Could be better, could be worse...
One of the highlights of Eragon is the audio presentation which features the voices of Edward Speleers, Sienna Guillory, Garrett Hedlund and Robert Carlyle from the movie. The theme music helps to give Eragon a dramatic edge with bold fanfares when the action hots up to the more serence musical segments from the stringed section of the orchestra as you fly over hills and valleys on Sephara the dragon.
Graphically, Eragon looks the part with deep textures that help to provide excellent backdrops to the likes of the flying missions. The characters are somewhat cardboard looking and at times it seems as though the developers didn't put as much effort into parts of the game - with some sharp, jagged graphics - but overall Eragon does manage to capture the look of the film adequately.
Fans of the movie and casual gamers will probably enjoy battling through the game and mixing up the combat techniques, but hardcore gamers will immediately note that there is no depth to the gameplay and once you've took part in one major fight or one flying mission you've experienced it all.
Click for larger imageEragon has tried harder than many movie-spin offs to get it right and I did enjoy certain aspects of the game, such as the cut-scenes, the storyline and the initial combat sequences, but adding an RPG element such as levelling up or even allowing us to collect items would have given the game far more depth. As it stands, Eragon is an average hack 'n slash adventure.
Pros
Some entertaining sequences
Decent cut-scenes
Stays faithful to the film
Cons
No depth to the gameplay
Fighting is repetitive
Puzzle solving poorly implemented
Extremely linear
Not the worst movie spin-off we've played, but the lack of real adventure dampens its appeal.
