Whatever Happened To - The Legacy of Kain

Kain (l) and Raziel (r) are mortal enemies and central figures of the "Legacy of Kain" series

With the “Twilight” fervor/hatred dying down in recent months, it’s the perfect time to resurrect a video game vampire series that hasn’t been seen in quite some time. The “Legacy of Kain” series, developed first by Silicon Knights and later by Crystal Dynamics, spanned from 1996 to 2003. The events of the series were largely influenced or directly impacted by the titular character, Kain. At one time, Kain was a regular human being (a wealthy man or a noble, if memory serves) who was murdered and cursed to return to the living world as a vampire to seek revenge on his killers. These earlier events in the life of Kain were detailed in the first game, “Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.”

I never ended up playing “Blood Omen” but I became a huge fan of the series after playing next game in the series, “Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.”  Following one of the endings of “Blood Omen,” “Soul Reaver” takes places years after the first game. Kain now rules over the land of Nosgoth with an iron fist and an army of vampires. In fact, vampires greatly outnumber humans in Nosgoth and have pushed their mortal enemies into hiding or seeking refuge in the sole remaining human city.

There’s all sorts of other background information relating to the mythology of Nosgoth involving fate, eternal spirits and all sorts of other strangeness that’s, frankly, way too in-depth and confusing to get into right now. But the events of “Soul Reaver,” my favorite game of the series, are some of the most important in the series. In the game’s opening cinematic, Raziel, one of Kain’s lieutenants, has evolved a set of wings before any other vampire. Taking this as an insult, Kain tears Raziel’s new wings to shreds and casts him into a massive whirlpool. Since water is fatal to vampires in this universe, Raziel is dissolved to nothingness. However, what seems like the end is only the beginning.

1500 years later, Raziel is raised by The Elder God, an ancient entity that revived Raziel and turned him into a wraith. In his new form, he is tasked with killing Kain and restoring Nosgoth. As a “soul reaver,” Raziel devours the souls of his enemies and can travel between the material and spectral realms.

Traveling between the two realms was one of the game’s main mechanics as well as selling point. When Raziel shifts to the spectral realm, the material world around him twists and changes. The differences between the two realms is where many of the game’s puzzles are derived from. In the spectral world, Raziel can walk through gates and openings as well as find new paths not available in the material world, such as through water (which, again, is deadly to vampires). However, he can only interact with switches and other objects in the material world, creating dilemmas for Raziel as he pursues Kain.

Along with the puzzle elements found created through the switching of realms, “Soul Reaver” had elements of the “Metroidvania” style of games, where new skills or powers must be acquired to reach later areas of the game. These powers were obtained by killing bosses which allowed Raziel the ability to reach secret areas, of which there were many scattered throughout Nosgoth.

The more I played “Soul Reaver,” the more I was drawn into the lore and the backstory of Nosgoth as well as Kain and Raziel. Though the two are enemies at first, their fates are intertwined and even work together later in the series. The world of Nosgoth was very intriguing, in large part due to the unique dynamic of vampires ruling the land with humanity constantly on the run. Granted the more games that were introduced to the series, the more confusing it got, which is why it could easily be rebooted into a modern action-adventure title, or even a cinematic action title.

Though the long absence of the “Legacy of Kain” series from the gaming world doesn’t seem to bode well, there may be a ray of hope on the horizon for fans like me wishing to return to the dreary land of Nosgoth. A post on Joystiq.com revealed that Square Enix recently registered a couple new URL domains, one being “WarFornosGoth.com.” I’m hoping that the odd capitalization of letters is a bit of misdirection and a new “Legacy of Kain” game is actually coming, though a registered URL is hardly evidence that a new game is on the way. (The Joystiq post can be found here.)

It seems that only time will tell whether or not we’ll get a chance to return to Nosgoth.

Massive Xbox Live Games on Demand sale next week

It's that time of the year, gamers. That post Christmas-season lull where perhaps a handful of interesting games will be released - if we're lucky. Right now, you're probably playing "Dead Space 3" or "Metal Gear Solid Revengeance" (or whatever its ridiculous name is) or, if you're like me, still scrambling to finish games you got for Christmas. However, if you don't belong to either group listed above, Xbox Live has your back.

