Since the begining of this site, Kain has gone on and on about the virtue of a game called Blood Omen. After a lucky encounter over at my cousin's house, I was able to come into possesion of the PC version of this game (He was away, and it was lying out on the table. What can I say?). Thus, my adventure into this game began.

Being an Sega Saturn game, ported over to Playstation during the early days of the 32 bit era, I didn't expect much. In all fairness, they aren't anything special. However, the graphics fit the gameplay style rather well. Rather than the typical action adventure schlock we get now-a-days, this is a true adventure game. It's more along the lines of the original Zelda than, say, Soul Reaver. The graphical style is similar, with a top down perspective and sprites. Although, with this in mind it can accomplish many things otherwise impossible for its time. There's a vast world world with people to eat... well... at least to suck blood from. In order to move the plot around, the game is also populated with the occasional FMV. These FMVs, while primitive, offer the oppurtunity to see a more theatrical presentation of the characters and the plot. Overall, they're nothing special, but they're still decent despite their age.

I'll start right off by saying that the sound gets a 9, just on the strength of the voice acting. The voice acting blew away even me, someone who's real stingy about voice acting. The music sets a wonderful tone throughout the game, that is, a rather depressing one. The sound effects aren't really spectacular though, except for the Soul Reaver (which sounds like pure badass, in aural form). But the voices, unlike many games, form a very integral part of the game experience. Thus, it has more effet than any other aspect of the sound.

The gameplay can be likened to an evil Zelda. It has the whole vast adventure appeal, along with the ability earning aspect. Although, unlike Zelda you earn healthy by sucking peoples blood. At first it seems a bit excess, but once you get into the whole story, it fits well. That's actually the driving force behind this entire game, the story. Many would argue that the simplistic gameplay would warrent a bad game, but nobody complained about Zelda being simplistic did they? The experience is so unique because of the variety of spells, powers, weapons, etc... you can earn, all backed up by the single best videogame story I've ever seen. And make no mistake, this game will at many times test your will-power and ability as a gamer. The weak need not apply.

Well, they work about as well as any PC-based game can be. I had a little trouble though with jumping as a wolf, for some strange reason it just doesn't seem to respond regularly. However, that's the only real gripe I can think of.

+ Story

+ Vast adventure

- Dated graphics.

? Why're all those peole chained up to the wall?!

Overall (not an average): 9/10
A wonderful game, driven by a riveting story and a great adventure