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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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£29.99
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£25.99
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£33.99
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