Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action RPG

Publisher: Square-Enix

Developer: Cavia

ETA: Q2 2004

Review: Dynasty Warriors 4 (Playstation 2)

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Drakengard

(Hands-On)

Whenever I hear about an upcoming game that is directly tapping into gameplay elements that were made popular by other series a bunch of red flags instantly fly into the air. As much as I want to be optimistic about the situation and see that this new game take these popular features and really improves upon them, the end result often comes off as a superficial novelty. This is exactly what I'm seeing from the demo I received from Square-Enix for their upcoming effort, Drakengard, on the PS2. It's an action RPG that takes the dragon riding of Panzer Dragoon and combines it with the mass-melee action of the Dynasty Warriors series, with both feeling very two dimensional and not really bringing anything new to the scene.

Starting things off with some dragon riding, the demo has players riding their scaly steed as they try to take down some towering Cyclopes. In this mode players soar around as they dodge incoming fire, trying to lock onto their targets as well as let loose high-powered magic attacks. The problem here is that this is all there is to the dragon riding in this mode. There's not a lot of depth, just dodge, dodge, shoot, turn around, and shoot some more. There's no sense of dog fighting, no visceral experience.

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At least the melee mode is slightly better, though not by much. At it's core the melee combat is a page right out of Dynasty Warriors, facing off against massive numbers of enemies all at once. Making things a little more interesting is that players can change their weapon on the fly from a wide selection ranging from slow heavy swords to spears for range to smaller speedy swords, each weapon with its own magical special attack. But more importantly is that players can mount their dragon and fly around the field blasting huge swathes of enemies at once, though be careful of archers and catapults that can knock you out of the sky. The problem comes in that all the enemies I encountered in the demo were as dumb as a post. They just walk up for a walloping and offer very little resistance. While the Dynasty Warriors games have certainly had their share of pushovers as well, at least that series also has fairly skilled generals and captains that do a good job of testing gamers' mettle. There are no challenges as such from what I could see in the demo.

Another problem that showed itself in the Drakengard demo comes in the graphics, though, truth be told, it is only really a problem depending on your stance in terms of game visuals. The problem here is that there really isn't a lot of detail in the graphics, at least in relation to the Dynasty Warriors series, Drakengard's closest contemporary. The visuals in this game are very plain, as armor, weapons, landscape and the like simply don't jump off the screen like they do in the Dynasty Warriors series. Something that could prove very aggravating to gamers who greatly value detail in their graphics. But despite this lack of detail, it's understandable why it was done. With the lower levels of detail in Drakengard's graphics, it will help to ensure that the game doesn't suffer from slowdown, something that the Dynasty Warriors series has always had a problem with. One other problem that the game's graphics suffer from is having a bad camera. In games like this where enemies are constantly swarming you, it really is necessary to have a relatively free-moving camera to keep track of everything properly. This isn't present in Drakengard. What we have here is a camera that moves very fast when players adjust it, and only allows for 180 degrees of movement, snapping back to its default position after players let go of the R3 button. This is really annoying as it greatly reduces players ability to properly keep track of the goings on around them.

But what we have here from looking at what's available in the demo is what could turn out to be a rather shallow experience. There's no sense of urgency in the dragon riding portions and the enemies are too stupid in melee-mode to make it fun. If Square-Enix can find a way to turn up the heat in these areas before the game ships Drakengard could be pretty darn fun, but as it stands I'm filled with skepticism as to the game being worth one's time.

Mr. Nash

(January 26, 2004)