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The Lowdown
Pros: Visually impressive, with touched up gameplay over the first
title.
Cons: To sum it up it is a pretty looking button masher.
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
 Purchase
at Lik-Sang
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Drag-on Dragoon (aka Drakengard in the US and Europe) looked like a
winning title. Hack slash gameplay a la Dynasty Warriors in a fantasy
setting looked like a sure seller in Japan. The final product created by
Cavia (also known for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) had
awkward animation, brain dead AI and repetitive button mashing. Without
the dragon riding stages the first title would have flopped completely.
It wasn't without it's fans, but it was more of a love/hate deal. So
it's a bit of surprise that Square-Enix would invest in a sequel to
Drag-on Dragoon. Let's see if Cavia improves over the first game.
Chronologically, Drag-on Dragoon 2 takes place directly after the first
game. Although you won't be playing as Caim, instead you'll control Nowe
a youthful emerging knight. Nowe isn't the rage filled character that
Caim is, he's more of a likely hero. Nowe is also friendly with the
dragon-kind, in fact he's been raised by a blue dragon. When we're
introduced to Nowe we're taken through a few tutorial missions with him
and Leguna. The tutorial verses are cleverly disguised as Nowe's training
for the Angleus. On the forefront the game's story doesn't seem as
cryptic as the first. It does delve into the dark side, but just not as
blatantly as the first game. It takes about two full chapters to really
get going. As a treat for all of you who enjoyed the first game, Caim
does make a return.
So what about the gameplay? Drag-on Dragoon 2 controls a lot better
than the first game. The awkward movements of Caim and the jerky camera
are out the window. Camera mechanics aren't perfected, narrow hallways
leave give an incomplete perspective, where you'll be forced to fight
without seeing what is in front of you. Still, Cavia has done a good job
at making Nowe move fluidly so he's ready for combat. Like pretty much
every other hack and slash title Nowe has two types of attacks a light
slash and a heavy slash. The heavy attack can launch an enemy in the
air, which is great for immobilizing a foe. If you jump in the air and
use the heavy attack Nowe will slam the ground with his sword dealing
out a small range area stun. Mix up heavy and light attacks to do
combos, but watch out for the timing because the combo timing really
varies between different combos. Nowe can equip a variety of different
weapons besides his sword that you'll collect throughout the adventure.
With each kill the weapon Nowe is using (plus Nowe of course) gets
experience. As your weapons power up you'll learn more combos, which
alter your attacking range and possibly give more damage.
Nowe does have magic, too. Magic charges up while hitting enemies or
picking up red orbs. By using magic you can unleash a wind storm or a
shake the ground. Great for hitting enemies out of physical reach to
keep the combo counter going. The combo counter is key for giving out
experience bonuses and other power-ups. Twenty hits in a row dawns the
first experience bonus. More hits can even yield enemies to drop orbs to
instantly refill magic or life. This gives you every reason to keep
chaining combos, which isn't too hard to do with a two second gap before
the combo meter resets. Often times knocking out enemies is a simple
matter of button mashing. Few enemies put up a fight. Most of them will
even stand there while you prepare to attack. The only time fights
present a challenge for players is when enemies deal out way too much
damage for Nowe to handle. When one or two hits from a Golem will kill
Nowe it's more of a test of your evasive abilities than anything else.
Nowe isn't alone, he's got a partner that can switch into at anytime.
Unlike in the first game where you can run around for a limited time as
a new character, you can switch characters freely. Early on Nowe will
have Eris as an extra partner, switching into her allows the player to
use a spear attack. Eris also has different spells over Nowe, so
switching into her can be advantageous. Best of all having a second
character with an independent life bar essentially gives players two
lives instead of one.
Dragon riding makes this game special. You can take to the sky when
you play as Nowe and blast enemies with fire from above. Some stages
actually focus on aerial combat entirely. These stages play out like dog
fights where you'll be pulling off quick u-turns with your dragon so you
can shoot monsters from behind. By holding down triangle you can lock on
to an enemy and shoot homing fire blasts. New to Drag-on Dragoon 2 are
super charged dragon attacks called Dragon Overdrive. When your dragon
overdrive meter is filled up you can use it to deal out thousands of
points of damage. Considering a hit from a fire blast is about 50 points
of damage a thousand points is heavy stuff. When you pull off these
attacks the camera pans out and you get a close up view of the Leguna
flapping it's wings causing a tornado.
Like the first title the game still plays out in stage form just
called verses. Completing a verse propels the game's story forward, like
you would expect. Reaching the condition for clearing can be a piece of
cake with the right skills. In some missions all you need to do is run
to a certain location. You can opt to dash through enemies to hastily
make for the goal, but you'll miss out on experience. In later levels
this will render you worthless against huge golems and bosses. In a lot
of the ways the game almost forces you to keep fighting, not just to
stay alive, but gain enough experience so your character won't be
weak for the next chapter.
The most obvious improvement in the game is the graphics. Using
completely new models, that are better designed than the first game
Drag-on Dragoon 2 looks great. There's no awkward mist to block
visibility so you can see all the way until the end of the battlefield.
The monster's look a lot more inspired than the basic metal wearing
knights in the first game. You'll battle against beasts like goblins on
the ground and bat creatures in the sky. It's the actual human models
that make the game look great. Nowe has a realistic look to him, with
shiny plating and all. Eris' animation is awesome, when she evades
enemies she does a little spin to the side. When you're dodging attacks
and countering it looks like she is doing a savage dance. Cavia's CGI
scenes are nothing short of quality you would expect from other PS2
games. You'll be privy to some well detailed scenes with thoughtful
chorography.
Drag-on Dragoon 2's score isn't as endearing as other Square-Enix
titles. The music loops way too much and the songs are too similar to be
interesting. Mainly orchestrated epic music, Drag-on Dragoon 2 isn't
exactly the game's shinning spot. On the other hand the voice acting is
pretty good.
Without question Drag-on Dragoon 2 surpasses the first game on many
levels. There's a lot to like about the game. A better combo system,
immersive graphics and flying around on the back of a dragon. Now if
Cavia could just clean up the non-existent enemy AI and add in a more
robust combo system the series would really be a winner.
You can get into the game and figure out how to do combos if you're
patient, but you'll miss out on the story if you're not a native
speaker.
US Bound?
No official announcements yet, but it's highly likely to see this
title over in the US by the end of this year.
Overall
Cavia has done a fine job of polishing the Drag-on Dragoon franchise
to make the second game better than the first. It's a fantasy style
button masher, but one of the better ones out there.
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