Eragon
Posted November 29, 2006
For anyone unfamiliar with the background on Eragon, it's a wildly successful fantasy book written by a highly intelligent teenage author. The rampant popularity of the book spawned a motion picture to be released at the end of 2006. Additionally, the motion picture studio has pushed a co-release of the video game as a cross-console release. Sadly, the development time seems very rushed to join the movie release and it definitely shows in the final product. 
The story is based around a young farm boy who is bestowed with the ancient power of dragons and the destiny to be a dragon rider. Young Eragon's journey takes him to several faraway lands to battle an evil that wishes to conquer the world. It's important to note that the game is identical to the movie, so playing through it beforehand will ruin the few surprises that happen along the way. Unfortunately, the developer's method of storytelling is very amateurish and invokes little to no interest from the gamer. The poor presentation of the cut scenes screams for more development time.
Gameplay:
Apparently, being a dragon rider isn't all it's cracked up to be. For instance, Eragon rarely ever gets to ride the dragon, with the exception of a couple levels. For the most part, Eragon has to fall back on his melee fighting skills in the early levels. His swordplay abilities are limited at best and the broken combo system only hinders his progress. My grandmother would be great at this combo system as you have to slow your reflexes dramatically to enter any button combination. Oddly, it's much easier to slam the green A button repeatedly to slash away at the enemies.
At the end of each level, Eragon's attacking abilities will be expanded; usually with arrow upgrades and a few types of magic. The bow and arrow combo is very effective, assuming you power up your shot. The controller rumbles once an accurate head shot is automatically honed in. Eventually, arrows can be charged with a blue magic glow which knocks down all enemies in the vicinity. Magic can also be used to push / pull enemies, light them on fire, or call for dragon attacks. Quite often, I found magically abilities to be more effective as a defensive tool. Using magic to attack enemies is often more trouble than it's worth.
Two aspects of the game I found to be at odds with each other were the sheer amount of enemies thrown at me mixed with level design that doesn't require killing any enemies. Basically, Eragon can just run through the levels from checkpoint to checkpoint without killing one enemy. There are door-unlock puzzles and boss fights which cause brief pause, but the rest is just triggering cut scenes. It's as if the developer didn't really want you to face off against the enemies, just test your fleeing skills.
Watching the odd level design fly by can be an exercise in futility. The player cannot adjust the problematic camera; hence there are some nasty pre-selected camera angles. Many times, players will have to rely on the bow / arrow targeting system to even locate an enemy. Enemies with ranged weapons will often attack out of the camera angle and death occurs often because of it. I felt hapless continually attempting to use the right thumbstick to rotate a moveable camera that didn't even exist.
Once Eragon finally gets to ride the scaled beast, his attack capabilities increase via magic and fire breath. Controlling Dragon flight is a bit loose and the amount of health allotted to it is terrible. There is one troublesome level in the middle of the game that has far too few checkpoints and vastly too many attackers for the dragon. It's no wonder he never rides the wimpy dragon.
There is no multiplayer to speak of, but there are some cheesy unlockables at the end of each level. These movie-based videos are similar to the King Kong unlockables awarded for completing various tasks. Very few of the unlockables are worth viewing, even for Eragon loyalists. The replay value added for opening any of these items is minimal at best. Also, the game does feature an offline co-op mode, which allows a friend to join as a second fighter or control dragon flight, but I'd be embarrassed to force this gameplay on any friend.
The achievements are easily the least creative grouping I've seen since the early sports titles. Nearly all achievements are awarded for completing the single player campaign with the last achievement offering up 100 points for finding all the hidden blue eggs on the levels. To add insult to injury, the developer forces the gamer to play through the entire game again to gain all the gamerscore points on the other level of difficulty. Forcing replay value doesn't work when the game is nothing but repetitive drivel. Thankfully, the entire ordeal only takes less than 12 hours for the full set; assuming a guide is used for the eggs.
Graphics:
As a cross-console release, Eragon's visuals rank extremely low in comparison to other ports. In fact, I would be amazed if the graphics engine was upgraded from the Xbox version at all. Blurry, muddy textures populate the screen and bland color schemes look terrible in high definition. The lighting effects, such as magic arrows and fire, are decent, but vastly beneath a quality adventure title like Kameo. Additionally, the game suffers from lengthy load times and occasional freezes, which lock up the 360. The only saving grace is that the frame rate stays rock solid. Thank goodness the 360 GPU was good for something for this poor graphical release.
Audio:
Unfortunately, the voiceovers are not recorded from the actors and actresses that play the characters within the movie. The substitute voices are obviously not the same caliber, so the game suffers. Additionally, the voice clips do not flow together well as a conversation. The only bright spot of the voiceovers really has to do with the narrator. His deep, resonant voice carries the story well and soothes the auditory pain of the horrific dialogue in the cut scenes.
The sound effects are fairly standard for an action / adventure game. Whizzing arrows, clanging swords, and shots of fire breath all sound great with a 5.1 surround system, although the game is extremely light on the directional effects. The musical score is moving and flows well with the rest of the game. The broad, sweeping orchestral movements match the pace as well as the theme of the game.
Conclusion:
Eragon is easily one of the worst Xbox 360 games I've played in the past few months. The repetitive gameplay, ugly graphics, muddled presentation, pathetic achievements, terrible extras and extremely short campaign will send Eragon to the bargain bin in a matter of weeks. This 360 game isn't worth the plastic disc it's printed on. Parents should avoid picking this title up for their kids, no matter how fanatical they are about the movie / book.
