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Tomb Raider Meets Dragon Heart...And Both Get Burned

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 27
Date: December 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I tried out the demo for the game, and while at first it seemed like it would be good, after a few minutes it got rather boring. First off the controls seem a bit difficult to manage when flying the dragon. When I was attacked it was very hard to locate where it was coming from let alone try to turn around and defend myself. The controls were a little bit better when maneuvering just the woman.

The dialogue sure got repetitive fast, "Let's Fly!" "Let's Go!" How about lets shut up?!

The graphics where pretty choppy, not at all better than what you might find for a PS1 game. Even the characters seemed to defy gravity, after a monster was killed it just hovered there in midair. And after just a couple of hits you yourself are dead, didn't seem like there was any way to replenish your health except with the potion you start off with, and can run out of fast. Maybe in the real game, there's more you can pick up.

And then there were all these inventory items to deal with, potions, spells, weapons and the like. Which reminded me way too much of an RPG game, NOT and adventure game.

All in all, the demo sure didn't make me want the full game, but if you're even thinking about buying this game, play the demo first, before you shell out the dough!

What I thought of the demo

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I played the demo for Drakan: The Ancients' Gates and I liked it. You fly on Arokh, you collect treasure, the graphics are amazing, and Rynn can attack enemies using an axe, bow and arrow, or spells. Rynn replenishes her health with spells also. When it comes out, give it a shot and see what you think.

THIS GAME IS A MUST-HAVE!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played this game a lot at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in LA, and let me tell you, the final game is SOO much fun to play! I loved the controls, they take a minute to get used to, but once you get the hang of it you can do cool flying maneuvers with the dragon. You can swoop down over enemies and torch them with your fire breath attack. The dragon also has other very cool breath attacks! Controlling Rynn (the girl) is very fun too, and is very consistent with how the dragon is controlled. It is obvious that the developers put a lot of thought into how the controls were laid out, and although they might not be the same as other games, they are a perfect fit for the mixed air and ground style game-play.

This game has a lot of RPG elements, you can build Rynn's skills in 3 areas: magic, weapon combat, or archery. I loved this aspect because you gain experience much like Diablo and can collect gold and treasure that you can spend in stores throughout the game. I loved the way this played as the game progressed, and talking with the friendly characters is very fun because the dialog is extremely witty and funny.

The story and dialog is extremely well written, much better than the first Drakan game on the PC. You get quests and sub-quests from the friendly NPCs, and all the information you need to know is kept in Rynn's Journal, which also has a map to help you along if you get lost.

Rynn's magic is really fun to use as well, you cast spells by moving Rynn's hand in the air in various patterns to summon offensive and defensive spells. You can learn or purchase new spells with gold. The enemies are really fun to fight, no matter which skill you specialize in. Each one will have a different strategy. Magic is good for groups of enemies. Sometimes you get 10 enemies surrounding you at once! Other times hand-to-hand combat is the way to go. Some hand weapons even have magical abilities, and there are shields for defense. Sword combat is so much fun, there are many moves to choose from, much like a fighting game. Archery is more tuned to strategy, you can walk slowly and sneak up on enemies without them hearing you, or you can pick them off from a distance.

I played the demo on the recent PS2 Jampack, which was nice, but it looks like they cut some of the graphics down to reduce the size of the demo. There was also no dialog with other characters or merchants (stores), so it wasn't much like the actually game other than some sword combat and basic dragon flying.

The graphics are the best I've seen on a PS2 yet...the draw distance is amazing, you can see EVERYTHING when flying on the dragon, then swoop down and jump off the dragon and walk inside of a cave. On the ground, you can see individual blades of grass and flowers, and hundreds of trees in dense forests and valleys. This game really does look incredible, much smoother than other PS2 games I saw at E3.

That's most of what I know so far...I'll post more when I get my copy of the real thing, which I have no doubt will me even better than it was during the summer!

