Douglass C. Perry felt he was "incredibly likeable", and "in a very true sense [...] a great videogame character". GameZone's Michael Knutson opined that he was a "wicked cool character", and Game Revolution's Johnny Liu named him a "great anti-hero". Kasavin again praised him in a review for Defiance, writing that "it's rare enough to find a truly memorable main character in a game, let alone two", and that the game's ensemble cast "[to some extent superseded] the problems in the gameplay". Ian Dransfield of Play has stated that "we totally and completely fell in love with [Kain]" and highlighted him as a "character who [needs] to be revived". Kain has also appeared in contention on several lists comparing video game characters, both critical and user-decided. A 2000 GameSpot readers' choice poll to determine the top ten video game villains ranked him at #10, and the same site's 2010 All-Time Greatest Game Villain contest included him as one of 64 candidates. He featured in IGN's 2005 Battle of the Badasses, surviving to the "Elite Eight" stage before being eliminated. A 2008 IGN Reader's Choice poll determined that he ranked among ten heroes most desired to appear in a Soulcalibur game, and he appeared in an IGN list of gaming's most notorious anti-heroes, sharing both honors with Raziel. He ranked as #34 in IGN's top 100 videogame villains list, was showcased as #2 on a 1UP.com list of the top five videogame characters named Kain/Kane, and ranked as #4 on the latter site's list of top ten vampires. GameDaily ranked him as #17 out of their top 25 anti-heroes, and GamingBolt listed him as one of "35 Characters We Want To See In Sony's Super Smash Bros". Joystick Division included him as #2 on their list of the top ten best vampires in video-game history, while Diehard GameFAN named him #8 on theirs. GamesRadar praised Kain's role as an antagonist, putting him in their 2013 list of the best villains in video game history at #59, but noted that he "lives in more of a grey area than most of the villains on this list". Some reviewers were less enthusiastic about aspects of the character, with IGN's Perry commenting that his Soul Reaver 2 dialogue was haughty and "overwritten", and Ivan Sulic considering his Blood Omen 2 incarnation "nothing more than an arrogant jerk with little to latch on to and