The story is based around a young farm boy who is bestowed with the ancient power of dragons and the destiny to be a dragon rider. Young Eragon's journey takes him to several faraway lands to battle an evil that wishes to conquer the world. It's important to note that the game is identical to the movie, so playing through it beforehand will ruin the few surprises that happen along the way. Unfortunately, the developer's method of storytelling is very amateurish and invokes little to no interest from the gamer. The poor presentation of the cut scenes screams for more development time.
Gameplay:
Apparently, being a dragon rider isn't all it's cracked up to be. For instance, Eragon rarely ever gets to ride the dragon, with the exception of a couple levels. For the most part, Eragon has to fall back on his melee fighting skills in the early levels. His swordplay abilities are limited at best and the broken combo system only hinders his progress. My grandmother would be great at this combo system as you have to slow your reflexes dramatically to enter any button combination. Oddly, it's much easier to slam the green A button repeatedly to slash away at the enemies.
At the end of each level, Eragon's attacking abilities will be expanded; usually with arrow upgrades and a few types of magic. The bow and arrow combo is very effective, assuming you power up your shot. The controller rumbles once an accurate head shot is automatically honed in. Eventually, arrows can be charged with a blue magic glow which knocks down all enemies in the vicinity. Magic can also be used to push / pull enemies, light them on fire, or call for dragon attacks. Quite often, I found magically abilities to be more effective as a defensive tool. Using magic to attack enemies is often more trouble than it's worth.
Two aspects of the game I found to be at odds with each other were the sheer amount of enemies thrown at me mixed with level design that doesn't require killing any enemies. Basically, Eragon can just run through the levels from checkpoint to checkpoint without killing one enemy. There are door-unlock puzzles and boss fights which cause brief pause, but the rest is just triggering cut scenes. It's as if the developer didn't really want you to face off against the enemies, just test your fleeing skills.
Watching the odd level design fly by can be an exercise in futility. The player cannot adjust the problematic camera; hence there are some nasty pre-selected camera angles. Many times, players will have to rely on the bow / arrow targeting system to even locate an enemy. Enemies with ranged weapons will often attack out of the camera angle and death occurs often because of it. I felt hapless continually attempting to use the right thumbstick to rotate a moveable camera that didn't even exist.
Once Eragon finally gets to ride the scaled beast, his attack capabilities increase via magic and fire breath. Controlling Dragon flight is a bit loose and the amount of health allotted to it is terrible. There is one troublesome level in the middle of the game that has far too few checkpoints and vastly too many attackers for the dragon. It's no wonder he never rides the wimpy dragon.
There is no multiplayer to speak of, but there are some cheesy unlockables at the end of each level. These movie-based videos are similar to the King Kong unlockables awarded for completing various tasks. Very few of the unlockables are worth viewing, even for Eragon loyalists. The replay value added for opening any of these items is minimal at best. Also, the game does feature an offline co-op mode, which allows a friend to join as a second fighter or control dragon flight, but I'd be embarrassed to force this gameplay on any friend.
The achievements are easily the least creative grouping I've seen since the early sports titles. Nearly all achievements are awarded for completing the single player campaign with the last achievement offering up 100 points for finding all the hidden blue eggs on the levels. To add insult to injury, the developer forces the gamer to play through the entire game again to gain all the gamerscore points on the other level of difficulty. Forcing replay value doesn't work when the game is nothing but repetitive drivel. Thankfully, the entire ordeal only takes less than 12 hours for the full set; assuming a guide is used for the eggs.
Graphics:
As a cross-console release, Eragon's visuals rank extremely low in comparison to other ports. In fact, I would be amazed if the graphics engine was upgraded from the Xbox version at all. Blurry, muddy textures populate the screen and bland color schemes look terrible in high definition. The lighting effects, such as magic arrows and fire, are decent, but vastly beneath a quality adventure title like Kameo. Additionally, the game suffers from lengthy load times and occasional freezes, which lock up the 360. The only saving grace is that the frame rate stays rock solid. Thank goodness the 360 GPU was good for something for this poor graphical release.
Audio:
Unfortunately, the voiceovers are not recorded from the actors and actresses that play the characters within the movie. The substitute voices are obviously not the same caliber, so the game suffers. Additionally, the voice clips do not flow together well as a conversation. The only bright spot of the voiceovers really has to do with the narrator. His deep, resonant voice carries the story well and soothes the auditory pain of the horrific dialogue in the cut scenes.
The sound effects are fairly standard for an action / adventure game. Whizzing arrows, clanging swords, and shots of fire breath all sound great with a 5.1 surround system, although the game is extremely light on the directional effects. The musical score is moving and flows well with the rest of the game. The broad, sweeping orchestral movements match the pace as well as the theme of the game.
Conclusion:
Eragon is easily one of the worst Xbox 360 games I've played in the past few months. The repetitive gameplay, ugly graphics, muddled presentation, pathetic achievements, terrible extras and extremely short campaign will send Eragon to the bargain bin in a matter of weeks. This 360 game isn't worth the plastic disc it's printed on. Parents should avoid picking this title up for their kids, no matter how fanatical they are about the movie / book.