Dragon Valor

"A seriously underlooked Action/Adventure game with an RPG twist."

To put it simply, Dragon Valor is one stewpot of a game. It not only involves double-jumping from platform to plaftorm, like in a platformer, and smacking enemies around like in an action game, AND a riveting storyline, extensive levels, and hordes of different enemies, characteristic to an adventure game, but also goes the extra mile by incorporating a system never seen before on the Playstation: An RPG.

Yes, Dragon Valor is an RPG and an Action/Adventure game. It spans 2 disks and five chapters, and does it while continuing a very unique storyline. The game begins with you, Clovis, returning to his hometown only to find it burning to the ground, a dragon in tow. You watch as your sister is scorched crispy along with the rest of your town, when suddenly, you meet a person still alive. A Dragon Valor; a hero who has dedicated his life to the elimination of dragons. He gives Clovis his magic sword with his dying breath, and Clovis swears revenge on dragons everywhere. And so the actual playing starts. After a short prologue tutorial level, you enter the first of five chapters. Each chapter takes place with the previous chapter's protagonist's son/daughter as the main character. The game spans four generations, with each chapter building up to the next and adding to the storyline.

But how do you PLAY through the game, you ask? As stated earlier, the Dragon Valor incorporates a mix of RPG elements (stat increasing items, hit points and magic points) with action/adventure elements (real-time combat, button mashing to perform different combos, movement playing a key role in combat). You don't level up, but that's probably a good thing considering how often you switch viewpoints. Overall, the gameplay is surprisingly simple. Think of it as a mix between Medievil's combat system and Final Fantasy VIII's combat stats. Besides hacking and slashing, you will also pick up eight magic spells via tomes, with each spell having three upgradable levels of power. Sadly, only three or four spells will actually be required to win the game. Still, better to have to much than too little, and the other spells are still fun to play around with.

Of course, what would an RPG be without its music? Well, the music in Dragon Valor is good, not great, not average. Some tunes are extremely memorable, while others will hardly even be heard. Either way, you'll be hearing lots of both since they are recycled so much throughout the game. This may be considered repetitive, but it can also help to tie the game together as one game as compared to five separate games. To sum it up, the music is of good quality, but probably won't be up there with Final Fantasy soundtracks. The sound is roughly the same, with most deathcalls being the same, and most sword slashes have small variations thrown in there depending on the combo being performed.

The game's character anime-esque models and backgrounds are well detailed, but still can't make it up there with action classics. Some of the enemies even look better than the characters. On the plus side, the world map is pre-rendered, which gives the game a lot more life than if it was designed using the regular graphics engine. Still, the game looks almost as good as it plays, but not quite.

In summary, Dragon Valor is a plain good Action/Adventure/RPG that, while innovative and new, wasn't expanded on enough by Namco, holding the game down from its highest potential. Still, Dragon Valor is a good game, and is most certainly worth your buy (your USED buy, nonetheless).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/05