"This game is COMPLETELY underrated"

I got this game for my birthday from my cousin. It is my second favorite game for the Nintendo DS (my favorite one is Sonic Rush). As Eragon is both my favorite book and third favorite movie( after Pirates of the Caribbean: at World's End and National Treasure: Book of secrets), I eagerly stared playing it. I immeaditly was addicted to it. . In my opinion, the DS Eragon version is the only one actually worth playing: I have also played the PSP, Xbox, and GBA versions, and the DS version owns all of them. But many critics said the game was bad. Not so. As the tagline says, this game is COMPLETELY underrated.

Gameplay: 10/10
So, how is Eragon like to play? Well, in layman's terms, it's the Call of Duty of medieval times. You are given an entire( and, suprisingly big) 3D world to explore. In it, you can have three different objectives: reach a certain spot, kill all the enemies, or defeat the boss. In your way to the boss or place you have to reach, you have a maze of passageways and enemies. And although there is a map, there is one thing it doesn't reveal: your altidude. Since this is a 3D world, you can easily be on the same place on the map, but in different places in the 3D world: such as, in a tunnel and the place exactly over is the same place on the map.

There are two weapons you can use to murder urgals( orc-like creatures, the main enemy of the game): your sword and your bow. With every shot of your bow and every kill with your sword, the weapon gains expierence. Once you gain enough expiernce, the weapon levels up. Once your bow levels up, it does more damage. Once your sword levels up, though, it gains new attacks, like a lunge attack or spin attack. Eragon's magic advances likewise his bow. Also, when your sword advances enough, the type of sword advances enough, the type of sword itself advances: from dagger to sword to dagger and sword.

In conclusion, Eragon, as it says on the box is an action RPG. Although it is mainly a fighting game, there is a taste of strategy in it. For example, there are mind riddles, such as using magic to blast a rock in the way or stabling an unstable bridge. Also, there is just plain strategy: like figuring the best order to kill the enemies, in order to recieve the least damage. In short, gameplay is one of the areas where Eragon excels.

Storyline: 8.5/10
Eragon is one (book-)movie-game that keeps the (book/)movie storyline. As gamers, you and I know this is very rare. This is the storyline of the book/movie/game: Eragon, a 15 year old boy goes hunting. Though he doesn't catch any game, he finds a polished blue stone. He finds it is a lucky find, since it will buy his family meat for the winter. He goes to the butcher and attemps to trade for meat, but one he mentions the Spine, the mountain range where he found it, the Spine, the butcher refuses it. Eragon then attempts to sell it to the jeweler, but the jeweler refuses it. For a different reason, though. Because the stone is made of an unknown material. The unkown material couldn't be cut or broken in any way, "Even with my diamond cutter I couldn't inflict so much as a scratch", said the jeweler, "this material is unkwown to me. Although I'm sure there are plenty of rich and Noblemen who will pay dearly to get such a stone, none of them are here. And frankly, I'm short of money right now, so I can't afford to make such an invesment."

Back at home, Eragon decides to test the jeweler's theory. During the testing, a dragon hatches from the 'stone' . Eragon knows the town storyteller knows about dragons. So he asks him a few questions, pretending a trader told him the facts needed to ask them. And he got his answers. He raised his dragon in secrecy in a nearby forest. All was well, until a pair of stangers came into town. They killed Eragon's uncle in an attempt to kill Eragon's dragon. As Eragon fleed, Brom(the storyteller) joins him, giving him a sword. Togother, they go take Revenge on Eragon's uncle's murderers.

And it gets better later. I just can't tell you, because I'll spoil it. The onlyreason it recieved an 8.5, not a ten, is because of the ending. The book itself had no epilogue. This game, being a Action RPG needed one. So they put in one. It was only three lines, and was very hollow. So it just ended. You beat the final boss, and it was just, like, over. You didn't have any feeling. So I docked of 1.5 point for that.

Play time/Replayability:6/10 (play time:7/10, replayability:5/10
This is the area where Eragon suffers the most, though, it isn't as bad as most critics say. To achieve a perfect in the game, your play time will be at least 15 hours. Yes, to actually beat the game you onlu need about 6 hours, but to beat the game isn't everything. Also, the play time isn't how much time playing the game. If you die, that doesn't count as your play time. So actuallaly, you'll spend around 30 hours playing the main game. But that's not all of it. In this game, you can unlock 2 minigames, Mind touch and Dragon Rider clash, which both last about 5 hours. All together it is 40 hours. Some games are longer, but this game doesn't suffer as much as most critics say.

How about the replayability? well, if you're bored you can get a perfect in another file, but that should take you only 4 hours. But this game has no branching whatsoever, except if you're curious in what order should you level up. So, I'm sad to say, this is one area, where Vivendi forget to make this game perfect

Controls: 10/10
Unlike most fighting/action games, Eragon isn't a game where you press all the buttons as fast as possible. All your attacks have to be carefully timed, executed at just the right moment. And the controls see to that. All the controls are perfect. They couldn't be better. Even though Eragon is in a 3-D world, the arrow keys maneuver perfectly. With the button and stylus controls, you could do pretty much everything you want, exactly how you want it.

These are the controls: +(arrow keys)A to interact, B to jump(use the arrow keys to control your jump, R to block, X for strong attack, Y for quick attack. And draw the shape of a spell/herb to use it. The strong/quick attack system is the best attack system ever invented. Wanna finish a regualar enemy quickly? Use quick attacks. Wanna inflict a lot of damage on a hard enemy, like a boss, use strong attacks. There are also combos like:X-X-X for strong finish, B-Y for jumping strikes. Seriously, the controls COULD NOT be better.

Graphics: 10/10
If you're like me the first thing I do when cheking out a game's page is to look at the images. You should have already seen how beatiful they are. If not, do so now! They really and truly are beatiful. Now that you saw them, there is little I can tell you. What I CAN tell you though, is that when Vivendi first revelead the Teaser trailer, people though it wasn't really a DS game, it was all a lie. This is how good the graphics are.

Sound:9/10(Music:8/10,SFX:10/10)
The music is truly good. Each area has it's own soundtrack, so there is plenty of different music. The only bad part of it is that the minigame and opening music get a bit repeditive. The SFX are one of the best for this genre. There is everything: sword hits, the tweak of Eragon's bow, enemies yelling. Vivendi remembered to put in everything here.

Rent or Buy:Buy
What I didn't tell you before is this game costs only 18 bucks. $17.99! Not only is this game excellent, it is also cheap. I deeply recommend going to amazon.com, and ordering this game NOW! I hope my review changed your hearts about this game. You should just play it, you'll like it!

Average:8.916666667/10
Overall:9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/07

Game Release: Eragon (US, 11/14/06)