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| | Title:
Eragon
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
Adventure
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Publisher:
Vivendi Universal
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Developer:
N/A
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Release:
Q4 2006
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
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Vivendi Universal is about to establish a foothold of originality on adventure gaming with Christopher Paolini’s fantasy novel, and upcoming movie, Eragon. The story follows a young teenage boy, named Eragon, who is on an epic adventure that involves Elves, Dwarves, and other fantastic creatures. He’s accompanied by a dragon, meets strange, friendly and hostile characters and seeks to become a Dragon Rider with an Empire hanging in the balance. With the big budget movie of Eragon coming out later on this year, and the book trilogy nearly complete, it only makes sense (in the gaming industry) to toss a video game rendition into the mix.
Eragon, Aragon and Dragons
There may be those of you out there who may not be enthused about this title, possibly comparing it to Lord of the Rings, but you might be surprised to find an original concept for the game itself. Despite the lead character’s name seeming very similar to Aragon of LOTR, there are no comparisons between the two. The stories (for better or for worse) are also distinctly separate in context. While the “ancient” languages, strange species, and archaic themes might seem all too familiar to LOTR, Vivendi is promising some neat features for Eragon, the game.
For the most part, the gameplay will have a heavy focus on adventuring and an in-depth combat system. The combat system itself is supposed to revolve around back and forth counters and defensive maneuvers. The fighting contains a level of depth that ensures originality to the battles. Disarming and “degrading” defense attacks can be used to dispatch your opponents. Should the degrading defense system be based on attacks that don’t hit the opponent directly until it’s time to deliver the final death blow, then it may be a very unique and innovative combat system.
There’s also the inclusion of magical spells to help aid you during a fight. How far the magic system extends hasn’t been revealed yet. Nevertheless, everything that spans the look and “feel” of the movie will apparently be the evident route marker in which the developers are aiming the direction of Eragon. So as for the spells, characters, and everything else in between, they will mostly be based on the likes of the movie.
Fly for Fun
As a Dragon Rider you’ll of course have access to a dragon, which means there’s a hefty dose of flying involved. Saphira, Eragon’s dragon, allows you to take flight and take the fight to the skies against your enemies. You can also utilize a series of aerial attacks that allow you dispatch of enemies with blazing fireballs and melee attacks. There’s also the ability to call in a dragon attack while you’re battling on-foot. And while neither of these abilities are revolutionary features (think Drakan: Order of the Flame from seven years ago) there is at least the inclusion of a cooperative mode for two players. Bonuses are awarded for both players executing combination attacks whether on the ground or during aerial combat.
Overall, Vivendi could have a winning title on their hands with Eragon, if the “degradable” fighting mechanic is actually original. That’s assuming the feature provides players with something that hasn’t been overdone in other adventure games already. Also, if the adventure scheme isn’t mirrored after any of the LOTR games, there might be a high regard for the originality in this game. For more information regarding Eragon for the PC, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360, be sure to stay tuned in with XboxCore.com
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