Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very Incredible Game with Few Flaws, December 24, 1999
Drakan is one of my favorite games this year so far, and I have bought more than ten so far. First of all, the graphics are very nice (9/10). Although textures seem a bit blocky, they are still very well put together. Next, the music, sounds effects, and vocals are some of the best I have experienced (10/10). Also, the game have a very high fun factor (9/10), and tends to make you wonder where the hours go. Another great aspect is the replayability (9/10). This is one game that has many possibilities, and I can imagine playing it through many times before giving it up. My first real complaint is the difficulty (7/10). I am a very experienced gamer, but I found that after the first level or so, saving had to be done so frequently that it took away from the overall gameplay. Some parts were so hard, that I was tempted to save after every room or even after every jump even in easy difficulty! The other major flaw is the multiplayer (6/10). Normally, I get most of my gameplay time from multiplayer either because single player is easy or because single player gets old fast. In Drakan, it is the opposite; single player provides days on end of fun, and multiplayer is shallow and repetitive. In conclusion, Drakan is an excellent choice for anyone seeking a great game. Overall, it is one of the best buys out.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Me and my Dragon, April 2, 2000
Despite what some of the media hacks might have to say about Drakan: Order of the Flame, it is neither a Tomb Raider knock off or wannabe, because Tomb Raider simply does not have the level of atmosphere or sense of scale. This may be due to the fact that Tomb Raider is playing with a game and graphics engine that is nearly five years old, with only minor nips, tucks and improvements in its history while Drakan hit the ground running, (flying!), with a brand new game engine. In Drakan you take on the role of Rynn, a wasp-wasted redhead with much less attitude than Lara Croft, (Why is it that most male's concept of what it means to be a strong female character means they have to be snotty, arrogant, and pushy?), and is instead embarking on an adventure to rescue her kid brother. However, this doesn't last because she soon learns of plans to unleash a dark god who once menaced the world of Drakan a millennia ago. And in so doing, Rynn must awaken Aroch, a mighty fire breathing red dragon from his centuries long slumber, (players of AD&D might kvetch over a good-aligned red dragon, but this isn't really AD&D, though it certainly draws a great deal from the game). The levels vary from ground bound puzzle solving through eerie grimstone mines to aerial dogfights with other dragons while avoiding Greek-fire equipped ballista. At her disposal Rynn can find a never ending supply of weapons from mundane swords, maces, hammers and bows to enchanted weapons like flametongue & frotsbrand swords, magical bows and arrows, and her ultimate goal, the Runeblade, an artifact level great sword used in the last great war. And while the weapons have a finite life span, meaning they can only be used so many times before they break, the supply of weapons is vast and one needn't worry about running out of powerful magic weapons. Graphics are second-to-none in quality, and go far beyond simply colored lighting. Surreal's graphics engine incorporates some of the nicer elements such as flowing waterfalls, fish, positional shadows based on light sources; especially in instances where Rynn is carrying a flaming sword. Parents wishing to purchase this game for younger players will be well advised that this game is excessively violent in sword combat. The game allows you to remove limbs, heads and parts of heads with frightening regularity, complete with gushing spurts of blood and squishy sound effects. It is also possible to lock out the excessive amounts of gore and password protect it. The game suffers from a minor bugs, mostly inherent to on-line multi-player games, of which there are at least two patches available that solve most of these. There are some clipping issues, and I recall once getting trapped in a tower approaching the succubus lair and having to restart from my last save game position. I ran it at 640x480 & 800x600 on my P200 with a Creative Labs Video Blaster Voodoo 2 PCI card w/8 mb ram), with little slow down and should be fine on 233's and higher. Unlike Tomb Raider, Drakan doesn't suffer from nearly as many clipping or poor camera angle issues. What I think I really enjoyed most about Drakan is that it provides the player with a solid and immersive world in which to play. There is a tremendous sense of freedom for movement, both on and off the dragon. I would have preferred FMV cut scenes or even live action cut scenes using the stunning model they used for Rynn in press gatherings, but the video engine scenes are satisfactory and good enough to move the story along. Drakan is a solid game and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes their fantasy light with a side order of red dragon.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding game with a few flaws, July 4, 2000
Drakan is, simply put, an outstanding game. Although the story is somewhat simple -- the beautiful girl is out to rescue her brother, hooks up with the dragon, and realizes it's up to her to save the world -- the game is great fun to play.The graphics, first of all, are amazingly smooth, and the game runs well even on a lower end system like mine. All of the characters are reasonably well modeled, and the physics engine and gore are pretty fun, although it is awkward the big chunks of hacked meat bounce around like beachballs. The flames continue to burn on impact, and there is a whole variety of weapons, moves, and stuff to do or use. Many of the characters or levels are challenging, but not too difficult, and the enemy AI is so so. But the game has a few flaws as well. For example a plothole -- what is Rynn doing wearing so few clothes in the middle of winter? And on the more serious side -- levels lead into each other, so you can go back and forth between, say, the end of level 2 and the beginning of level 3. I did this by accident. I went back to 2, leaving Aroch in 3, and when I returned, he wasn't anywhere, so I had to start level 2 essentially over from my save-game. It's glitches like that that are very frustrating in a game. Still, this is an extremely smooth, enjoyable action game that should satisfy the vast majority of gamers. I recommend it.
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