PlayStation

DragonHeart: Fire & Steel

Games like this may be a little tough to play, but quite honestly they make my job kind of easy. Dragonheart is great-looking with cool rendered backgrounds and digitized characters. Then the control and playability come into play and the game becomes below average. The idea is quite good and since it's based on the movie (and does a nice translation) the game gets points for that. But I can't get past the poor control and the jerky movement of the characters. Some of the hit detection of objects in the game are kind of strange as well. This one is a definite rental for me, but if you're really curious and loved the movie, try it.

Acclaim could have made this game a lot better. Imagine if Bowen could execute moves similar to those of the Mortal Kombat cast: death-defying spin-leaps, leg-sweeps, and the like. Also, the game could have better explored its violent medieval theme: Games like this cry out for gruesome gore - enemies being eviscerated, intestines spilling forward, blood-geysers erupting from freshly slit throats. Come on, this is the Middle Ages! At the very least (like any good side-scrolling game), the hero should at least be easy to control.