GAME
Dungeons & Dragons
Dragonshard

Format: PC
Atari
£34.99

3 546430 115664
Age Restrictions: 12+
Available
04 November 2005


Hidden away at the centre of Eberron a massive crystal shard, know as the Heart of Siberys, lays waiting to be claimed. In a distant past, when dragons still existed, many fought. Through their destruction the shards of power were created. Now you must journey into the heart of the land to recover the fabled shard. The land is steeped in danger and every skill that you can bring as warrior or seer will be needed to complete your hazardous mission...

Dragonshard is the first game to be set in the new Dungeon and Dragons campaign setting, Eberron, a cinematic and war-torn world of action, adventure and intrigue where fantasy meets magical technology. Eberron is a land composed of a dark underworld ruled by monsters and demons, and a surface world home to the civilisations of humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes and more. Surrounding the world is the Ring of Siberys, a multicoloured belt of crystal shards and a source of tremendous magical power. Three forces are vying for control of a massive Dragonshard, known as the Heart of Siberys. The ancient artefact has come to rest in a mystical part of Eberron known as Xen'drik, once home to ancient and powerful civilisations; it is now a place of mystery and monsters.

Set up of the game is simplicity itself with a very nice loading screen, though this gets a bit less impressive every time you have to start the game up. Once into the main menu you get a chance to create your player profile or except one of those on offer. Unless you intend to play the game online your profile has little effect on the game. At this stage you also have the choice to play a stand alone skirmish, useful for learning the controls and honing your fighting skills. I always enjoyed these elements in previous games, sometimes you just want to come home and kill something without getting involved in the whole story arc.

In campaign you get to play as either The Order, with the mission to recover the Dragonshard which sit at the heart of the land, or as the Lizardfolk whose motivation is to defend the shard. The in game Campaign Mode, so often these days is minimal or non-existent. It's true that the strength of many of these games lies in the on-line multi-player mode. It's good to see that Dragonshard has remembered that not everyone on the planet has a broadband connection by providing a credible stand alone game. However if you do have a good Internet connection the on line game is a blast.

The games interface is relatively intuitive and if you're like me, and only read the manual when you get stuck, you should be up and running in no time. However, Dragonshard is a very dense game and you will only get so far into the game before the manual has to be brought out. The game happens on two levels on the land surface and in a number of underground caves and lost cities; well it is called Dungeons and Dragons after all.

Once into the game you get to choose who you're going to play. Both the Lizard Folk and The Order have a number of characters your can choose from with differing skills and strengths. In the first few chapters it matters little which one you pick, which is good as it allows you to see just how each of the characters perform in a fight. One of the things that I didn't like here was that the special moves aren't really that visually spectacular. I would have preferred a few cut scenes here to make the moves worth employing.

Overall the graphics are fine but not really great eye candy. This may not be a problem for hardened Dungeon and Dragons fans who are more interested in searching out arcane clues which will forward the narrative, but for the more casual gamer the lack of visual pep may be off putting. The same holds true for the vocal track, which can become very repetitive very quickly. Indeed, I turned the sound off after the first hour. It got to the point that if the same character told me that I was going in the right direction, even when I wasn't, I was going to kill something.

I'll admit that there is much in the game that I found repetitive. So why did I continue to play it? I can only imagine that within all of us a geek is hiding.

Charles Packer

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