The original Soul Reaver was a sort of gothic-themed version of Tomb Raider, with a bit of The Legend of Zelda thrown in for good luck. This sequel, as you'd expect, is pretty much the same (with better graphics), but despite an almost overpowering feeling of déjà vu it's actually pretty good. The puzzles have been vastly improved so there's far less of the original's block-shuffling, and the combat has also been revamped to include a Zelda-style target lock-on that works rather well.

Although often fairly functional the graphics convey the atmosphere adequately enough and the game camera actually works very well--which is a rarity in itself. There are also no load times at all, and you wander throughout the game world never setting eyes upon the dreaded words "Now Loading". In fact, the only real weak link is the storyline and dialogue, which is the biggest load of sub-Anne Rice-style tosh you could ever hope to avoid. Still, if your book collection is primarily composed of trilogies, you may even enjoy that.

It may not be the most original game in the world but Soul Reaver 2 is actually rather good and fares surprisingly well against the somewhat similarly themed Devil May Cry. It's a rather different beast to Capcom's slash-'em-up, though, and some may even prefer its slightly slower, more thoughtful pace.--David Jenkins