The original Blood Omen was a top-down, 2-D, vaguely Zelda-esque action RPG that sold pretty much on the fact that you were the baddie and could run around drinking innocent people's vital fluids. This new game has the same concept, but because everything's now in 3-D, it comes across as nothing more than a poor man's Soul Reaver 2. Despite the fact that there's just as much combat in this game as Soul Reaver, you're saddled with a very sluggish control system and the puzzles have been made much less interesting--90% of them involve pulling switches. The game is also incredibly linear and the graphics, although quite detailed in places, suffer from some of the worst slowdown ever seen on the PS2.

In short, if you're a fan of the Legacy of Kain series buy Soul Reaver 2 instead. If you can take or leave all the vampire nonsense then Ico or Jak & Daxter are much better entries in the hall of 3D adventuring fame. --David Jenkins