Serious Games

Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale Review

Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale Review 150 150 GAMESFWD

Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is the latest in a long line of mediocre video games based on the classic pen and paper role playing franchise. This dungeon-crawling action RPG is weighed down by tedious, repetitive gameplay and a number of presentation problems.

The premise of Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is that Rezlus, servant of Bane has taken over The Tower of the Void and plans to destroy the land of Daggerdale. The stories in this type of game don’t usually add much to the experience and this game is no different.

The story of Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is made further irrelevant because of a lacklustre presentation. A couple of cutscenes are presented in a graphic novel style with full voice overs, however most of the story it told through silent, blocky in-game character models that look like and act they were created in the early days of the PlayStation 2.

The rest of the game unfortunately is not much prettier. Washed out muddy colours, generic and repetitive enemy design and blurry textures are accompanied by severe screen tearing, pop in and frame rate problems.

The only positive thing I can say about the look of Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is that equipment changes appear on your character, along with some decent visual flourishes that denote status effects or equipment traits.

Sound design in the game is also rather poor. The sound level is noticeably muted, music is almost non-existent and the sound effects are weak.

Most fans of action RPGs would probably agree that collecting loot and upgrading your equipment is a big part of the fun. This eventually becomes the case in this game, but I was halfway through the five to six hour campaign before I actually started seeing items of interest appear. While there is a good variety of weapons and armour, complete with individual stats and traits, there is no weapon customization to speak of.

There is also little character customization to be had in Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale. At the beginning of the game you can chose one of four preset classes; human fighter, dwarven cleric, halfling wizard and elven rogue, the lone female option. Skills–each with three levels–and traits are unlocked in order based on your level and follow a linear progression. There is no option to re-class your character or take on a second class.

You can map up to seven actions, skills or items to the face buttons, with the left trigger used to swap skill sets. The rest of the controller’s buttons are also used, with the camera mapped to both the d-pad and right analogue stick.

Being comfortable with your control setup is important, because you will essentially be mashing your attack and skill buttons for the duration of the game. There is little to no strategy involved in combat, regardless of which class you choose.

It is not uncommon for action RPGs to boil down to a formula of clearing out a room of enemies and moving on, in Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale it becomes extraordinarily tedious. The quest structure has you backtrack through each dungeon several times, facing groups of enemies that respawn in the exact same numbers and locations every time you pass through an area.

Enemies scale in level as you advance through the game, but I constantly felt over levelled which made the whole thing feel too easy and sucked away what little fun that was to be had with the combat entirely. I knew what was coming around every corner and which attack or skill was effective.The campaign is broken into four chapters, each containing several quests and side quests, though the last chapter is but a surprisingly short boss fight. Quests invariably entail making your way to a location and destroying a group of enemies or structures. There is no checkpoint system during missions, so if you die or fail, you are forced to start the quest from the beginning, many of which are 10-20 minutes long.

Once you complete the campaign, you will find your character back in the game’s first dungeon with nothing to do but beat up on the same hordes of enemies you already dispatched a dozen times and max out your character at level ten.

You can also play the campaign with up to three others locally or via Xbox LIVE. Players are held within about half of a screen of each other by an invisible tether and can revive each other if they fall. Unfortunately, the game’s already shaky performance takes a big hit in multiplayer.

With action RPG titles like TorchlightDungeon Siege III and even Deathspank available on the Xbox 360, it’s hard to make a case for Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale for anyone but the most ardent and patient fans of the franchise. The short, yet tedious campaign, substandard presentation and performance and lack of customization options made it hard for me to find any real pleasure in playing this game.

PLAYSTATION MOVE SHARP SHOOTER ATTACHMENT REVIEW

PLAYSTATION MOVE SHARP SHOOTER ATTACHMENT REVIEW 150 150 GAMESFWD

The PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment is one of the most immersive, advanced and realistic video game gun peripherals ever to hit the market. However, it does have some ergonomic quirks and a rather high cost of entry.

To use the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment, you need a PlayStation Move Motion Controller, a PlayStation Move Navigation Controller and a PlayStation Eye, meaning before you even have a game to play, you must invest about $160 including the cost of the gun itself.

Assembling the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment is quite easy. The PlayStation Move Motion Controller is housed on the top under a locking snap mechanism and makes use of the output port of the controller. The PlayStation Move Navigation Controller rests in the bottom handle.

Once assembled, the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment is about 21 inches long. With its telescoping stock extended it grows to about 25 inches. The assembled unit weighs in at about three pounds.

This Peripheral Has no Shortage of Input OptionsThe PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment has a veritable arsenal of inputs. The spring-loaded trigger is very smooth and responsive and is accompanied by a three setting rate of fire switch. Under that is a Move button which is generally mapped to an alternate fire or grenade input. The Move button has a “safety” lock mechanism to prevent unwanted firing.

Above the trigger on either side of the gun are triangle and square buttons that are generally mapped to weapon switching or secondary actions.

The handle that the PlayStation Move Navigation Controller is in has a shotgun-style pump action for reloading and there is even a button on the bottom of the gun that simulates snapping a clip of ammunition into place.

My issue is that the PlayStation Move Navigation Controller is in an unnatural-feeling location. Utilizing the analog stick, d-pad, two face buttons and two triggers effectively can be awkward and challenging. Putting the controller in a more vertical position or allowing it to twist from side to side would have made it more comfortable to operate.

If you can stomach the cost of entry, you’ll find what is arguably the best home console gun peripheral ever in the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment. However, with a currently limited compatible software selection of less than half a dozen titles, it’s very hard to recommend people who don’t already have the required hardware.

Positives:

+ Provides an Immersive and Realistic Shooting Experience
+ Lots of Well-Built Input Options
+ Ambidextrous Design

Negatives:

– Start Up Cost is $160 without a Game
– PlayStation Move Navigation Controller Placement can be Awkward to Use