Eragon (PSP)

Eragon GBA version is here

I saw that there's no game review that start with 'E' letter (and also 'X' letter etc). Therefore i review Amaze entertainment's Eragon (2006) on PSP. 

That's some nice blue title screen, so soothing and mystifying. To be honest, I don't know much about Eragon besides movie that's based on novel and involves dragon. I didn't watch the movie in cinema. Though i have vague memory about it when it's aired in some television channel. Also, i have no idea what's the game is all about. I remember watched a trailer of Slash Em Up-ish Eragon game with backbreaker move and i hope this is the one.

After some profile making and start new game, the game presents me with this map. By the looks of it, there's 15 levels in total, you should count the blue mark as it's level that got highlighted. Ok. Let's start the 1st level. 

 

Then there's this narration. So Dragon Riders are extinct now? As someone who once a dragon rider in quest to search for wish-granting star, i feel deep sorrow.

So we have to watch scene when Dragon Riders go extinct? I assume these villains burn this whole forest without concern of cute wildlife such as rabbits and squirrels. But i don't see the connection between this fiery deforestation with Dragon Rider's doom. Maybe i will see it if i either watch the movie or read the book. My bad.

 The villains surround this lone old lady. She seems protect some egg then makes it vanishes with magic, of course .

 

The egg is teleported to between that deer and the bloke who about to hunt it. He got denied from venison dinner but he got omelette. Nevermind. It hatches and reveals a baby dragon. Luckily, it's friendly to Eragon who's that lad with unlucky hunting time. He doesn't get food but draconic pet is good enough.

 

Time passes, the dragon grows larger. It seems Eragon goes to town for shopping. Maybe his stock for toilet paper is already depleted and he leaves me. Does that mean i'll be the dragon?    

 

Yes, i am! The game starts with decent tutorial level. 'Cross' button to accelerate, 'Square' button to break, move joystick to control facing direction, etc. I think the dragon is malnourished or sick as i can clearly see its wing bones. That can't be healthy.

 

The game gives me a lot of information but feel comprehensive and functional. Left-top bar is my health bar. Right-top is my mana bar which is decrease whenever i cast spell (that i haven't got it at all) or turbo speed (by pressing 'cross' button twice) but can be regenerated at quite speed rate. Purple icon on radar is waypoint. I'll go there, game.

Then the game told me to use my dragon's fire to burn some trees. I like where this is going. Tapping 'R' button for fireball and holding 'R' for continuous short-range fire breath. There's red curvy bar near circle target that tell you the "ammunition". If it's fully filling, you can no longer spew any fire.   

 

Next is burning some goats. I can tell that i love this game. Yellow icons on radar represent neutral unit like this goats. They will release flying orb that will replenish mana when collected.

 

The game told me to pick a goat then eat it. All with 'circle' button. Do you remember that scene in Jurassic Park where a goat is eaten off-screen by T-Rex then its leg dropped on the car? This could be more brutal/scary scene than that especially if you're goat lover.

 

Because i burn some trees, wolves attacking Eragon's farm that happen to have boar as livestock. Should goats be the livestock and boar be the wild animal, not the way around? Anyway i have to kill those wolves either by burning them or eating them. As this is tutorial mission, the boar is respawning, i think.      

 

Killing wolves isn't enough to secure Eragon's farm. I have to destroy their dens that are nigh-impervious to any draconic fire. So i resort to throw rocks at them. Pressing 'triangle' button will either enter bombing mode or lock on target if enemy is highlighted. While in bombing mode, there's bombing cursor that change depends on flying speed. The cursor is accurate but sadly i'm not. This one take long.

 

Eragon's farm is secured but the man himself is in danger now. Therefore i must fly to the village and destroy any archer and wagon along the way.

 

Pyro_laughevil02.wav

 

After burning/devouring every archers and wagons, Eragon comes out from whatever his hiding place (possibly in some large haystack). The game told me to snatch him and return to the farm as soon as possible. For some reason vulture attacking me while doing so. If i were sensible/normal vulture, i will just let a dragon flies near me fearing to be fried or eaten. But these gits are really out of mind. Probably they're trained vulture by the enemies and intense brainwashing is part of their "training".    

Alas! The enemies burned the farm before i do. Even though i have killed every King's soldier at sight before. There's possibility of a soldier got here while i try to grab Eragon but i suspect it's inside's job or remote satellite laser.

 

Next story mission is unlocked but i choose Arena Challenge because i like to push my luck recklessly. And because of curiosity too.

Another tutorial? Don't mind if i do. Pillage and Burn sounds interesting too. By the way, i apologize for my incompetence of setting the PSP emulator that you have to witness overlapping letters in so many cases in this article.

