Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm

"Premier hacking action"

As far as fantasy themed hack 'em ups are concerned, Dreamcast owners are spoilt for choice. There's the wonderful Sword of the Beserk, the not-so-wonderful Soul Fighter, the Diablo clone Record of Lodoss War and even arguably, Soul Calibur. And that's not to mention the liked of Dragon Riders and many other RPGs. So how does Dragon's Blood (Draconus for US owners) stand up against the competition? Read on and see...

From the outset it becomes clear how well presented the game is. Each mission begins with a voice over informing the player of the history of the area they are about to visit and explains the objectives. The voice acting here is great and the artwork displayed during these is amazing. Plotwise, it's quite complicated - a terrible even called the backlash occured many years ago in the past which has the thrown the world into chaos and now an evil creature known as Rakka is collecting ancient artefacts to raise all manner of nasty things. Also, a mysterious species of foul beings known as the Draconus has started appearing... you play as either Aeowyn or Cynric, both of which specialise in different areas (Aeowyn specialises in spells, Cynric in combat).

Each level is a huge environment set in various suitably arcane settings such as floating castles, dark lakes, swamps and Elven villages. Luckily a map which shows you where you are and where you need to be going saves us from lots of potential aimless wandering. From the epic Tolkien-esque plot and gruff voice-overs you'd be forgiven for expecting this to be a completely straight-faced game, but thankfully your character is full of smart put down lines to the amusingly dumb trolls and Krujen who he/she encounters. One of particular note is the Goblin Polug who pops up on numerous occassions. This element of genuinely funny humour adds no end to the overall appeal of the game. With the puzzles simply being a case of finding items and taking them to locations, the emphasis is on the action phases - and here Dragon's Blood doesn't disappoint. Whilst essentially repetitive, the fights appear surprisingly natural and hacking at trolls with various big axes, swords and maces is incredibly fun.

Graphically speaking, although the animation is a little odd (you feel like you're floating around), the stages are very well done. The castles, forests and waterfalls are enormous in scope and the lighting effects (particularly with the stained glass windows on the Abbey level) are very good. All of the stages are varied too, which is nice. The audio in this game is similarly great. The music, whilst generally tucked away in the background, is very atmospheric and effective and the creature sound effects are also fantastic - the growls of the swamp creatures are genuinely unnerving. The voice acting too is very good - the two lead characters, in particular Cynric, are excellently voiced and manage to convey a great deal of contempt and sarchasm towards the rest of the games inhabitants (an exchange between yourself and the spirit of a King is especially hilarious).

Featuring 15 huge levels and two sufficinently different characters to play through as, Dragon's Blood is going to take a while to get through. The difficulty curve is just about right too. That said, when you've played through as both characters there's precious little incentive to play through again. But with each level taking anywhere from 30 mins to 1 hour plus to complete, that's a lot to be going on with. Despite the simplicity of the gameplay mechanics, Dragon's Blood is still a joy to play, thanks a lot to the varied and fascinating environments, rich plot and offbeat humour. Overall, this is probably the best of the DC fantasy games, just about nudging Sword of the Beserk of its top spot, mainly thanks to it being a far larger game, even if the overall gloss of the package is not quite as high. Basically if you can find this game cheap (not difficult!), then I recommend anyone purchases it as quite simply it's the best of its type on Dreamcast.

GRAPHICS - 8/10 - Despite questionable animation, the huge environments and well designed enemies are extremely good.

SOUND - 9/10 - Wonderful voice acting with genuine humour and some top sound effects. The music is kind of non-existent, but that which you do notice is very good.

GAMEPLAY - 7/10 - The combat is essentially repetitive and the puzzles are very simple, yet thanks to the plot and humour you'll want to play it all the way through as both characters.

LIFESPAN - 8/10 - Fifteen very large levels (and a non-linear path through them) which take a long time to get through and two radically different characters to play as. It's not easy either, yet rarely becomes frustrating.

OVERALL - 8/10 - The best of the Dreamcast fantasy hack n slash 'em ups. An extremely high quality title that you won't regret playing. Great stuff.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/09/02, Updated 12/09/02