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Eragon
When Eragon finds a polished blue
stone in the forest, he thinks it's the lucky discovery of a poor farm
boy; maybe now he'll be able to buy food for the winter for his family.
But when the stone turns out to be an egg from which a baby dragon is
hatched, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as
the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is
thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power.
With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for
guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous
terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows
no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders?
The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands. Based on the best-selling
novel by Christopher Paolini.
With the movie yet to be released in Australia, Eragon on PS2 flies onto
the console that transforms the gamer into Eragon, a dragon rider who as
a boy, discovered an ancient dragon. With the egg hatching, Eragon and
Saphira soon became close friends and when the world is in danger of
being ripped apart from war, your choice will deliver the tides of war
to victory, peace or defeat.
In its essence, Eragon is extremely reminiscent of the old adventure/RPG
games that is set in a fantasy universe which is similar to the
Lord of the Rings or Dungeons & Dragons. The basic premise behind Eragon
is that the game is your traditional adventure/action game with a few
aspects of the role-playing game genre added here and there. The game
itself is also based on the first part of the trilogy that will be
released on the 14th of December here in Australia and will take you
through the early stages of Eragon's life as he becomes a dragon rider.
Whether you're fighting your way
through a plethora of deadly assailants or solving that age of old
mystery (puzzles), the gameplay although bringing
nothing new to the gaming world is an entertaining action adventure that
is more for your teen to twenties gamer.
With this in mind, the gameplay of Eragon is slightly linear as it
follows the storyline from the movie that nicely implements combat and
magic into the gaming world. As the game is your more traditional hack
"n" slash game, the developers have introduced various "boss" battles
during the game to help spice up the regular gameplay with these fights
ranging from extreme easy to extremely difficult.
As Eragon progresses through the game, he is awarded new skills and
spells to assist him to battle the dark forces that surround our young
hero. The artificial intelligence of your enemies is a little bit of a
mixed bag with most gamers having no difficulties in dispatching their
foes. I must admit that the developers have done a great job at the
control system of Eragon and it feels perfect on the Sony DualShock
controller, even though at times, you may think that there are too many
buttons.
Graphically, Eragon looks rather impressive on the PS2, although not as
flash as the PC version. However, the background environments have been
professionally created that feature a variety of lighting and special
effects from the powerful spells to the flights of the dragons. All the
characters have been painstakingly designed and contain high detailed
textures, with Eragon accurately representing his movie-world
counterpart.
As with the graphics, the title features a majestic soundtrack that
suits the fantasy genre perfectly and match that with some professional
voice acting and it's plausible to get lost in the world of Eragon.
There are also a variety of sound effects that range from the sounds of
spells, swords and ancient beasts flying through the sky. Needless to
say, it sounds phenomenal through the right surround sound setup.
In conclusion, Eragon is your traditional movie turned game that
features a sturdy gaming engine, decent graphics and a better than
average storyline that will sure make this game a hit this summer,
especially with the movie just about to be released. A great game for
under the Christmas tree. |