Before the mission, i can customize my loadout but there's not much that i have right now. I reckon i will put hide shirt on the rider, for now. Increase defense but at the cost of speed, sounds better than the effect of another armor that also increase defense but sacrifice maneuverability, i think.     

My first objective shoot the targets with my arrow. Holding 'L' button will draw an arrow, nice and simple but there's trick on the duration. While drawing your bow there's 2 half-circles near your target mark: one appear from above while the other from bottom, and they will moves close to each other. If you manage to release 'L' button while they form full red circle, your shoot will most likely hit the target and inflict most damage. This represent precision aiming and it's nice system to prevent shoot mindlessly.

 

There's also defensive magic: repulse that's useful to deny arrows and magic within short duration. Unfortunately, arrows and magic is within same pool. So you have to switch between them by pressing up or down button on d-pad. But that's me being finicky. The arsenal system works well enough in practice.

 

Repulse can also be used to rebuke enemy rider that manage to stows on dragon's back and try to hack the rider's back into bloody mess. But mashing 'R' button to punt the stowaway, works well so far.

Speaking of which, here i do the opposite on 1 on 1 deathmatch. It seems Kaullen (the A.I) doesn't have intention on elbow me. He resolves this situation mainly by using repulse magic. To hi-jack into enemy's dragon, i have to fly my dragon above enemy's until hi-jack icon appears then press 'circle' button. This is fun to do that i win the deathmatch mostly using this underhanded method and there's big gap between our score. This could be mean that the A.I is fits for beginner match.    

On to next mission named "Rescue the Maidens". It's like capture the flag but instead of banner with pole, it deploys damsel in distress. She's not really in danger, though. She stands peacefully on top tower where she's being held until some dragon rider blast the building and his dragon snatch her with its talon. That wasn't me though. I'm far too busy with current situation by reading the radar. Luckily for me my team (Shur'tugal) is 2 dragon riders while the enemy's (Forsworn) is only 1. But with my incompetence, the match goes fairer than you think. At least i manage to collect many magic and weapon that scatter around the map: ice bolt, fire arrow, disease, plaque, you name it. Also i kill Kaullen many many times. If you're curious enough, our princess is marked as purple icon on radar.

Now that finished all the challenge to get hide dragon armor and get it although i didn't check what's the armor does. I move on to main mission. I missed Pillage and Burn mission but Burning Bridge sounds good enough.

 

All of sudden, Urgals (which i assume some kind of orc-like humanoid) attack unmanned merchant wagons and it's up to me to take care of them. Although i'm not sure why these wagons are so important to us.

I saved the remaining wagons (which i'm sure it's only one). But Urgails attack village that's located some hundred meters from those wagons while Eragon is prancing around in panic in the middle of the bridge. Good job, lad. -_-# 

There's also Urgal on the boats. They're like the wagons except they're in water. The game suggests me to bombard them with rock. But my fire is enough to destroy them.

 

Part of village? I leveled out all of it. Or at least on this riverside. It can't be helped. Those Urgals have mind to hide between the houses. If this village have reliable security system rather than leave everything to me, the story will different.

Suddenly Eragon asks me to pick up spell that can help himself. Now i know that my name is Saphira and i occasionally talk in woman's voice. I had no idea about that. Well, unless i either watched the movie or read the book. Again.

 

Turns out the magic that Eragon implies is Brisingr which is high-explosive controllable fireball. Once i get it, Eragon immediately casts it and he burn Urgals along with the bridge (that's where the mission's title comes in) then he's knocked out. So i pick him to this safe camp. If i don't exist, he will die as soon as his recklessness get the best him. The miserable git. 

Later we know that Brom is once a dragon rider himself and he teaches Eragon how to be proper dragon rider. My first task is, eat 3 doves that Brom released. They flies fast but i can catch them up with boosting. Plus, they release blue orb periodically while flying. As if asking to catch themselves. Eating the preys while flying fast can't be healthy. Imagine if you chase after some running hot dog cart. You snatch some of hot dog then eat it while you're running. See, what i mean?  

After some re-training on archery with both target boards and vultures (serves them right!). An Urgal encampment come out of thin air and i have to destroy it. The guard tower is said to be impervious to draconic fire so i have to resort on fire arrows (that Brom keep providing within a period) or try to bombard it with rocks like in the beginning. I think i know how i keep missing with my bombardment. My mind insists on release the rock earlier on target mark accounting my speed, while the target mark is already calculating that and it's accurate. So i have to trust the marker more and less trust my stupid intuition.

