Eragon: Dragon Rider Review

Anannya Sen ’s Review

Dragons, fighting and magic but is it any good?

As with all movies these days there is a mobile version to complement the console version. And most of the time, these can be fairly basic games with not much to them. Unfortunately for us all, this is one of those times.

Eragon isn't a bad game, it's just not really that good either. It's a basic hack n slash game with a few flying levels thrown in. The presentation is decent though and we are treated to some beautiful still shots and reasonably good in game graphics. The level of detail is pretty good, especially on the backgrounds, and the colours are used well. Animation is a little slow and jerky, reminding me of Golden Axe on the old systems. Sound is a standard affair as well with the looped tune playing during the game but no sound effects.

Controls are simple enough, move around with the D or key pad and as this is a side scrolling action game, press 3 or 9 to advance diagonally. Press the main button or 5 to attack and press it repeatedly to combo. There are other combos in the game which can involve a few button presses. Finally, * will summon your dragon to breathe fire over everyone.

The game has plenty of levels, and the ability to upgrade Eragon (who should have guessed his destiny as his bloody name is the same as Dragon but one letter further in the alphabet!) by choosing 2 out of 4 power ups at the end of each level. You can add health, attack, defense or magic to him to beef him up for the later levels. In between there are a few flying levels where you move Saphira up or down and again unleash your furious dragon's breath, but the gameplay is very basic. For the first few levels you can pretty much keep pressing the 5 button with your eyes closed and this will have the desired effect of killing everyone (you don't have to be facing them to hit them). The flying levels aren't too tough either, just keep Saphira at the highest plane possible and press your fire breath once in a while (it has to recharge).

There are choices on where to go but the levels don't seem to make that much of a difference as you end up following the plot of the film anyway. The later levels do get more difficult and you will be relying on your lives and special attacks (and Saphira of course), but the gameplay doesn't improve at all, you just have more foes to contend with. It's basically like playing double dragon with a few special moves and character upgrade options at the end of each level.

You do get to save your progress in between levels however, this game didn't have enough about it to grab my interest.