Eragon - 6/10
Eragon was a great book. So I was excited when the film came out. However, the film was horribly disappointing. Unfortunately, so was the game. I really thought a lot more could have been achieved with a powerful license such as this, enticing fans of the movie, and of the book to buy. But, instead, we are left, again, with another movie rip-off, shamelessly grabbing at your money and not caring for quality or giving the consumer a valuable product.
GAMEPLAY: I was severely disappointed in the gameplay. There is fun to be had, but overall the game is pretty easy and doesn’t provide much of a challenge. I think that the makers have attempted to put in a storyline, but even a big fan of the books like me can barely understand what they are talking about. They don’t explain who the characters are, or what they are doing, or why. I would have forgiven the lack of a plot if there was outstanding gameplay. Sadly, there isn’t. You don’t even get to play as Eragon, whom the game is named after. The only character you can play is Saphira, the dragon.
There is a sadly pathetic number of levels in the game. Only 9 story levels, and 9 “arena” levels. The story levels are all the same, kill some of these, get that spell, kill some more things, use the spell, kill some more, get another spell, question why you are doing this, oh look, you won! The arena levels aren’t anything special either, boasting about 8 “challenges” each, all of which involve 2 dragon teams fighting against each other, which, after the main story, you will soon get bored of.
The level select screen. Yes that is all of them…Blue = story level; Yellow = arena
The controls do take some getting used too, but once you have the hang of it, you can fly Saphira around each level, breath on things with her, snatch flying enemies (like vultures) out of the air, pick up enemies in your talons and eat them to replenish health, and make Eragon shoot arrows and use various spells from her back. In arena mode you can also command Eragon to jump onto an enemy dragon’s back (if in range), and attack the enemy rider with your sword.
While I was playing I couldn’t help notice that when I had to chase something, Saphira would never go fast enough, but when I was trying to pick off an enemy, I could never get her to slow down, or get in the right position for the kill. This became quite frustrating, but, due to only having 9 levels, it wasn’t able to annoy me for long…
There is no online multiplayer, only Ad-Hoc. Having online would have made the game a lot better, being able to play custom arena battles against random people (or friends, if you have any I guess…) would have been great fun.
Overall, an ok effort, but left a lot going begging and, despite great potential, could have been much, much better.
6.5/10
An arena battle. Oh no I’m hit!
SOUND: The background music is nice, nothing amazing, but at least it isn’t so damn awful you want to pull your ears off. The voice acting made me mad though. When I heard Saphira call out “Eragon, I’m getting hurt!” the first time, I laughed. I laughed hard. But after a few times the novelty wore off and it dawned on me that it sounded like a cheap blonde bimbo was saying it. And that disturbed me. The voice acting on the other characters was, well, they sounded kind either overly dramatic, or like they were dead.
The other random noises in the game weren’t very well done either. When I shot a flame ball, it sounded just like a softer version of the sound I got when I destroyed a wall of rocks, or collapsed a trebuchet. Not. Much. Variety. At. All.
6/10
Attacking another rider – only in arena mode
GRAPHICS: Well, I wasn’t expecting amazing graphics, especially from a psp game, but these ones were pretty good. Admittedly, they are quite blocky, and could have been smoothed out a little more, but each area looks markedly different. When you fly up close to and enemy their face is just a mush of colours, but you spend most of your time in the air, and you aren’t really focusing on the finer details in your surroundings. There could have been more variety in the way enemies look, but still, pretty good graphics.
7.5/10
A pretty standard level
OVERALL: Eragon is a fun game, but it leaves a lot to the imagination, with pretty much no storyline, and a pathetic amount of levels. The arena levels don’t really add to the playtime, because you are just doing the same thing over and over again. Online play would have added so much but for some reason hasn’t been included. Still, there is a strange kind of addiction to the game and you’ll enjoy it while you are playing it. It remains though, a wasted opportunity.
6.5/10
By insectoid
Please leave feedback and let me know how to improve!
Submitted by insectoid
10/12/2007
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