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Developer: Surreal Software
Publisher: SCEA
Genre: Adventure
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 30 Jan 02
User Rating
10 (4 votes) -
Overview
At first look Drakan: The Ancients' Gates can be mistaken for Zelda game with a female character. With so many similarities it's almost surprising that it isn't a Zelda game. What does make it different is that Drakan has a much vaster world with more quests and of course a ride-able dragon that has all the fixings. He can breathe fire, fly, talk and he's your best friend throughout the game. So of course this game is a blast, I mean come on you have a dragon on your side! A dragon!
Gameplay
Drakan is a third person action game where you play the role of Rynn, the young warrior who sets out from her home town to avenge the death of her brother accompanied by her trusty dragon Arokh. The addition of Arokh to the game adds elements that without him wouldn't have been possible. Since this is an action game, when you ride Arokh it is possible that you will encounter flying foes, or even ground foes that you can kill from atop the huge dragon. As for Rynn, she uses many hand weapons such as swords, axes and bows when these break they need to be repaired before they can be used again. Rynn does however have the ability to use magic when a spell is taught to her or bought. There is a leveling system in this game. When you level you will receive a certain amount of skill points which go towards leveling up Rynn. Arokh on the other hand does not level, he simply learns stronger spells sometimes after defeating a boss.
The camera is fine, but no matter how far you push the left analog stick Rynn never seems to go any faster then a jog. Sometimes you will find yourself stuck in a corner and cannot get out. This is a huge inconvenience when you are trying to get away from a monster, but you just can't get out of the corner. When flying with Arokh the controls are a bit strange, once you know them though they are quite good. There is also a target system for battle. You can target an enemy or shuffle through to the one you want to be locked on to.
In some dungeons Rynn must leave Arokh behind and fight alone. A huge dragon like that just can't fit into a tiny door leading to an even tinier passage. The funny thing is that once you are inside most dungeons it seems that there is more then enough room for Arokh to feel comfortable.
The voice acting is superb for Drakan. Rynn sounds like she belongs in the medieval times where the game just happens to be set, and the queen Lady Myschala sounds exactly how someone would picture a queen sounding. There was only one voice throughout the entire game that was awful, ironically or not that voice was that of Arokh's. Most of the time it's extremely hard to understand what he is saying so you will find that you will need to read the subtitles to find out what is going on. Arokh really should have been a mute. As for the music in the game, it is very quiet and for the most part not even there. Maybe it was a flaw in the game, but it just never seemed to be there unless it was a battle, or it decided it wanted to finally kick in. Of course the sound effects weren't bad, it has everything from thunder and lightning to a small crackle of fire.
One thing that was annoying was the loading time. It feels like the game loads more then you actually get to play it. Dying is always something that most will not want to happen, since you end up sitting for what seems like hours to load just so you can die again then watch the loading screen some more. Of course there is the opinion to save whenever and where ever you want, but that really doesn't help the fact that it takes so long to load.
There is a bug in the game, a very bad bug. It causes you to lose your dragon and not be able to get him back. It happens when you don't take your dragon with you through say a tunnel to another part of the region. Since the game prompts you to save when you enter a new area, once you realize you forgot him you can't just turn off the game and this time bring him with you. This can be avoided by making sure the Arokh cannot come with you before entering a new area.
Graphics
The graphics are alright, they could have been much better though. Many of the foes start to look the same after a few hours of gameplay. On the other hand the worlds are all huge and very detailed, that probably explains the long loading times. The character models are alright, there is nothing wrong with them though they probably could have been a bit more detailed. The weapon design is well done. Each weapon has its own look to it, and some have a magical look to them. So you can tell that they will be special even before you have enough money to buy and use it. The water in the game was disappointing. It kind of just sits there and doesn't move with the exception of waterfalls. Other then that it doesn't have that real feeling of water. Same with grass, snow and dirt you can make footprints in them but they still don't look or feel all that real. So the graphics could have been much better.
Fun Factor
Drakan: The Ancients' Gates is a very fun game to play, with the downfall of a few choppy graphics and long loading times. Other then those few things, the game itself is quite fun. The storyline is intriguing and the battles are more then fun, since there are so many ways to battle. In the air on the back of Arokh, or on the ground with Rynn's weapons and Arokh helping out as best as he can. It also has a fairly good replay value, because each time you play it again you can make Rynn have different strengths and weakness.
Overall
The flaws in this game make it less enjoyable then it could have been. It's still a good game though, and very fun to play. The best thing about the game is the gameplay, so if you can get over the fact that it's not perfect then this is defiantly a buy, if you can't get over that then don't even bother looking at it. Also if you like dragons and medieval times then either rent the game or even buy it, because if you like those things you will enjoy it.
- Gameplay
8.0 - Graphics
7.0 - Fun Factor
8.0 - Overall
8.0
