Not wishing to spoil the plotline too much, but the game is a little cliched in places. We start with humans and dwarves, coexisting peacefully in the land of Aventuria (familiar to those who know the tabletop game); until that is a few gruesome murders occur in the city of Ferdok and all hell breaks loose. You are tasked with the role of getting to the bottom of things as an old friend of yours is one of the people murdered. Of course in a traditional party-based you are going to have a few trite instances. Early on in the game, you come across a character who is your typical rogue; he loves to flirt with the women and is always getting in trouble, being a bit of a thief. As well as that, there is the slightly eccentric magician who isn't quite as sane as everyone else, and... well, you get the idea. The quests are also quite predictable in places, certainly to those who have played MMOs and RPGs before. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing, its just notable. The story is well written and although a little linear compared to the likes of Oblivion, if you love games like Baldur's Gate, odds are you are going to enjoy this.

Certainly, if you are used to the likes of Neverwinter Nights, you will be impressed by the graphics displayed in Drakensang, providing you install the optional high resolution texture pack weighing in at around 4Gb of hard drive space. Even if your is quite old, Drakensang should still run fine if you adjust the settings accordingly, and it'll still look the part. The texturing of the character models is particularly pleasant to look at in places. Refreshingly, I didn't even experience any crashes which make a nice change. The game works on a zone basis which works quite well as loading times are infrequent but often quite speedy. The only downside is you can't return to a zone that you have left, meaning you must make sure you are done in that area before moving on. The controls are a little odd at times. I found it not quite as intuitive as the likes of Baldur's Gate. Moving around felt awkward with the WASD keys and the camera felt a bit unresponsive, meaning I had to control it at all times via the mouse, which after a while became irritating.

You can control up to four characters at a time, although the AI is good enough that you can be in sole control of the main character and leave the other three to help you out as and when appropriate. Pathfinding problems did become a bit noticeable when I did this however so for long journeys, I found it easier to control all 4 of my party. I didn't find the turn-based combat as interesting as in the Baldur's Gate series; it really did look quite obviously "turn-based". However after the predictable slew of rats (called Wolf Rats in this for some reason), things did become more interesting with battles against mages and skeletons, and all sorts of things that fantasy gamers adore.

Drakensang is very nearly brilliant and the perfect game for those who miss party-based RPGs; which are seemingly becoming quite rare compared to the deluge of first-person RPGs a la 3 and Oblivion. It has its flaws, the controls are far from perfect and it is a little complex at least initially. But I found Drakensang very refreshing in its complexity. It doesn't patronise the gamer, but it still allows for a less experienced RPG player to enjoy the game. If you want to avoid some of the complexity, simply use a pre-made character and avoid the crafting system and you will enjoy the experience. If you want to be very hands-on, you can do that too and start a character from scratch. Drakensang offers around 40-50 hours of gameplay depending on how many side quests you tackle, meaning there's plenty to be getting on with, and with a well written storyline and surprisingly good visuals, it really is a noteworthy all round package.

82%

By Jennifer Allen