Dragon’s Dogma
Dragon’s Dogma is a weird game, one that can soar to great heights, but then in places feel unfinished and empty. It’s a game that can take some getting into, but if you persist can be very rewarding.
The game kicks off with the re-birth of an ancient dragon, who you foolishly stand up to when it attacks your fishing village, resulting in the dragon stealing you heart yet somehow allowing you to live.
After the excitement of getting your heart ripped out, the story-line dissolves into the standard wander around doing missions and stuff, traveling through gorgeous open lands and sparsely populated villages and cities.
Dragon’s Dogma however isn’t you bog standard RPG, it’s got a few surprises up it’s sleeves. The first is the inclusion of pawns – companions who fight alongside you. You get one permanent partner who can be customised to you whim and you can hire two others depending on the needs of your mission. These vary from useless to capable, so choose wisely or you’ll juts be paying for cannon fodder. An interesting aspect is that if you take the game online, it’s still only a single player game, but you can hire other peoples creations, giving it a semi MMO feel.
The second surprising part is the combat. This is where the development dollar seems to have been most at work, and really shines as your character levels up. If you choose to be a mage you can command impressive walls of fire from your staff, but if you’ve built a melee character, you can climb up the bodies of lagers enemies and drive the sword into their soft spots, if you can hold on. It’s a combat system that works really well and gives the game cause to stand out from others in the genre.
It does how ever take a bit of mastering, and if you’re not in it for the long haul, the lack of depth and the rough around the edges feel may put you off. Dragon’s Dogma however is worth your perseverance and will reward those who stick with it.
