I played Blood Omen directly after playing Zelda: A Link to the Past and my god are these two games similar and very very different at the same time. Zelda gets so many things right and it's strange to see Blood Omen, released over 4 years later, get so many of them wrong. Wonky combat system, uninspired level design, weird inventory management, storyline at times strangely disconnected. The game feels like it is just going to fall apart at any moment of it's playtime. And even my incredible amounts of low-poly nostalgia couldn't make me not cringe at the incredibly ugly 3d animated cutscenes.

Despite all that, Blood Omen manages to create an unparalleled dark, gothic atmosphere. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing. The voice acting is on a level I don't remember ever hearing in a video game. Kain's voice actor went full in on his role. The way Kain is written is very engaging, developing slowly from being just a bitter, arrogant, self-centred misanthrope into contemplating the strange, cruel world around him and developing a complex relationship with fate.

The spells and magic items are so good. They are so over the top and gory and brutal, they really feel like the type of magic a bloodthirsty vampire would use. The first magic item flays the skin of the enemy, killing them instantly, and at first it feels a bit overpowered are extremely brutal. But it just keeps getting better from there. Expect to kill enemies in very very bloody ways. The mind control spell also gets my commendation for how well it was implemented.
Favourite spell: Blood Shower

Also, the UI design is so good. Bring back that UI that takes up almost half of the screen for no good reason.

For all it's flaws, I love Blood Omen with my entire heart.

Like with The Simpsons: Hit And Run, this was a gold standard for licensed games for a period of time (Until you know what came out, of course). However, despite the excellent controls of swinging around New York City and the city itself, it falls flat in some areas.

The Tie-In nature really shines through with the presentation of the story, being not that great. In addition, the age is starting to show with the graphics, and it doesn't help that we have you know what to compare it to now.

That being said, discounting this game's strives to have us experience the web-slinger is unjustified, in my opinion.

Developers had a vision, a vision that would never be fully realized. But that vision is clear, and if you pay attention; Choosing to seize from your constant whining about feeling nauseous about the camera movement and janky gameplay, you'll see that vision. I understand the frustrations of many; I stand by every notion that states the issues this game has. But to call it a terrible game is short-sighted. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Kane & Lynch 2. With more time to properly be cooked in the oven, we could've had a phenomenal game on our hands. K&L2 depicts life of crime in a really grim and depressing way. It's not glorious or romantic. It's dirty, it's insane and it's vile. We are playing as two irredeemable psychopaths and the game tries to make no excuses for them. The story is way too short to warrant the full price the game was sold for, but the online content is definitely worth looking into. Too bad in the current day, no one is playing. Because arguably the heist mode of Kane & Lynch 2, known as Fragile Alliance, is a far more interesting game of heist than Payday games ever managed to be.