Drakengard

Drakengard Review

By, Charles Cosgriff II

Ride a dragon. Kill stuff. That pretty much sums up Drakengard, Square-Enix’s latest opus. Sure, it sounds good on paper, but does the execution give it justice?

The basic premise is simple enough: the evil Empire has laid siege to the Union and kidnapped its princess. That all changes when a much larger conspiracy unfolds. Everything comes to rest on the shoulders of a single warrior and his pact-partner, a dragon.

You’ll start right in the heat of things, taking control of the hotheaded Caim. Things already look grim as a horde of enemies stand between you and the castle where your sister, the princess, is trapped. It’s up to you to cut down anyone in your path or risk everything. Fans of the Dynasty Warriors series of games will immediately recognize the similarity as you hack your way through literally hundreds of enemy troops.

Drakengard certainly gives you a lot to do and see. Your actions in battle can affect the advancement of the story line. Throughout the adventure, you’ll be given a shot at obtaining powerful allies, each with their own set of side-quests to accomplish before they’ll join up. Your own actions will also affect the story line, as the game boasts several endings, stages, and tons of weapons. Sound good? The premise is solid, but it just doesn’t play out well.

From the first glance, Drakengard is no great shakes. Stages are massive, flat and plain, but not hard on the eye. You’ll fight the same enemies over and over, but with thousands placed throughout the game, the lack of variation is mostly understandable. Thousands of troops are a lot to handle, especially on the slowly aging PS2 hardware. Still, a few more model types would have been welcomed. As always, the cinemas are gorgeous and superbly done in terms of both production and storytelling.

With that said, the music is a major disappointment. The powerful orchestral sound initially implies something spectacular, but it quickly devolves into a repetitive techno beat. In other words, you’re stuck with the same few chords constantly thumping for the duration of the battle, each of which can last upwards of a half-hour. It’s an unfortunate and drastic change from the usual elegance of a Square-Enix soundtrack.

Mostly mediocre from an aesthetic sense, it’s up to Drakengard’s gameplay to pull it through – and it has the right stuff to succeed. Drakengard sports two main areas of gameplay: weapon-oriented on the ground and aerial combat atop a vicious dragon. On the ground, Caim begins armed with just a sword, but the number of weapons soon swells, adding some nice variety. Each weapon has its own set of combos and magic. As you defeat opponents, your magic capacity will increase. Once it hits the optimum amount, you can cast powerful magic attacks that deal strong amounts of damage.

The initial thrill of one man against hundreds quickly dwindles. The controls are a bit clunky, making it hard to aim your attacks with precision. When the enemies have you surrounded, it’s not easy to clear them away – and you’ve got to go through hundreds. Troops of your own would have greatly helped, but it gets tiring fast when you’re getting swarmed at every turn.

Throughout the battle, you’ll receive missions that usually involve running somewhere and killing something. They’re painfully dull and add little to the experience: run here, kill them. Run there, kill them. Run way over there… kill them.

Allies are the biggest disappointment. The story leading up to their recruitment is very well done, but the problem comes in actually utilizing them. Prior to a foot mission, you’re allowed to select an ally. Your partner can be summoned at your discretion, but only for a limited time: their strength will slowly diminish over time, and when you factor in more lost strength through enemy attacks, they don’t last long. It comes off as more of a novelty than anything else.

On the plus side, the wide variety of weapons helps to balance the gameplay. Dozens of weapons ranging from swords and axes to pikes and spears are scattered throughout the game, and each type handles just a bit differently with their own set of combos and magic attacks. The more each weapon is used, the more powerful it becomes, gaining stronger magic and longer combos. You’re able to carry a specific number into battle and change between them on the fly, so you’ll always have the right weapon for the right situation.

While the ground battles were lacking, the aerial assaults are even worse. These stages are liberally interspersed and require you to pilot a dragon through enemies taken to the air. Again, it just plays clunky. It’s hard to aim your fire attacks, and the dragon is just plain slow and awkward. As your dragon gains experience through battle, it becomes quicker and more powerful, but not enough to balance things out.

It’s also a much more straightforward task than the battles on foot: basically, shoot your way from point A to point B, without any allies, weapons or missions. There’s little variety, among both scenery and opponents. It boils down to “fly here, shoot that, fly there, shoot that.”

Despite all that, Drakengard shines brightly when it comes to its powerful story. The tale is told with the usual eloquence associated with a Square-Enix game. New endings and levels are obtained by beating certain combinations of quests, and in turn unlock more endings and levels. There are five endings in all, and almost twice the normal levels once everything has been unlocked. Each new side-quest and ending delivers a little more to the overall adventure.

The downside? You’ve got to hack through a whole lot just to see it all. While this should add to replay value, the lackluster gameplay will keep many gamers from the full experience. A nice way to cover up the lacking gameplay would have been to add multiplayer (and Drakengard screams for it), but a co-op mode is sadly and surprisingly absent.

The bottom line is that Drakengard just isn’t fun enough to keep you playing. With repetitive missions, no multiplayer and mediocre gameplay, it often devolves into a chore. Its deep story line and massive amount of weapons to collect may intrigue Square-Enix or Dynasty Warriors fans, but for everybody else, it’s a rental.

Drakengard Screenshots

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Drakengard Videos

Drakengard Intro Trailer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1hH5ZTxgPU[/youtube]

Drakengard Official Trailer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQAHvwWFogI[/youtube]

Drakengard Guides / Links

Drakengard Wikipedia Entry

FAQ/Walkthrough