Drakan: Order of the Flame

The Good
I must admit, I haven't quite finished this game but have gotten through enough of it to know I want to start over and do things differently.

Dragons are neat and getting to fly on one is awesome. Fighting a battle while atop your dragon is another matter altogether. Air battles are not as interesting as you might think and can become tedious as the game progresses.

The story moves you along from one area to another, in Tomb Raider fashion. Rynn is very similar to the infamous Lara Croft in many respects. She'll be running, jumping, fighting and even swimming through some surrealistic places. Some of the "worlds" are fantastic, others are just plain weird.

Graphics are nicely rendered and the music for each scenario was appropriate.

The Bad
The monsters have varied degrees of strengths, but some of them can move faster than Rynn can, an unfair advantage. The "bosses" are sometimes impossible to defeat, causing players to resort to using the "god" cheat. This is not because they are so difficult, but because the graphics engine is too intense and can overtax your system.

Limitations on the numbers and weights of inventory objects made me drop items before I wanted to. Since the weapons and armour do wear out, it is challenging to figure out what to keep and what to throw away.

The Bottom Line
If you're looking for an adventure game, look elsewhere. This one is all action. As a whole, it was a decent introduction to dragon riding but not as good as I had hoped it would be. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel if the designers could clean up the gaming engine.