Previous Next

It was after a brave paladin had been hung, drawn and quartered for slaying the last living dragon that the world's spellcasters found their magic failing. Since that day, turmoil had erupted with a multitude of disasters ravaging the kingdom. In the meantime, the good ship Shadrak, while on a trading mission, had become separated from its escort vessels when its powerless wind-wizard could not summon a breeze to fill the sails. Yet the ship was drawn northward by an unknown force, until it finally grounded on the shores of an uncharted island.

Before the crew could investigate further, they were attacked and almost wiped out by an army of creatures, half man, half lizard: the Drakkhen.

The survivors of the battle were led to a huge palace where they were told of a Drakkhen plan to wipe out the human race and instigate a new age of dragons.

But the resourceful band escaped their captors, returned to the Shadrak and sailed back to their homeland to alert their people of the plight which would soon befall them. The nation's four bravest adventurers were given the task of sailing back to the Drakkhen island and wiping out the whole race.

Doing so would be difficult. The only clue was in the wind-wizard's tale - while at the Drakkhen's palace, he noticed an immense reptilian statue, its eyes shedding eight tears for the dragon race. During the conversation with the Drakkhen High Priest though, it was discovered that nine tears were shed, the last one for the humans who were to suffer at the claws of the dragons. This tear, in the form of a jewel, would have to be found by the adventurers if mankind were to stand any chance of survival.

Starting on a path not far from a castle, you have to take the party across the length and breadth of the 3D landscape, finding clues and killing monsters in your search for the Ninth Tear. Each member of the team begins with pretty puny weapons and armour, but these can be beefed up during the journey. As the dragons emit a massive amount of magical energy, a limited number of spells are available to the characters ranging from bolts of lightning to healing spells. As with the weapons, extra spells, are hidden in spellbooks which lie in castles and palaces. While the four characters are usually controlled one at a time, they can be moved around as one group when outside, making for fast travel around the island's different areas which include grasslands, deserts and swamps.

The landscape is fraught with terrors. Drakkhen forces are everywhere, in all sorts of unspeakable shapes and sizes. Spending the night outdoors is very dangerous, as there's always the likelihood of attack from nocturnal winged creatures. But not all enemies are so obvious. What at first may appear to be an innocent, inanimate object such as a door or a fountain, could be a cleverly disguised demon, lying in wait to gobble up even the most fearless of adventurers.

Drakkhen has been described by many as a pretender to the throne sat upon by Dungeon Master, which is a silly thing to say as the two games have little in common, save for the fact that they're both viewed in three dimensions and both contain four main characters. In fact, Drakkhen is much more adventure-oriented than Dungeon Master, which refuses to be anything but a straight RPG.

The 3D effect while outdoors is very good indeed, with fast frame update and lots of objects around to break up the monotony of the otherwise flat earth.

Sampled sound effects add tremendous atmosphere to the game with a wealth of different noises including the rustle of leaves in the wind, crickets rubbing their legs together at night and the blood-curdling screams of monsters launching themselves at the valiant foursome.

On the subject of the creatures to be found in the game, some of them are absolutely enormous, with horrible, gnashing fangs and bloodshot eyes - I had particularly like the wolf's head which springs from the fountains at the crossroads!

My one and only whinge is that the game lacks any sort of compass, which would have been extremely useful in finding your way around Drakkhen. I suspect that you need to use the positions of the sun and stars to plot your course. Very realistic, I suppose, but unfortunately I've never been very good at astronomy.

Drakkhen is a well-presented, addictive piece of adventuring, which comes complete with an enjoyable novella containing lots of clues. As I said, lack of a simple direction finder is a problem, but if you can overcome this (say by learning how to chart the stars) then you'll soon find yourself being dragged into the dangerous world of dragon-bashing.

Playability suffers from one or two silly omissions, but otherwise Drakkhen is a super game which should satisfy the adventuring spirit in most of you.

The only difference between this and the Amiga version is a not-quite-so-subtle colour fade on the horizon. If this is the sort of game which appeals to you, then make a trip to your nearest stockist and snap it up!