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
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
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.
