Originality on the Wii, something that is slightly scarce this summer but finally a game that is not cross platform and not seen anywhere else but on Nintendo’s little money maker. Is this budget title worth the 40 bucks or is it dud? Keep reading and we’ll let ya know.

     Starting the game up, would you not know it, you would think you were playing a standard RPG, that is of course until you start playing the game. More on that subjec You assume the role of Dal, a young man on a quest to retrieve 6 pieces of the dragon blade, which has the soul of the last remaining good dragon who stands for all that is right and just in the world. Which is also the source of Dal's abilities that you collect throughout the game, as you defeat the old kings who betrayed him oh so long ago. These abilities include things such as dragon wings and a dragon tail to help you destroy your enemies. The plot was written by Richard A. Knaak, writer of the Dragonlance novels. It’s an okay story even by videogame standards but I thought it would be more involved in the gameply, but it’s really just a few lines spread out across hours of the game. And you can skip through cutscenes if you want to get right into the action which sometimes I did. Limited options, but it is nice you can change the sensitivity of the Wii remote whenever you need to in game, as well as no difficulty settings, they just set it to hard. This game can be very difficult in spots; it starts off easy but quickly gets harder and harder. The bosses are no one try and you win bosses like Twilight Princess; it will take you several tries to get their movements down.

     Unfortunately this game is not the prettiest one in the bunch, the character models look decent and there are some cool effects with the dragon powers. But the real downfall of this game is the environments; most of the levels look like they were thrown together in a matter of days. They almost seem as if they could be on the Nintendo 64. Bland textures all around, nothing hanging on walls and not much laying around the maps other than some barrels and wood fences that get in your way. Some of the worst water effects I have seen in years, I know it didn’t help that I played a bit of Boishock the night before I started this but the water is a step backwards by quite a few years. Smooth animations for your attacks and even the enemy attacks. Camera can sometimes gets caught on some corners but not too often.

     The game actually controls really decently with upwards motion being upward attacks and same with down, left and right to do some cool combos, but there aren’t as many as I would like. The dragon moves can be a lot of fun to use and usually are necessary to use in bigger fights when hordes of enemies appear in front of you. It’s very satisfying to rip into the enemy with your new weapons you acquire. I can love and hate this game at the same time cant I? Well I do, it can be very frustrating with some bosses that are a bit hard and do some cheap moves that kill you way too fast and hordes of enemies that keep stomping on you while you’re down, it can be hard to get back up and fight.

     Hardly any voice acting all that was there was way too intense and silly and the sound effects are basic growls, grunts, footsteps and slashes. The music on the other hand wasn’t too bad I enjoyed some of the midi orchestra tracks such as the title music and the first area music. Later on in the jungle the music made me think of Havana and China at the same time, which is kind of odd but kind of cool at the same time.


     This game will run you at about 6 hours to beat if you don’t keep dying like myself; I actually sat and played for about 12 hours straight. Why? So you guys could know whether you wanted to play this or not. Its rather short but not as short as I thought and you get a couple unlocks at the end as well as unlocking armor piece by piece if you collect enough scales. Also you may want to play through again and see if you can beat your old times. Would have been nice to have a Coop mode but unfortunately there is none.


     Overall the game is not bad but its not that great either, it’s worth a rent if you aren’t into beat em ups, or if you are, 40 bucks isn’t too bad. I enjoyed and despised this game at the same time and despite its flaws, it is a lot of fun. So go ahead give it a try.

-Noah Inscoe

Good sword controls
Alot of powerups
Some cool dragon fights
Decent music
Is alot of fun to play

Negative points

Poor map design
Environments are bland
Poor story
Enemies are somtimes a bit hard
A little too short

Presentation 7.0
Game play 7.8
Graphics 5.5
Music and sound 7.0
Replay value 6.0

Over all score 6.7

-Noah Inscoe