Starting on February 26 and ending March 4, Xbox Live will be holding a sale on an absolutely massive list of Games on Demand. Though I, personally, have always been a fan of actually having a physical disc and box to add to my collection, it's going to be hard to pass up on discounts that will reportedly be up to 75% off. The list of games included in the sale (which can be found below) doesn't include what their sale prices will be so you'd be wise to check out the following list and revisit the Marketplace on Feb. 26.

Oh and I know I've been updating rather infrequently lately but I have been working on a new "Whatever Happened To" which I'm hoping to have up later today. And if it isn't up, know that you've been on my mind.


Xbox Live Games on Demand sale: Feb. 26 - March 4

Assassins Creed
Assassins Creed 2
Batman Arkham Asylum
Batman Arkham city
Bioshock
Borderlands
Borderlands 2
Brotherhood
Call of Juarez
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Code Veronica
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements
Dead Island
Dirt 2
Dishonored
El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron
Fable III
Fallout 3
Fallout 3 New Vegas
GRID
Halo 3
Halo 4
Halo Reach
Halo Wars
Kane & Lynch Dead Men
Left for Dead 2
Max Payne 3
Metal Gear Solid HD
Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat vs. DCU
Orange Box
Portal 2
Raccoon City
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6
Red Dead Redemption
Revelations
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter X Tekken
Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition
TC's H.A.W.X.
Tekken 6
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
The Darkness
The King of Fighters XIII
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Tomb Raider Legend
Virtua Fighter 5
World at War

Far Cry 3 review: A slightly twisted tropical escape

It seems that in America, the divide between rich and poor is growing deeper everyday. While many struggle daily to bring home food for their families, there are many others who think nothing of buying wardrobes of designer clothes, taking lavish vacations and blowing tons of money on ridiculous parties. Jason Brody, the “hero” of “Far Cry 3” does not belong to former group (if you couldn’t tell by his amazingly bro-tastic name).

Jason and a group of friends including his two brothers, Riley and Grant, decide to take a trip to Bangkok and the usual rich-American-cavorting-in-a-foreign-land shenanigans ensue. These events are shown in a brief montage to start the game, ending with Jason and his friends skydiving onto an unnamed island in the South Pacific. The view soon pulls out to reveal that the images are being shown to Jason by a man sporting a mohawk and a crazed look in his eye.

Eventually we learn that this is Vaas, leader of a pirate group that controls the island, and that he has taken Jason and his friends prisoner and intends to ransom them off. We also quickly learn that Vaas is exactly as insane as he looks and has no intention of ever letting you or your friends leave the island. With the help of Grant, who has military experience, Jason escapes Vaas’ camp and from there on out, you’re completely in control of Jason and his experiences on the island.

 “Far Cry 3,” a first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal, is one of the most visually striking and competent first-person shooters I’ve ever played. It strays from the usual FPS territory by placing you in an open-world setting and turning you loose and differs from other open world FPS titles (like the “Elder Scrolls” or “Fallout” series’) by putting the focus squarely on blood-pumping action. Don’t be mistaken, “Far Cry 3” is still an RPG at its core. Jason has three skill trees to level up which unlock new abilities, but these aspects are blended with its action elements so perfectly you could make the case that it’s a shooter with RPG elements, and not the other way around.

After escaping Vaas’ camp, there are many activities to occupy Jason’s time. While saving your friends and escaping is the game’s main objective, there are many pirate camps to take over (which become fast travel locations), radio towers which reveal more of the island on your map as well as a handful of other activities like racing and target shooting. Completing any of these tasks will earn you XP as well as money, which can be used to purchase new weapons and upgrades for said weapons. But my favorite side activity in “Far Cry 3” is definitely hunting.

There are several animal species inhabiting the area and while you can hunt these animals to sell their skins, their hides serve a much more useful purpose. At the start of the game, Jason’s inventory size is rather small. He can only hold one or two weapons and a very small amount of ammunition. By hunting and collecting specific animal skins, Jason can craft new pieces of equipment that will allow him to carry more weapons, ammo and other items like grenades and C4. By making you earn these upgrades through hunting, rather than just buying them from a store, you feel that much more immersed and attached to the character.

