Raziel is back, this time pursuing his nemesis, the vampire Kain, into Nosgoth's murky past.

For those of you who loved the original Soul Reaver and played it through to the end, you might have been disappointed by the cliffhanger ending of the game. Soul Reaver 2 picks up where the former left off. Kain had lured Raziel to a time chamber, where he activated the machine and dived into the vortex. Raziel follows, arriving in Nosgoth's past and meeting the time guardian, a mysterious old man called Moebius. From here the adventure continues.

As with the first game, you play Raziel, a being that is neither living nor dead (nor undead!) who exists in both the spectral and physical worlds. As the Soul Reaver, Raziel is fuelled by the souls of both the living and the undead, whether vampire, human, demon or spectre, you can feed on the souls of your defeated enemies to sustain your energy.

The graphics are improved from the first game, not just in their quality but in their variety and theme as well. The first Soul Reaver had a consistently dark and gothic style that was perhaps a little too gloomy. This is improved upon greatly, the colours are more vibrant and varied, with Nosgoth in the past being a picturesque and sunny place. The locations also change in the different time periods that Raziel visits, a clever idea that works very well.

As before, Raziel can move between the spectral and physical world. In the spectral world everything is a ghostly green and the physical walls of the place you are in are contorted and stretched unnaturally. The transfer effect between worlds is still excellent, as the walls all around you warp and twist. It is also necessary to transfer between the two worlds to make progress in the game, as openings appear and ledges lower in the spectral world, which give access to areas that are otherwise unreachable.

There is a good blend of combat and puzzle solving, which is complemented by a very strong (although sometimes confusing) storyline. There are a number of lengthy cut scenes in the game, mostly consisting of exchanges between Raziel and those he meets. Kain, the vampire Vorador, Moebius, the spirit of Ariel and the octopus creature that first rescued Raziel are all here and each puts a different slant on past and future events, leaving Raziel (and you) more and more confused about who to trust. The acting is of a high standard, although the dialogue has a tendency to be too wordy, the excessive utilisation of complex vocabulary is distinctly perplexing at varying instances. However, the story flows well and you become more and more intrigued to find out what will happen. There are also some great twists to the tale, making the plot far more intelligent and worthwhile than your average game.

The enemies in this game are more varied, although there is a sad lack of end of level bosses. There is a good range of demons, vampires and human foes to fight, which do require some skill to defeat. At first constant slashing works, but the enemies get tougher, forcing you to learn how to dodge and block. Unfortunately, the fun of the first game with the multitude of ways to kill vampires is less present, which is a real shame.

Meanwhile, the puzzles have definitely been improved upon. There are a series of temples that must be activated to imbue your Soul Reaver with the elemental powers of light, dark, air and fire. Each temple is large, infested with undead minions and features puzzles that require some thought, rather than the obvious block-moving puzzles of the first game. Each elemental power has one or more different uses that enhances the puzzles very well and the Soul Reaver is now permanently available to you as a weapon. This is a big improvement, as in the first game you had to be at full power to use it, so take one hit and it's gone. Now, whenever you use the Reaver it becomes more and more angry until it begins feeding on your own life energy, forcing you to use it in limited bursts and rely on earthly weapons some of the time too.

The game itself is pretty large, although for some reason it doesn't feel quite as big as the first game and ended perhaps a little sooner than I would have liked. But I suppose it's always good to leave the audience wanting more!

This sequel improves upon the original in almost every way, it's more of the same but bigger, better and brighter, with more variety, a stronger storyline, some great plot twists and plenty of puzzle and combat action. Fans of the first game will love it and anyone who enjoys the 3D action/adventure genre will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).