Drakengard 2

"Why did they do it?"

Why did they change the best part of the previous game?

Second ever review. Be thankful I ain't prolific. ;)

Onwards!

Graphics
As you come into the game , you get a horrible sense of deja vu. If you've played the first Drakengard to death (like me) and enjoyed the hell out of it (like me) you will wonder why they changed the graphics so little. In fact, in some areas, they seem to have degraded. Yes, they are relatively pretty, but the pop-up is still atrocious. You can still get shot by enemies outside your viewing range. The in-game graphical cut-scenes are actually worse than the original game. The FMVs are shorter and seem to have advanced not a millimeter over Drakengard. Yeesh. 6/10. And I'm being nice.

Sound
Ah. Game fall down go boom. This game sets a new low for voice acting. Move over Resident Evil, your reign is finished. Standard "English" male and "English" female leads, both of whom sound like they're on drugs, the latter heavily sedated. The other voices are barely good enough, and the main bad guy voiced Oscars Orchestra. Nuff said. The music is varied, but uniformly bland. And the sound effects are, again, not better and in some cases worse than the original. Yeesh again. 5/10. And if you really dislike bad voice acting, knock off another two points.

Gameplay
Finally, something... nope, just as bland as before and, again, no real advance on Drakengard. The single real difference in the game engines is the combo system. You can vary between square and triangle to unleash, well, rather rubbish attacks. There is no weight behind blows, and most attacks go straight through enemies without bothering them. And the blocking system? Oy vay. Press button to block and move very slowly. Press square whilst blocking to parry the blow. End of system. Oh, but you can be surrounded and attacks from the side and rear can't be defended. And you will be surrounded. Especially if you're on the level with "time distortion" (or "we can't think of how to make this bit harder, so we'll slow down the player, but not the enemies"). If you change your weapon, you likely change the character too. Each character has to level up individually. Your main character uses swords, another staves, another axes and the last spears. Oh, yes, didn't I mention? Massive reduction in the number of weapons types available. And many of the weapons you remember and love from the original are back, only in half-assed form. Clubs and polearms are back as "swords" and "longswords". And the magic that was so weak in the latter stages of the last game? It's back, and even weaker. Magic attacks are now even less useful, but they do keep your Chain meter going.

Ah, yes, the Chain meter. Every time you hit a foe, the Chain goes up. If your Chain goes above 50, you get a speed boost to your weapon swings, then another at 100. If the chain reaches any variation of 100, you get an orb to boost your health or magic. Get 1000 or any variation thereof, you get... wait for it...3 grand in money and a big explosion to deck most of the enemies around you, which most likely breaks the Chain. Woo. Breaking the Chain gives even less Exp than the last game too.

Fighting from the dragon is no better. The big draw of Drakengard over similar titles like Dynasty Warriors was that you got to ride a big-ass flamethrowing flying lizard. Now, it feels shallow. The numbers of enemies on each level is now so low that you can incinerate the entire level in less than a minute. unless you're in the later stages, in which case every enemy you fight suddenly gets fireproof. Not fire deflecting, like in the last game, fireproof. Like doing 10 out of 1000 damage king of fireproof. Needing 5 fireballs to the face and a magic attack fireproof. The differences between 1 & 2? You can use more than one magic attack on your dragon. You can bite a single foe for big damage, stomp on several foes, hit even more with many, many fireballs... and that's it. Big difference.

The flying levels are now even worse than the original. You can fire a single unguided, powerful fireball or several guided but less powerful attacks. You can get "breath spheres" if you kill something with an unguided fireball. These have replaced the magic attacks of last game. So you can't build up energy by attacking anymore, you have to resort to your unguided weapon, which can't hit anything other than unmoving or really stupid targets. There are several types of breath sphere. Two, perhaps three, are useful. Thanks Cavia!

Story
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The best part of the last game was the way you could dip into and out of the story. Going thoroughly through the different story and free expeition levels was great fun. Unlocking the different parts of the story in different ways worked fantastically well. Now you get the free expedition map, and a horribly linear storyline, whose missions you can only do in order. Gone is the darkness and doom-laden bleakness of the last game and replacing it is sugary sweet overtones. There's death, but it seems so saccharine, and ephemeral (look it up on Wiki). You don't connect with the characters like you do with Caim from the first game. The bad voice acting doesn't help either. Say "No, no, I don't like it..." and try to inject some fear into your voice. Well done, you're hired! No, I mean it, you're better than the female lead. 2/10

Saving Graces
The basic system (kill entire armies, get annoyed, burninate the survivors with your dragon) just about holds up against the major-league messing around that Cavia have done. Is it an improvement over Drakengard. Yes. But only barely. And it has gained new and improved flaws. This series needed improvement. It needed playtesting. It needed something other than what was released. This series looks like it will end with this game, and from what I can see, it's a waste of a very good gameworld and characters. It seems Cavia just couldn't be bothered.

Final Score - 6/10

R.I.P.
Drakengard series
Loved Too Little, Messed With Too Much

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/06