Reviewed: December 16, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Sierra
Developer
Amaze Entertainment
Released: November 14, 2006
Genre: Flight-Action
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Teen
7
7
6
8
7.3
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
I’ll have to admit I’ve never read the Eragon books, but when a 15-year-old kid can write a fantasy epic like this and get it turned into a movie one can’t help but take a mild interest. Any gamer can pretty much attest to the fact that when a movie is turned into a video game it has a slim chance of being any good, even when it’s packed with swords and sorcery and dragons. But that didn’t stop Sierra from trying.
Sierra had a bold premise when they decided to bring Eragon to the PC, console, and handheld platforms. Rather than create a single game and port it across systems they chose to create something unique for each platform. So while console and PC gamers get a generic hack-n-slash, the DS crowd gets to enjoy an action-RPG, the GBA gets a turn-based RPG rooted in the book, and the PSP owners get an original dragon flight-simulation. Move over Ace Combat and Snoopy…there’s a new flying game in town this holiday season, and it’s called Eragon.
Eragon on the PSP shifts the focus from the human side of the adventure and puts you in the scales of Saphira, the dragon for a series of adventures that are centered around aerial attacks, chases, and bombing runs. Eragon is present for many of these missions and even playable as a dragon rider able to shoot his bow and leap to other dragons to engage in melee.
Saphira has some cool tricks including two types of breath weapons as well as claw attacks and the ability to pick up rocks and drop them like bombs. Between the abilities of Saphira combined with those of Eragon, things can get pretty hectic as you try to protect villages, bomb enemy camps, and lay waste to countless enemies, both on the ground and in the air.
Unlike your typical flight sim, Saphira has the ability to hover, turn on a dime, and even do a quick 180 reversal, which is useful for navigating the somewhat restrictive levels. If I have any complaint about this game it would be the limited and linear nature of the mission areas. I understand the limitations of the PSP, but when you can fit sprawling games like GTA on the PSP it shouldn’t be hard to create a flying game where you can fly in one direction for more than 20-30 seconds before hitting an invisible wall.
I suppose the game offers up the illusion of an open-ended world as long as you don’t try to test those limits by deviating from the mission objectives or trying some fancy tactic the designers didn’t allow for. There are a few places where the environments are genuinely restrictive (like canyon runs) and these provide a more natural test of your flying abilities.
There is no denying the fun in swooping down and snatching up a goat or even a human and chomping them into bite-size morsels. It’s not only a great way to kill an enemy; it actually restores your health. Picking up rocks will allow you to switch into an overhead bomber view so you can drop your “bomb” on select ground targets.
Later in the game you will need to combine flying skills with combat and spells from both Eragon and Saphira. One particularly difficult mission in the game has you stunning enemies with a spell then swooping in and picking them up with Saphira and carrying them to an abyss where you drop them in. To make things even more challenging, you have to drop them in the abyss before they “wake up” and get loose from your jaws, plus the entire mission is also a protect mission since all of these enemies are rushing towards your companion on the ground.
The story mode is laid out in a clever map system that you travel along to get to each new story point. There are also arena challenges along the map’s path that you can enter and learn new skills and abilities as both Eragon and Saphira. You’ll unlock new arenas as you complete the story missions. The HUD shows a mini-map of the immediate area in one corner and a clever icon system in the other that indicates your weapons and spells as well as health bars for Eragon and Saphira.
Eragon even offers multiplayer options and game sharing so you can share one specific single level with a friend. The multiplayer is surprisingly fun and fleshed out with standard modes like Deathmatch, CTF (rescue the maiden), and Pillage and Burn where you take turns defending a village then the other player or team tries to burn it down faster than you defended it. Totem of the Ancients is a great mode that hides a statue within the level and you must race to find the statue then hold onto it as you collect control points. Demented Doves is as fun as it sounds and has you searching the skies for infected doves you can collect to infect other players.
There are nine multiplayer modes in all for both single and team-based play and I didn’t find a single mode that wasn’t challenging and fun. I only wish the game supported Internet play because I just don’t know that many people within Ad Hoc range who own this game.
Eragon can be quite beautiful at times then just as quickly go brown, muddy, and ugly. For the most part, the draw distance is impressive; especially considering this is a low-level flight game requiring a lot of detailed scenery. The game uses mist, clouds, and mountains to mask the limitations of the PSP and keep the framerate smooth.
Special effects are cool with lots of fire and glowing effects for the spells. The game makes good use of on-screen cues to locate waypoints, enemies, and even rock piles. There is some nice lighting and shadow effects but a few of the trips through dark tunnels can get too dark and it’s easy to get lost or even reversed, especially if you are playing your PSP in any type of ambient light.
The animations of the dragon are specifically good and the camera is usually quite good as well, although things can get a bit crazy when you start dragon hopping and find yourself with an entirely different perspective. The game makes use of artistic and game-engine cinematics to tell the story, and overall the entire presentation is quite authentic to its fantasy roots.
There is a good selection of fantasy-themed music that perfectly fits with the game and the content. It ranges from being very majestic (as you soar through the mountains) to quite intense and you battle swarms of dragon riders and bomb enemy castles. It does start to repeat since the soundtrack is shorter than the game, but it never got annoying.
Sound effects are minimal but good when you hear them. The spells all have mystical sounds and there is a good fiery sound for the breath weapons and fireballs, but the best sound has to be the crunching bones as Saphira chomps down on a tasty snack.
You can probably finish the story mode in 6-8 hours, and the arena challenges you will unlock along the way will take another 4-6 hours to complete. Assuming you can talk your friends into getting a copy of the game too, you will find even more engaging entertainment in the multiplayer modes which can keep you playing for weeks and months to come.
Eragon does support game sharing, even if it is only one level, but at least you can use this to entice your friends into picking up a copy, and then the fun can really begin. This is one of those few PSP games where the multiplayer component is actually more compelling than the solo adventure.
Fans of the book (or movie) will certainly enjoy this fresh perspective of playing as Saphira with support from Eragon, especially since the other game variations do just the opposite. And with your flight-action games rather limited this season, unless you want to fly modern jets or play as a beagle in a biplane Eragon delivers solid flight action with plenty of fantasy charm and style.
As a reviewer, I enjoyed Eragon. It was fun and it only took a few days of casual play to finish, but for those looking for a good bang for their buck, this is one of those games that relies heavily on its multiplayer modes for much of its extended value. I can easily recommend Eragon for the PSP if you can get at least one other person to buy a copy, otherwise, the solo game is good for a weekend rental at best.