"An Adequate and Entertaining 3D Hack and Slash That's Over As Quick As It Begins"

In what seems to be a shocking surprise for the Nintendo DS, we have a movie / book game that, interestingly enough, does not suck. And from what I've seen, it's one of the few games produced from Eragon that's actually worth playing.

Gameplay
So what exactly does Eragon have to offer? Well, simply put, it's a 3D Hack and Slash, something which is in fairly short supply on the Nintendo DS. Truth be told, Eragon is actually a very proficient hack and slash as well.

The system is simple enough. You have two main weapons,m your sword and your bow. You use these weapons to do the bulk of your fighting, and the more enemies you defeat with them, the more experienced you will become with them. Your weapons will gain levels, which has a different effect on the sword than it does the bow. With the bow, it increases your effectiveness (in short, the amount of damage you do with the weapon). With your sword, however, you learn new attacks, such as jumping attacks, spinning attacks, and so on; later in the game, leveling your sword ability to it's highest point will gain you a different weapon, so to speak, which is certainly something to look forward to.

In addition to your sword and bow, you'll also get magic. As you travel the world, you will find / gain new spells, which you must case by drawing their respective rune on the touch screen. Once you do so, a small ball will appear on the touch screen, which you must then flick to one side of the screen in order to have your character fire the spell. Much like your weapons, frequent use of your spells will increase their experience and their level, until you master them.

Similar to the spell system, items are also used by drawing a rune on the touch screen. Items such as healing herbs are found all throughout the world. There are some non-use items, however, such as dragon teeth and scales, which you collect so many of in order to increase your maximum health and magic.

The game also uses two touch screen mini games; the first of which is a simple drawing of runes to communicate with your dragon. Nothing amazing here, really. The second, however, is a bit more interesting; you're presented with your dragon, in full 3D, who you must maneuver along a track and go through rings, much like many older games. Again, nothing ground breaking, but it's a nice change from the normal gameplay, should you get tired of it.

Along your main quest, you'll also find a number of optional side quests, which involve finding a certain area within a time limit, hunting down certain items, and so on. These can get you various bonuses, such as Experience books and items.

The actual fighting is quite well done; when using your sword, you can execute a number of moves by pressing the attack button, as well as a finishing move and what not. You can target using one of the shoulder buttons, block, strafe and roll around, and it flows really well, even as you fight a number of enemies. It's very fluid and smooth, and in some ways, reminds me of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, mainly in it's system of targeting, rolling and attacking.

Still, though none of it's elements are particularly groundbreaking, the whole of them makes Eragon not only currently unique to the Nintendo DS, but also, a very enjoyable game to play.

Score: 8/10

Graphics
Another surprising area of Eragon are the visuals. You're given an entire (albeit small) 3D world to traverse, full of some small towns, caves, forests and other such places. Most of the scenery is very pleasing to the eyes and a lot of the areas are large. The character and enemy models look good and have no real major flaws to them. Amusingly enough, when this game was first being shown, many people believed it was not actually a Nintendo DS game and accused the video of being a hoax.

Still, Eragon is a pleasure to look at, from start to finish, and you won't find yourself wincing at it's use of 3D.

Score: 8/10

Control
One might expect a full 3D game to be hindered by the lack of an analog stick, but in reality, Eragon does quite well for itself. Though it does not offer any option to use the touch screen instead of the D-Pad (the touch screen has other uses), Even so, everything responds well and moves smoothly, allowing you to travel the world and battle with ease. The targeting system for fighting also works really well, allowing you to do battle with several enemies at once and hold your own quite well. No real complaints here, so I must give Eragon a rather nice score in this area.

Score: 9/10

Sound
I must admit, this is one area where Eragon had a lot of potential to excel, but didn't. While all of the sound effects are clear and fit, and the music is well done, there's nothing that really stands out or amazes you. This is particularly a problem for the music, which limits itself to only a small handful of well done but uninteresting tracks. It seems like the game could have had an amazing soundtrack if only some time were put into it. Not only that, but much of the music seems to be a bit out of place; for example, you'll hear music which sounds somewhat dark and brooding, like evil is on the horizon, when you're wandering through a simple little town where nothing of significance happens.

Score: 7/10

Difficulty
Another area where Eragon takes a little damage is it's difficulty. Truth be told, I don't suppose I could tell you what happens when you die in Eragon, because it really isn't an issue that comes up very often. People who are a bit newer to the genre may have a little more difficulty as they adjust to the system, but once you figure out the targeting and evading, this game is a walk in the park. Even the boss fights really aren't that much to speak of, with some of them being little more than upgraded versions of common enemies.

Score: 5/10

Replayability
Ah, the last area where Eragon suffers, and one of the more important. Due to the fact that you have no branching levels or customization, that part of the play through is going to be exactly the same each time you play it. The only thing which will really change is how fast or slow you gain new abilities, and the order in which you gain some spells. On top of that, the main game can be finished in a mere 5 hours, and to go through it to collect all of the spells and other things you've missed takes only about another hour or two, leaving you with a total play time of about seven hours. This actually isn't that bad, but the game's end seems a little abrupt, and it makes the game seem very brief. When you reach the final boss, you'll be a little shocked that you've reached that point already.

The only two unlockables are mini-games, the first of which being that aforementioned touch screen game where you draw symbols to communicate with your dragon. That game was never really thrilling, so I never saw a reason to play through that more than once, and that was just to see what it was all about. The second is a slightly more entertaining 2D dragon fighting game, where you may do battle against CPUs, but it's novelty wears off pretty quick.

Score: 5/10

Overall
In the end, Eragon is a proficient action RPG that shows the DS is capable of handling these kinds of adventures, but it falls short in some key areas where it needed to excel in order to be great. Well worth a play through, no matter who you are, but the release price of $29.99 would be a bit steep for the length of the game. Fortunately, I was able to purchase it for $19.99, which is a lot more satisfying, as for all of it's positives, Eragon feels more like a budget title than a full blown masterpiece.

Score: 7/10*

*Score is rounded to the nearest whole number.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/07