"Too much of a Unreal/Tomb Raider hybrid to make it to "deep impact" status, though I had fun. A solid thumbs-up!"

---from the review

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Sidebar :

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No Sequel. Ever. Well...Maybe. Sadly, when Sony wanted to make a cool game or two "exclusive" to their then-new Playstation-2, they chose the Drakan series. As a result, the first sequel to this story, Drakan 2 (or whatever they subtitled it) was for Playstation 2 only. That's almost enough for me to drop the rating of this first, open-ended game just on principle, but you know; it's still a pretty cool game. This is coming from someone who loathes open ended games, so you know I'm not just saying this to be nice.

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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Drakan : Order of the Flame

Click box cover above to purchase this game.

A Techtite Review

Imagine Tomb Raider thrust into a fantasy world, with a few Unreal-lighting effects, and a way-cool dragon, and you have some idea of how much fun Drakan is. This compliment is not to be taken lightly; I had a lot of fun playing this game! So much so, that this would be a review of the possibly best adventure/action game of 1999, if not for a few tiny mistakes. Even with such errors, it's a fantastic, must-play gaming experience.

The lead character is Rynn, a redheaded female warrior, whose home village has just been raided by various beasts of the night. Worst of all, her little brother has been kidnapped, for reasons not yet known. A dying elder tells Rynn that to defeat this ancient evil, she must find the now-sleeping dragon Arokh and perform the ancient Order of the Flame ritual, to become a dragon warrior. In short time, you've got Rynn on the back of a dragon, fighting battles both in air and on land (Rynn can dismount Arokh at any time to explore land on foot).

The game itself plays very much like a Tomb Raider / Unreal hybrid; while third-person and with a female heroine lead character like the former, its lighting and environments look decidedly like the latter. Some added elements even exceed those original titles. For one, Rynn's texture-mapped wardrobe changes in real time, allowing you to see what armor she's wearing as soon as it is "used." Second, villains you face are far less repetitious than most action games; you'll encounter new enemies right up until the very end. The enemies are all intriguing as well; in one scene, succubi you encounter (shown here) have thin, opaque wings; a nice touch. The game also one-ups Tomb Raider by allowing multiplayer game battles! This might not drag many away from Quake3 or Unreal Tournament, though the chance to fight other dragon-riders online is intriguing.

Another intriguing aspect is inventory handling; much like the best RPGs, you cannot carry "everything." You have a backpack of a set size of "squares," which holds a finite number of items you decide to carry. While this can be challenging, it enhances the fun. On the plus side, items dropped are left wherever you dropped them, to pick up later.

This also means that there is a wide assortment of possible inventory; not just weapons 1-9 like most action/shooters. Arrows for your bow, for example, can be regular, fire-tipped, magical, or even explosive, depending on what quivers you carry. One intriguing touch: regular arrows can be seen sticking out of whatever you fired upon; even the wall, if you miss. The nicest touch? Even your dragon, Arokh, acquires new "weaponry" in the form of other spells (poisonous gas, for example). Let the battles in flight begin!

While there are a few gripes that are mere nitpicking, I must mention the biggest mistake; the single player game finale. Apparently, the designers wanted to clone Unreal a little too much, and the ending is not only open, it's just barely there. While Doom, Unreal, and several others have had open endings, they were guaranteed successes, with guaranteed resolutions to the cliffhanger. Is a sequel to Drakan already in the works? One can only hope so...

---Techtite

Click box cover above to purchase this game.