But crafting goes beyond creating new pieces of equipment. Early in the game, Jason meets Dr. Earnhardt, a strung-out man who offers to hide Jason’s rescued companions but also teaches Jason valuable crafting recipes. These recipes let Jason create standard health syringes as well as many other injectables that will buff his abilities, such as doing more damage to animals and breathing underwater for longer periods of time. Like the equipment crafting, you’ll need to find the appropriate materials to create these syringes, which you can collect by harvesting local plant life. 

Vaas is not a man you want to cross

But “Far Cry 3” is more than a collection of activities and side quests. The story follows Jason as he attempts to rescue his friends and escape the island and plays out over the course of numerous, expertly crafted missions. Each mission will test all of the skills you’ve acquired so far – both in terms of unlocked skills as well as your own mettle. Despite being a stranger in a strange land, Jason eventually befriends a handful of people who help him on his quest. One of the first people he meets is a man named Dennis who introduces you a tribal leader named Citra. Citra is the leader of the Rakyat, a native people who have suffered greatly under pirate rule, and she promises to give Jason the power he needs to kill Vaas and save his friends.

On the surface, the story of “Far Cry 3” seems like another thinly veiled excuse to allow players to kill hundreds upon hundreds of faceless bad guys. But when you examine the story, minus the extremely well-put-together shooting mechanics, “Far Cry 3” is the story of Jason Brody dealing with unbelievable hardships. Early in the game (and I mean before you even escape Vaas’ camp), Jason has to deal with not only the loss of his brother Grant, but also taking his first life. The action visibly shakes Jason but he doesn’t have time to process all that’s happening around him – he just watched his brother die and if he wants to survive, if he wants any of his friends to survive, he needs escape and do whatever is necessary to rescue his remaining friends.

As the game progresses, Jason’s sanity seems to be waning. Reality and hallucination start blending together. Jason’s friends also begin to notice a change in him and are scared for his well-being. Jason’s motives seem to change from merely trying to rescue his friends to getting revenge on the pirates and he seems to be drifting further and further from the person his friends once knew.

I didn’t expect it, but I liked Jason Brody’s story almost as much as I liked this game’s stellar mechanics. I’m a sucker for open-world, FPS titles so I knew that I would have fun with “Far Cry 3” despite not knowing much about the story. Once I got around to actually playing the story missions (I’m very OCD when it comes to finishing side activities before tackling main quests), I found it was as full of colorful characters as it was disturbing violence and mature situations. Luckily, these characters feature well-done voice acting and the violence isn’t too gratuitous, but rather serves to highlight the brutal way of life on the island.

 “Far Cry 3” also features a cooperative mode as well as a multiplayer mode but honestly, don’t bother with them. And I say don’t bother with them for a couple reasons. The first being that the single player is, hands-down, the best part of this game and you’ll want to focus the majority of your time with that mode. The second reason being that, at best, these modes are nothing special, and at worst, take away from the achievement that is the game’s single player mode.

The multiplayer mode of this game is serviceable and works fine, but there isn’t much special about it. It’s pretty standard for shooters to offer some sort of multiplayer mode these days, but that also means that there are plenty of alternatives. And the co-op mode just feels like a good idea that was executed in all the wrong ways. Considering that the single-player portion of the game is so open and rewards thinking critically about situations, the cooperative mode is strangely linear and does little more than spawn enemies in front of you to be killed. This mode offers a separate story (a ship captain sells his vessel, and its entire crew, to the pirates and four of them, the playable characters, fight back) but it’s rather uninspired and lacks the depth and feeling of the single player story. It’s frustrating because this mode ultimately could’ve been a stellar addition to the single player, but instead ends up feeling like a tacked on waste of potential.

