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What on earth happened down in the Dragon's Vale? There they were, doing dragon-like things, whatever they may have been and poooof (or possibly fwoom), it happened. Something. What, I'm not too sure. But I can tell you this - it certainly happened and now the dragons have gone. Oh, and so has the magic. I dunno, if it's not tied down...

Find the old scriptures so that you can teach the magical ways to all and sundry plus - find out what happened to those dragons I mentioned earlier. Have they vanished or been viciously slaughtered (ugh)? Best, hurry up, though, 'cause the land will go to wrack and ruin otherwise.

Dragonflight uses a top-down view for play around the outside world but reverts to a first-person perspective when you're in the dungeons.

During play you control four pre-rolled characters. The main compoenents of the game system include the usual system of visiting a variety of towns, buying weapons and food, talking to people and utilising taverns for information. This is done by entering the tavern, buying a drink and overhearing some snippet of info.

Actually talking to the wandering villagers or occupants of the buildings is done via clicking on a mouth icon. Unfortunately, this means interaction is pretty basic, unlike the laser Ultimas that incorporate a nifty keyword system plus options to cross-examine characters that gives you an illusion of freedom.

In addition, I have grown used to seeing a close-up portrait of characters I come into contact with, none of this 'gloss' was present in Dragonflight, however. The NPC replies are quite wordy, though.

One aspect that I liked a lot about Dragonflight is the mouse-controlled command system. Normally when a WIMP interface is used it can be a bit of a mess. However, Thalion have developed a very efficient menu system that cuts down 'mouse-wandering' to a minimum.

I'm afraid the combat has been poorly designed. You are presented with a side-view close-up showing each individual character present in the combat sequence, complete with animated action after you despatch your orders. The main problem is that you can only move each character in four directions and cana ttack in only two directions.

Also, the character who actually kills the monster receives the experience and gold - even if a colleague has done most of the work. This is grossly unfair and actually goes against the role-playing ideal. For example, to increase the experience of a weak character you would just allow a strong character you would just allow a strong character to rough up a monster while the weak character finishes him off with a single attack. Tut-tut.

Magic is handled quite well as each character must learn spells. Only one spell at a time may be held in memory.

Dragonflight is not a bad RPG, just rather average. Although the quest was a novel one I never felt excited by it. There was too much dead time, not enough involvement, just the usual 'Find Bob in x-village and he'll give you an object/info' type of puzzle. Which is all a bit old hat nowadays. While there are one or two highlights to admire, Dragonflight also incorporates bad design (combat) and a lack of the accepted chrome that comes as standard in other RPGs.