Drakengard 2
Ages: Mature

This game has a great back story; A war to protect the "Seals" involves a young Union warrior Caim and his dragon soul mate Agelus a red dragon. The Seal Goddess is Caim's sister and so he has more than a casual interest in protecting the seals. In spite of it all -- the seals are broken by the interference of a six-year old girl named Manah. However, peace is restored with the sacrifice of the Red Dragon.

Version 2 starts 18 years later, Caim is nowhere to be found, in his place is another warrior, Nowe who also has bonded with a dragon. Legna, who sounds a bit like Alec Guiness, is a male chauvinistic dragon who ribs Nowe for taking orders from a female warrior. Mana is the only one who remains from the original game and she is now 24 years old and is trying to make amends for nearly destroying the world by rescuing victims from the Knights of the Seals. There are other main characters too --Eris a superb woman fighter and an old friend of Nowe; Uruk, a masked man with an axe and a powerful fighter against monsters comes along later in the game. Each one of these characters wields a specific weapon and selecting the weapon will automatically select there character linked to the weapon. Nice, when you have to make decisions on the fly. Then there are guardians of the different Districts -- Soul Flame, Hallowed water and Precious Light. All are tortured characters, having made a Faustian contract with the gods and were the losers in the bargain. Between battles you get pieces of the story as it twists and turns.

With characters like these you have the making of a great adventure game. But the developers have decided to make it a hack and slash until your fingers are weary and your buttons get hot. Dragon flying is a relief and taking out dirigible-styled aircraft is fun -- there are plenty of fireballs and explosions. It gets a "M" rating for intense violence because of the massive killing of minions which you need to do to level up. But it feels like all in a day's work for an action hero -- kill, shop, buy weapons.

Reviewed by: Editor - 02/06