I want to hate this game. I really do. It half-asses so many things that have been done elsewhere so much better that I don't even want to acknowledge its existence. However, it does manage to be barely proficient at a few things and seems content to bask in mediocrity.
Square Enix and Ubisoft both slapped their names on this title to bring it to market, and I'm not sure what that's supposed to say. On one hand, these companies are known for making relatively good games on a consistent basis. On the other, it backs up the notion that these guys should stick to what they know. Tobal, The Bouncer, Chocobo Racing, and Driving Emotion Type-S were all pretty good indicators of that. Okay, so there was Einhander, but everybody gets lucky once.
Drakengard 2 left me bored, beaten, and bludgeoned with its cliché and pretentious story, (one orphan boy out to save the world … again??) dull combat on the ground and in the air, and shoddy technical execution.
STORY
Prepare for everything you've ever seen before and nothing you haven't. You are quickly established through endless tiring cutscenes with passable dialogue and voice acting as the unlikely hero orphan dragon tamer who will inevitably save the world from hordes of monsters by riding on dragon back, shooting fireballs down on things you can't see, then dismounting and pressing the square button a lot.
Cutscenes — of which I swear there are more than there is actual gameplay — interrupt you every five steps to give you more info you usually don't need. Is it so hard to just go from point A to point B, killing everything along the way?
The battles often feature lots of fellow troops who wander around clumsily poking a bad guy on occasion. You don't feel connected to these guys at all. They're just sort of … there. Of course, despite you being a runt and them making fun of you at every turn, when the tide of battle sways, they all look to you, begging you to bring in your dragon to clean things up. There's no sense of teamwork or camaraderie.
Article comments
1 - David
its true this game is terribly boring i think the first one was WAY better but now they have an annoying whiney little child as your character i hate his voice and i hate this game they should have jujst stuck with the first one which in my opinion is better after a few endings it gets nearly impossible to beat i beat them but it took me a year to completete the last ending