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Retro Review: A Quick Look Back at Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Matt Litten — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:53:16 +0000

With the latest PlayStation Store update came the induction of three more titles to Sony’s gradually-blossoming PSone Classics library for the PS3 and PSP: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Silent Hill and Syphon Filter 2. Blood Omen happens to be one of my personal favorites from the PSone era (Legacy of Kain is one of my favorite franchises as a whole as well), so I’m thrilled to see it available on PSN and I strongly urge every PS3 and PSP gamer reading this to give it a download…unless, like me, you still have an original copy on hand!

Inspired by its ascension to PSone Classic status, I decided to dig through my collection and break out my old disc copy over the weekend to see how the game has held up over the years — I mostly played on my PS3, but also spent some time with it on my PSP via remote play. I was pretty impressed, though not surprised, by how well Blood Omen has aged. The disc-based load times are still unbearably long at times (anyone with the PSN download version notice improved optimization?) and parts of the interface definitely feel clunky by today’s standards, but in general this game is still as superb now as it was when it first launched on the PSone way back in 1996 (it was also ported to PC the next year).

The top-down action/adventure style is very reminiscent of the traditional Legend of Zelda titles, though the dark, vampiric themes, graphic depiction of gore and violence (by PSone standards) and heavier focus on hack-n-slash swordplay take it in a more mature direction than any of Link’s adventures. The combat isn’t complex at all, and even though you’ll hear Kain shout out the same two or three battle cries with each kill and captured civilians repeatedly (and quite annoyingly) scream out the same pleas for help, hacking through enemies and exploring Nosgoth is a rich, compelling experience.

What still stands out most about Blood Omen, however, is the story and atmosphere. Even compared to high-end PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 games of the current generation, Blood Omen (and the Legacy of Kain series as a whole) showcases some of the best video game voice acting ever. The writing is pretty damn exceptional as well, as is the game’s gothic ambiance and chilling music. And I don’t know about you, but the slurping sound of Kain sucking his victims’ blood is still one of my all-time favorite video game sound effects — it’s so disgusting, yet oh so satisfying!

I’m actually kicking myself for diving back into Blood Omen at this point in the year, because now that I’ve started I’m finding it difficult to pull myself away to concentrate on other priorities. If you too dare to risk distracting yourself from the incoming flood of fall game releases, give Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain a download. $6 is a steal for a true PSone classic!

Too Human Soundtrack Now Available

Matt Litten — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:00:06 +0000

Although largely panned as a game, critics all seemed to agree that Too Human at least had an epic, award-worthy soundtrack, and now that soundtrack is being released for all to hear. On the heels of just being nominated for “Best Original Video Game Score” by the Hollywood Music Awards, Silicon Knights has released the official game soundtrack on CD at Amazon.com and Best Buy and in digital download form through iTunes and Sumthing Digital. The 20-track, hour-long soundtrack was composed by Silicon Knights’ own Steve Henifin and performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague. I’ll definitely be adding this to my holiday wish list…

Too Human Goes Gold, Hell Freezes Over

Matt Litten — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:37:15 +0000

Nearly 10 years since its initial conception as a PS1 title, the first installment in Silicon Knights’ cyberpunk-meets-Norse-mythology action-RPG trilogy, Too Human has gone gold, Microsoft and SK proudly proclaimed this past Friday. That’s right, y’all. No more delays and no more waiting, Too Human is coming and it’s coming fast. August 19th in North America, to be exact. Microsoft also happily reports that the Too Human demo received more downloads “than any other action demo on Xbox LIVE Marketplace in its first week of availability, and has been one of the top played titles on Xbox LIVE overall.” No surprise there. Given the title’s lengthy development history, there’s been a lot of skepticism about its quality amongst the gaming community, so obviously more gamers were eager to get a taste of the game and see if it’s deserving of all the hype. I know because I was one of them…

Too Human Co-op Dev Diary

Matt Litten — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:53:46 +0000

The news last month that Too Human’s co-op play was being scaled back from four players to only two was unfortunate, but don’t let that disappoint you too much. Silicon Knights’ latest dev diary has arrived and focuses solely on the cooperative gameplay. Needless to say, playing side by side with a buddy is shaping up to be pure dungeon-crawly goodness. My lone worry is the Hellgate: London vibe I get watching the game in action. I’m just hoping Too Human doesn’t disappoint like Flagship’s similarly-anticipated action-RPG did last year.

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Box Art Alert: Too Human

Matt Litten — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:53:00 +0000

One last Too Human update to bring you for the day. It’s the final box art! Take a look.

Oh, and one other thing. Am I the only one surprised at the Teen rating? I thought this was going to be an “M” game. Must’ve missed something…

Too Human Co-op Trailer and Game Footage

Matt Litten — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:55:29 +0000

While Too Human finally getting a launch date was great news, unfortunately there is some not-so-great news to report today too. The game’s touted four-player co-op mode will no longer be able to handle four players, sadly enough. Now it’ll be for two players only. Sure, that definitely stinks, but don’t get too down because even with two less players the co-op still looks plenty badass. See for yourself in this new pair of co-op related videos, the first a trailer and the second a b-roll gameplay clip.

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Too Human Gets a Release Date (Finally!)

Matt Litten — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:56:39 +0000

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 2008 Spring Showcase event is well underway now (continued coverage coming throughout the day, so keep checking back), and among the cavalcade of updates and new game announcements comes long-awaited confirmation of a Too Human release date. Silicon Knights’ epic hack-n-slash action-RPG is officially slated to ship in North America on August 19th, with Europe getting the game ten days later on August 29th. I’ve got some co-op game footage and box art coming up in a bit, but until then tide yourself over with these new screens.