GB Feature: Dragon’s Dogma Review

There’s still no official word on a PC version of Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma, so we took it upon ourselves to review the console edition in what ended up being an extensive six-page critique. Here’s a little something before you dive into the entirety of the article:

While not exactly on par with Ultima VII or even Skyrim, the world certainly feels alive: flowers, plants and fruits can be picked up from the ground, just as a good portion of the other rendered items, boulders fall in certain locations, bandits ambush you from appropriately advantageous places such as cliffs or walls, walking in bodies of water makes you wet and vulnerable to lightning-based attacks, travelers constantly walk along the roads, strong winds blow in certain locations, pushing you away or making you travel faster depending on what direction you’re coming from, boss enemies can ambush you while you travel, etc.

The game’s dungeons also merit a mention: while hardly perfect, they easily win against the competition’s linear and short affairs, often spanning multiple levels, and including secret and secondary paths and chambers, puzzles and a good enemy variety (while it could be argued that it’s not particularly appropriate for a cave to have a cockatrice reside in its depths, it certainly makes for a fun fight).

Overall, none of that is revolutionary or an achievement in itself, but compared to the other role-playing titles I’ve played in the last 5 years or so, Dragon’s Dogma has some of the best dungeons, with the only downside being that there are very few of them.