Still doesn't quite reach the heights of the first two games, but looks like a fucking masterpiece next to Blood Omen 2.
Any pretenses of this being an adventure game are axed immediately by the fixed camera angles, heavy emphasis on combat and chapter-based structure, and honestly I'd rather have that than have the game lie to me like Soul Reaver 2 did. Said combat is unquestionably more fluid than any of the other games, though still rather limited: both characters have practically the same moveset consisting of five moves, and while you can pull off some pretty satisfying combos with them, the tedium isn't staved off for too long. The aforementioned fixed camera angles are also a double-edged sword: in most combat encounters it's a boon because it gives a wider field of view, but in a few exceptions it's a bane when scenery gets in the way and completely obscures it. Other times it's non-ideal are during a handful of platforming sections when it's a little too zoomed out to properly judge how far and in which direction you should jump.
Variety is another struggle. There aren't very many enemy types, and the ones that are here tend to feel very samey if not fucking obnoxious like the shades and the spongy statues. As far as level design is concerned, you'll visit a disappointing seven locations across the game's thirteen chapters and they each have incredibly minor differences between Kain and Raziel. By the halfway point I was getting worn out by the repetition. At the very least, Raziel does get to do some respectable puzzles so it's not entirely insufferable, but I just wish the locales were a little more diverse.
Of course the main draw here, as usual, is the story, writing and presentation, and Defiance delivers on them in spades with the best cutscenes and voice acting in the series. There's a questionable tweak to the lore here and there, but as a whole, the story made pushing through the flawed gameplay worth it. It's just such a shame that a video game franchise so well put together couldn't more consistently nail the "video game" part.
Any pretenses of this being an adventure game are axed immediately by the fixed camera angles, heavy emphasis on combat and chapter-based structure, and honestly I'd rather have that than have the game lie to me like Soul Reaver 2 did. Said combat is unquestionably more fluid than any of the other games, though still rather limited: both characters have practically the same moveset consisting of five moves, and while you can pull off some pretty satisfying combos with them, the tedium isn't staved off for too long. The aforementioned fixed camera angles are also a double-edged sword: in most combat encounters it's a boon because it gives a wider field of view, but in a few exceptions it's a bane when scenery gets in the way and completely obscures it. Other times it's non-ideal are during a handful of platforming sections when it's a little too zoomed out to properly judge how far and in which direction you should jump.
Variety is another struggle. There aren't very many enemy types, and the ones that are here tend to feel very samey if not fucking obnoxious like the shades and the spongy statues. As far as level design is concerned, you'll visit a disappointing seven locations across the game's thirteen chapters and they each have incredibly minor differences between Kain and Raziel. By the halfway point I was getting worn out by the repetition. At the very least, Raziel does get to do some respectable puzzles so it's not entirely insufferable, but I just wish the locales were a little more diverse.
Of course the main draw here, as usual, is the story, writing and presentation, and Defiance delivers on them in spades with the best cutscenes and voice acting in the series. There's a questionable tweak to the lore here and there, but as a whole, the story made pushing through the flawed gameplay worth it. It's just such a shame that a video game franchise so well put together couldn't more consistently nail the "video game" part.