location/time taken) but you'll start at the beginning (elder god's chamber) when loading and have to pick quit and then continue to load
Some hp and mp recharge spots
Gore
Can't break pots
Early enemies tend not to attack if you're not facing them and if you're also standing on higher ground you can stand very close to several enemies without them attacking (looks silly but is overall a good thing for gameplay flow and avoiding out of sight attacks)
Jumping is a bit faster than running
No weapon inventory
Pretty basic third dungeon in terms of puzzles
You don't gain any new melee combat moves (focus is on platforming/exploration/puzzles though and you can avoid a lot of regular enemies)
Can't use petrified enemies as platforms
Getting the fire glyph is an alright puzzle but could've been more interesting if you had to avoid losing the flame on the way to the statue, story ends on a cliffhanger (continued in the sequel)
Torches don't light up areas more than when you're not using them (never needed to traverse a room/area)
Can't hit two enemies at the same time with the sword?
You don't really need any of the glyphs nor most of the stat upgrades to beat the game (some of the latter helps but there's no optional challenge to make getting all of them worth it)
Can't use attack spells against any of the bosses?
-
Control/interface issues (unskippable in-game cutscenes (this includes tutorial comments by the elder god, some can be skipped by avoiding the trigger point but you'd have to learn where they are first), no maps (not even a world map in-game nor in the manual and no compass either) and it's hard to get a good overview of some rooms/areas (makes it harder to spot the openings to the chambers connected to the first boss room for example), can't pause during cutscenes, sometimes when lunging at an enemy if you quickly start pressing attack (square) you'll keep lunging instead of switching to an attack combo, slow camera turning - holding both buttons makes it turn around faster but it's still somewhat slow, no subtitles during cutscenes, an overly long animation plays when trying to push something that you can't, the kinetic shot is replaced by an ineffective melee attack if standing too close to an enemy, somewhat slow bock pushing, the game's a bit picky about your placement when picking up dropped weapons or opening doors)
Dead space (no dash or roll moves)
No control config (reversed camera rotation buttons)
Fairly frequent framerate drops (better on DC where it also runs at 60 fps instead of 30 for the most part)
Shorter draw distance than in Spyro 1 (uses fog to mask this which does work for the game's atmosphere but makes it harder to get a good overview of various rooms/areas - much less of an issue in the DC version)
Lunging into an enemy tends to knock it back so it can be tricky to use it as a way to shorten the distance between you and the enemy
Some tedious parts (some of the platforming in dungeon 3 makes you backtrack pretty far if you miss a jump and the platforms are small - similar thing happens in one room of dungeon 4, too many block puzzles (during some of them you're attacked by respawning enemies as well (wtf), some of them also make you repeat the same thing too many times), the first boss sometimes stops following you even if you stand fairly close and in front of him, minor backtracking for shift points/planar portals)
Can't talk to human NPCs/neutrals
No jump attacks and no crouching attacks (can shoot while swimming though)
Some trial & error (easy to miss some climbable walls as well as the block near the water glyph in the human citadel+the tomb reaver lock on the way to necropolis (optional upgrades), finding the optional mp upgrade and glyph in dungeon 2 (hard to spot the climbable wall leading to the former, the glyph path you might find on your first visit but will probably forget about or not realize it was breakable glass blocking the way), finding the flame sword - fairly easy to go through the third dungeon without noticing the stained glass near the boss, pointless climbable wall near the beginning of dungeon 2?, fairly easy to miss two of the pipe parts in dungeon 2 (you pass them quickly as you're being elevated by air blowing upwards in the elevator shaft-like room they're in), apparently you can topple the pillars at the force glyph altar on the way to necropolis which is needed to get it, sometimes hard to tell which parts of a room morphed when switching between planes (silenced cathedral area for example), sometimes hard to tell what you can interact with (pipe parts in the second dungeon for example), )
Souls from killed enemies switch into the spectral realm after a few seconds (can be annoying during combat with multiple enemies if you get hit and wanted to keep one nearby to heal up and keep using the soul reaver without switching back and forth between realms - less of a problem after you get the kinetic blast attack though since it can be used without the sword)
Somewhat dated 2D elements in the visuals (spear weapons, gates/bars)
Can't do a three hit combo with the soul reaver and it feels a bit slow (can do a finisher move though but it has to charge up so it's not that good when facing multiple enemies) - overall it's too easy to get hit and lose it in combat
Fourth boss's (Dumah) solution is too similar to the first one
Few interesting abilities/spells gained (two spells that stun enemies and several that just do damage)
Not enough enemy variety within some dungeons
Pretty easy dungeon 3 boss fight (can stand on the first pillar and still reach every window, can also switch realms and heal from there)
Easy final boss (could've been more interesting with more melee combat/having to use a glyph spell/having to also hit the clock switches to keep him from overpowering or something)
A bit short if you don't explore the optional content (5 dungeons, a few hours shorter than OoT for example)
No difficulty options or second quest
Notes:
-Can use built-in codes to give yourself some or all abilities from the get go and make the game more non-linear: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/197763-legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver/cheats
-World map (fan made): http://www.nosgoth.net/soulreaver/maps.html
-Various glyph and upgrade locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19PyOwcuAgg