Believe it, Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver is actually in stores now. After what seemed like an uncountable number of delays, Soul Reaver for the PlayStation is done, finished, and complete.

I was somewhat worried about the game. What sometimes happens with titles in development for this long, is that they end up sloppily coded due to the many changes that need to be made during these delays. This results in a game not quite as good as it could have been. Fortunately, Soul Reaver has nicely avoided this pitfall.

Players assume the control of Raziel, a lieutenant vampire that Kain has created. As these vampires age, they begin to evolve and learn new abilities or have features added to their bodies. This is all supposed to happen to the leader, Kain, first, with the lieutenants following in the next few years. However, Raziel had the divine privilege to evolve ahead of his master. Raziel was given the gift of wings, and when he presented this to Kain, he became absolutely furious. Kain rips away at Raziel's wings and then orders him to be cast into the pit of the dead. This pit is a swirling world of liquid that reacts like acid when contact is made with a vampire's skin. Since vampires are immortal this, becomes a long, terrifying death chamber for those who are thrown into it.

As Raziel spins and struggles in the pit of the dead, many, many years pass. Eventually he awakens thanks to the Elder. The Elder is a mysterious being that helps dead souls pass on through the cycle of life. Because of what Kain has done to the world, the souls of the dead cannot complete their destinies. The Elder has summoned Raziel to defeat the vampire clans and, ultimately, kill Kain. Battered, beaten, and exhausted, Raziel sets out to defy his mater and return the world of Nosgoth to order.

As mentioned in my first impressions article, the visuals are incredible. It is readily apparent that Crystal Dynamics spent a long time developing the fastest and arguably one of the best engines ever to run on the PlayStation. The models look fantastic (due to a superb texture job) and have enough polygons to make them look realistic. Animation for Raziel and his enemies is also top notch, as they all move fluidly and life-like.

Soul Reaver's environments are jaw dropping. Colors spiral through the ceiling as you race your way through the caves of Nosgoth. And the amount of space in each of the areas that Raziel will have to fight his way into and out of, are just amazing. The nice thing is that none of it ever gets repetitive. There are enough varied textures so that most everything looks new, fresh, and different. This goes a long way in making the player want to keep going and see what is next.

However, Soul Reaver does have a few problems in the graphics department. For one, the frame rate needs a little help on occasion. Actually, in all honesty, I think that the developers were just trying to push too much out of the old PlayStation. Even with a considerable amount of fog added in (although it's cleverly used to look like an environmental effect), when entering into a particularly large area with many open spaces, the engine will drop to a lower frame rate for a few seconds before speeding back up again.

A variety of moves are at Raziel's disposal and in most levels you will have to end up using every single one of them in order to pass through the game's puzzles and tougher action areas. In the beginning, Raziel will have access to a quite a few moves, but gain access to more as he progresses. For example, after defeating the first boss, Raziel can pass through walls while in the Spectral Realm.

The Spectral Realm becomes one of the main aspects of the game. There are two 'realms' in the world of Soul Reaver, the Material Realm and the Spectral Realm. The Material Realm is where the real world is, where the remaining pieces of humanity exist, and where the dark lairs of the vampires exist. In this realm, Raziel's energy will be drained as he walks through it and must constantly maintain full energy to keep his manifestation in the Material Realm. If his energy runs dry he is transported back to the Spectral Realm to recharge.

The Spectral Realm is a place where Raziel can sit and recharge his energy. Once he is at full again he can walk near a blue, pulsing portal and cast a spell that will bring him back to the Material Realm. In the Spectral Realm, time does not exist and does not go forward nor backward. Material objects freeze in place and human and vampires do not exist within it. When in the Material Realm players can take themselves to the Spectral Realm at anytime, but to go from the Spectral Realm to the Material realm it requires the player to cast a spell on the aformentioned blue portal.

The significance of the two realms is that to solve certain puzzles and past some areas it will require players to perform an act in the Material Realm, go into the Spectral Realm and pass into a new area, and then manifest back into the Spectral Realm. Remembering to go into the Spectral Realm when stuck in an area can and will aid in progressing through the game.

Something I wished that Crystal Dynamics had focused on a little more was interaction with humans and other non player characters. I know this was supposed to be more action oriented than Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, but it still would have been nice to see a little more talking with the story's main characters. Another problem, albeit more annoying that problematic, is the abundance of puzzles. Pushing blocks and flipping switches is going to happen often, so get used to it. None of them are all that difficult, so it just becomes a manner of performing the task rather than an exercise in frustration.

Other than the frame rate skips, lack of interaction with NPCs, and way too many block puzzles, there are not a lot of problems with Soul Reaver. Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver is definitely a terrific game. Right after popping in the CD, and viewing the introduction, you will know that this is something special. Bring on Legacy of Kain 3!