That shining magic symbol that's obscured by game's text, is Brisingr pickup. Not only you can control said projectile magic's movement but also you can remote detonate it and it makes huge explosion. I use it to blow up a cliff with same symbol as it is that will bury another Urgal encampment if destroyed. It's the most powerful and valuable magic so far.

Then Ra'zac that i can't kill with any means except by throwing them to waterfall nearby, come to kill Brom. But i can't grab this foul sods even though i fly near them so many time that i can see "Made in China" on their hood. I though it's bug or something. Turns out i need to stun them with Brisingr before i can grab them. It will be nice if the game told me that at the beginning instead of the time when i pick up Brisingr!

 

Free faaaaaaall! XD

 

Eragon had a dream about Arya and she's still alive. He without hesitation will rescue her even though it's trap. Then he leaves me outside of the keep where she's held. Of course, he immediately get caught. Seriously, this lad is really hopeless without me around him.

 

So it's up to me alone to rescue Eragon and eventually Arya. Infiltrating this huge and spacious fortress is quite fun with some occasion of killing guards that attend crank wheels so the gate remain open. On later section there's replacement guard that will re-attend the crank wheels but that only provide me with more incineration/devour target than meaningful obstacle.

 

There's also siege machine. I appreciate their thought of using other mean besides with arrows to defeat me. But catapult here is really bad at doing its job as it can't hit me if i'm directly in front of it like this. Though, ballista is better on taking me as i can't just fly still in front of it without taking any damage. Maybe it can't shoot at me if i'm above it but i can't destroy it either. Unless if i have rock for bombing.    

 

Not vultures, again! They're Durza's (that red haired villain) spies and i have to kill them before they can inform my arrival. I take it, these villain don't deploy conventional alarm system like big horn or something instead of relying on this foul birds. As you can see that i can outrun them, so they're not good as alarming mean.

At the end of the map, i found tower where Eragon and Arya is held. The only solution to this situation is to break the building, hoping they will be save from my demolition act. To do so, i have to pluck those 3 wooden beams on the sides of the building then i have to lure a catapult (that keep respawning if it's destroyed) to throw rock at the ceiling. It works, thanks to the incompetence of the catapult operators there. Demoman_thanks02.wav

 

Eragon and Arya are saved but Durza doesn't take that. It's time to fight against the evil bastard himself! Or i'm forced to as this section is isolated by 2 closed gate until he's defeated that is. Durza conjures some protective barrier that can be banished by Disease spell for some reason. Once his barrier is out, i can damage him before he create new barrier. Sometime there's Brisingr symbol on top of his head, but i try using it to destroy his barrier but it didn't work. Of course, he doesn't stand there idly. He can shoot lightning ball that can conjure lightning strike on my head and as you can see he can also cast Disease himself. The lightning ball can be easily avoided by taking cover on giant rock formation on the other side of the tower. My gripe is it takes too long for Disease spell to respawn so i take cover in rock for quite long time while Durza keep talking "This is how real magic, boy", or "You won't be getting out of here!" over and over again. It gets old fast.    

 

But in the end, a stranger shoot arrow at Durza right in his forehead. Then he engulf in flame and vanish. In other word, he's dead without leaving any trace. Too bad! I was going to eat him. The gates are open so i can escape from here.

 

On my escape, i don't need to kill soldiers that man crank wheel. But i, i mean Eragon need to shoot arrow at paddle that can open the gates that close within certain duration. Last 2 gates close too fast so i need this Time Warp spell to slow them down but it's still tedious to race for the exit. I think i'm jabbering too much so i will end this now.

 

Amaze entertainment's Eragon (2006) is another movie tie-in game that's good if i may say so. It's like Ace Combat but with dragon instead of modern aircraft. Anything that relate to dragon, you can do it here: fire-breathing, eat hapless critters, and rock-bombing building. Plus there's magic and arrow mix in your method of mayhem. On some mission, the checkpoints are nicely placed. The control is responsive and the camera too. Sometime there's special close-up view when -for example- you grab human or shooting Brisingr, that may distract your view/focus from controlling your dragon. The music sometime is vague but sometime noticeable and overall it's quite fine. Besides the main mission, the game provide you with challenges that allow you to unlock equipment that you can use in multiplayer mode also with various game mode. So the game has quite adequate content. The graphic seems blocky especially in close-up but overall it's functional and fairly nice.

All in all, i can recommend you to play Eragon (2006). If you like Ace Combat or Tom Clancy's Hawx, i think you will like this too. Especially if you get bored on realistic airplane or what have you.

PS: i may not be able publish article once a week like in the old days. Therefore, i really appreciate your patience toward my incompetence. Also there will be another article about Eragon's game in near future so don't be surprised or confused later.