Despite the “what-could-have-been” multiplayer modes, it can’t be stated enough times how incredible the single player story and adventure are. The amount of content to experience rivals other, top-tier FPS adventures and is one of the most visually stunning games I’ve played since “Skyrim.” The sense of progression you get from the skill trees, gradually changing from a pampered rich kid to skilled warrior is one of the best I’ve ever experienced in a game. On top of that, “Far Cry 3” allows you to play your way and whether that way is sneaking through the shadows, silently executing foes or blasting open the front door with explosives and machine guns, lets you have fun while still experimenting with all the possibilities for mayhem that it offers.

Some time has passed since “Far Cry 3” was released so it should be easy to find it discounted or used by now. But even if you can’t consider buying it anyway because not many games offer the amount of quality content that this title does.

Dead Space 3 demo thoughts - Strategically dismembering its roots

Going into the demo of Visceral Games’ latest title, “Dead Space 3,” I had the mind set that I would like it. Even while playing it I told myself that I was enjoying it and that all its shiny new additions were worthwhile.

After playing the demo a few times and thinking back on the first two games in the series, I’m not entirely sure I agree with my initial notions.

I’ll do my best not to give into the rampant overreaction the internet seems to have had to “Dead Space 3.” With the introduction of a cover system, microtransactions and co-operative play, many people claimed that Electronic Arts and Visceral Games were throwing out what made the series great in favor of including popular gaming trends.

After playing the demo a few times, I can say that the atmosphere of “Dead Space 3” is definitely not as claustrophobic or as innately scary as previous titles. I can’t put my finger on why exactly but a big reason is the setting of the game – the frozen planet of Tau Volantis – just doesn’t feel like a “Dead Space” setting. But more than that, the action of this title is quicker too, making it feel like more of a straight up action game than a series that started out as a scare-filled survival horror game. The increased pace also comes with another, somewhat unnecessary addition – fighting humans. Though fighting Necromorphs has always required good aim and a fast trigger finger, taking on human characters feels awkward to me. Luckily, the new cover system actually works surprisingly well and also includes the ability to crouch. I’ve also noticed that, in the demo at least, Clarke was limited to two weapon slots, rather than four. However, when you consider that created weapons can all make use of an alternate fire weapon, creating two super-weapons is basically like having four guns.

This brings me to the most important addition to “Dead Space 3,” one that actually expands on the core ideas of the series, an in-depth weapon crafting system. Rather than just using found weapons, Isaac Clarke can now create a multitude of new weapons with just a few different parts. Weapons are based around either being one-handed or two-handed and can feature secondary fire as well as pieces which can augment the power and abilities of your base weapons. It’s actually a very deep system that rewards experimentation by allowing you to reuse pieces rather than penalizing you for trying out combinations . The new crafting mechanic also encourages more exploration to scrounge for new parts.  Though the some weapons feel overpowered, I eventually came to realize that their power is balanced by deadlier Necromorphs and an overall quicker pace to the action.

While I can’t speak on the microtransactions first hand (having been a demo and all), I can say I’m not sure why they were needed. The “Dead Space” series has always been about tense, close-quarters survival-horror action and giving gamers the ability to spend real money on more powerful equipment kind of reduces any tension or fear of running out of ammo during a fight.

I also didn’t try the co-op, but I can’t see how including it will be a burden to the series. Yes, having someone to watch your back would significantly cut down on the scares but it seems that the series is moving away from a strictly survival-horror vein anyway. The horror aspect of “Dead Space 3” seems to come more from the ghoulish monsters you’ll battle and less from the atmosphere of creepy environments or the fear of running out of ammo. But, you could always just play the game solo and still experience the same story since it is still very much about Isaac Clarke.

After playing the demo, I was impressed with its detailed visuals and outdoor environments but still not quite thrilled with the move toward more action and away from survival horror elements. The tense, corridor shooting of the first and second titles, where conserving ammo and picking your battles are keys to surviving, are now replaced with copious amounts of ammo and uber-powerful weapons. The giant boss battles remain, mixed in with liberal use of Quick Time Events, but unfortunately these elements of the game seem to take precedence over presenting a genuinely scary experience.

Considering the reviews I’ve read and the demo I’ve played, I’m thinking that waiting until “Dead Space 3” is available at a discounted price might be the best idea.