Tomb Raider meets DragonHeart, and totally kicks butt...!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I first fired up I could'nt believe the details in the characters and world, personally I hav'nt seen a game that comes close to this well apart from maybe Final Fantasy but this is a different kind of thing. I thought it was pretty fast considering the amount of stuff on screen and I loved flying on the dragon he had lots of control and good weapons, again I think theres much detail from the characters thru to the weapons and further to the spells ect it adds so much more than just fly..shoot..fly..shoot..now you have a larger arsenal than before so I think if the full game keeps this up most people will find it exciting from what I played on the demo and read about it I highly recommend it.

Awesome Action Adventure

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Drakan:Ancients Gates absolutely rocks! The player Rynn is simple to control and has an enormous depth. She can use hand-to-hand weapons, a bow and magic. The dragon Arokh totally rocks also! Flying around blowing stuff away is really fun. I had trouble targeting at first, but if you lock onto a target using R2 it is really simple. Graphically, the game looks like is running at a higher resolution than any of my other PS2 games. The special effects are really good. Overall, Drakan looks like it will be a classic. A must-buy.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: January 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Drakan Ancient Gates is an incredible game. The graphics are absolutely stunning. Rynn is possibly the coolest player character of all time. She is both sexy and tough. The coolest part of the game is the dragon. The power flying on Arokhs back is incredible. You get in these epic battle where fireballs are fly past you it is truley stunning.

Ground combat is fun also. The ability to level up in different skills adds a lot of depth to the game.

The environments are some of the most amazing scene on the ps2. You can see for ever and fly to anyplace that you can see.

Overall, this game is one of the best I have played for the PS2. Surreal did an incredible job.

Sleeper Hit on PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is hands down the best action/rpg/adventure game on the PS2. A friend of mine works at a game magazine and let me play the review code of the game and I have to say this is one of the best games for the PS2.

The graphics are great. Especially when on the dragon. Ground combat is fun and challeging. The controls work for both Rynn and Arokh.

The one down side is that this game takes a while to get into which will probably turn a lot of people off at first. The demo is not indicitive of how cool the real game is.

GOT TO BUY THIS GAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: January 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I had never heard of Drakan before E3 but I think it is one of the most underated games on the console. Playing the demo, which was similar to what I played at E3 reconfirmed how good this game really is. This is the best fantasy game for the PS2!

This first thing that really impressed me were the controls. They are very tight. I really liked the fact that you could use pretty much the same controls on both Rynn and Arokh.

The second is the skill system. You can tweak the skills which allow Rynn to access new powers. This is really cool as it adds an RPG element.

The third thing that impressed me was the incredible environments. It was breath taking to be able to run around the ground then get on the dragon and see it from the sky. After exploring the outdoors for about an hour you can then go into a cave with out any loading...COOL.

The fourth and best part is Arokh. Being able to fly a fire breathing dragon is just SO cool.

I really hope this game gets the credit it deserves it is hand down one of the best games on the PS 2.

GO OUT AND BUY IT!!!!

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: January 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Drakan is one of the top 10 PS2 games of all time. The controls are really tight when controlling both Arokh and Rynn. Speaking of Rynn she is so hot. She is definately one of the best characters in video game history. Rynn kicks Lara's b[ottom]!!! I seriously hope they make Drakan into a movie.

If Rynn wasn't enough Arokh is by far the coolest side kick of game/entertainment history. Flying on Arokh's back is a blast. There's nothing like blasting orcs and other baddies from the sky.

When running on the ground theres tons of detail, flowers, rocks and even grass.

The levels are absolutely huge! If you are sick of 10 hour games Drakan is the game for you.

If you are into games this is a must buy!

Hours of fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

rynn (the heroine of the game) is absolutely beautiful and her personality is gripping. the way she and the dragon interact with each other throughout the adventure creates a very unique and fun game experience. a friend of mine works for game informer magazine and let me play this game at home. i could not put it down. the story is really good, it sucks you in so that you do not realize that you are playing a game. the voice acting is really good and the characters are very believable. the ground combat has a ton of variety and i found myself constantly trying new moves with all the new weapons you can buy from the merchants in the game. the enemies have lots of variety and differing combat strategies. some of them you can attack on foot (with rynn), others you must take out from the air using the dragon (arok). this is such a unique and cool game, i cannot recommend it enough.

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