Dom Robinson reviews

for

Distributed by
Sega

Price: £29.99 Players: 1

Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern is a game based on the apparently-famous 16-book series of novels written by Anne McCaffrey. Sadly, the only thing I actually read on a regular basis is the TV guide and TV Quick's weekly whimsy is a far cry from her fantasy fiction. As you run around the game tends to look a lot similar in terms of textures and colour to Thief II: The Metal Age and given that it reminds you how much of a shame it is that the console didn't get the chance to scale the heights it should have done and could easily have managed Half Life had it been a viable platform on which to release that game.

However, the control system is an absolute dog. Rather than the expected "move in the direction of the analogue joystick", you turn with the left and right directions and go forward or backward by moving the joystick in those directions. In other words, exactly like the D-pad and not what the joystick's for and it's very difficult to control your character. As you run around there's an effective and slightly haunting score, not to mention, especially at the start, sound effects of dripping water leaking into your cave. The main problem is, though, that to take on a series of novels in one game is no doubt a very ambitious project and not having delved into McCaffrey's literary world puts me at a disadvantage... which means I haven't got the slightest idea what's going on and it's not easy to get involved when you can't move your man where he's meant to go.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.