Drakengard

 PlayStation 2
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 158 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 118 out of 158
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 158
  3. Negative: 24 out of 158
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  1. Bameboy
    Feb 28, 2004
    2
    This is no match for panzer dragon orta and forget it!
  2. WillB
    Jan 27, 2009
    2
    Would you people please tell me what you're smoking, this is easily one of the most painfully crappy games I've ever played. The land-based missions are extremely dull and repetive in terms of both the layout and gameplay. The flying missions work alright control-wise, but are just as boring and trite. All I can say is, please for the love of God, BUT PANZER DRAGOON ORTA INSTEAD D :
  3. Broyax
    Apr 11, 2017
    0
    BTA mou du genou particulièrement vilain, pseudo-histoire ridicule, univers des plus génériques dégoulinant de mièvrerie. De jolies cinématiques (enfin, par rapport au reste...) mais ça ne suffit pas pour éviter le naufrage jusqu'aux abysses de ce néant vidéo-merdique.
  4. dotrem
    May 8, 2023
    0
    I honestly tried to play this. I tried to enjoy it. But I just i just can't handle this **** I can't handle this controls. Buttons don't do anything. No matter what i pressed everytime completely random **** happens. I'm not ready to spend my time to this circus. Well circus is a wrong word. Circus is an entertaiment, i like circus, After 2 hours in this game i did't find entertaiment.
    I    I honestly tried to play this. I tried to enjoy it. But I just i just can't handle this **** I can't handle this controls. Buttons don't do anything. No matter what i pressed everytime completely random **** happens. I'm not ready to spend my time to this circus. Well circus is a wrong word. Circus is an entertaiment, i like circus, After 2 hours in this game i did't find entertaiment.
    I can not believe that in 2005 i wanted to buy this game, Dear lord i so glad that i did'nt such a mistake. And instead of spending 50$ and nervs back in the days i spent 1$ today and threw this game out of my window today.    … Expand
  5. Kai82
    Jul 31, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While I liked the gameplay the games story is depressing, has only downer endings and to say it mildly some of the characters are questionable bad choices by the developer (Details below). Also a lot of the later unlockable chapters will have WTF moments where you question what you experience. Lets start at the beginning. It is an action RPG where you have a Dragon as ally. You switch between ground combat and aerial combat but must be careful as some enemy units will shot you down from your Dragon and some missions are restricted to one or the other. It is set in the world Midgard which is protected from chaos by seals. The seal is linked to a chosen woman called “The Goddess of the Seal”. If the seal and the goddess are destroyed respectively killed the world is doomed. The Empire however does not believe in this and wants to change the status quo of the world. You play as Caim who is fighting against the Empire to protect his sister who is the goddess of the seal. When he is seriously injured he makes a pact with the also injured dragon Angelus. Pacts are willingly contracts in this world which made both participants stronger but at the price of being linked together for life and losing something important like for example your voice or eyesight. With this the struggle to safe the world starts. The story is like I said depressing and if you aim for the additional endings it gets stranger and stranger. The last one requires nearly super human patience and gaming skills but there is YouTube as alternative. I might sound to negative as it is still immersive and creates emotion. Sadly there is no true happy end for the story and in hindsight the first obtainable ending is probably the best you get but that can be just my opinion. Gameplay wise it is an action RPG including dragon aerial combat. As Claim you have multiple attacks that can be used for combos and special moves. What I like are the weapons you can level up for more damage and longer combos. Each has 4 levels and these improve by defeating enemies. Some have useful special effects you can use like for example healing or devastating special attacks. You can find a lot of weapons in the game and have access up to 8 at once. Then there are the aerial combats with Angelus. You fight your enemies with dragon fire while evading their attacks. Angelus get also stronger during the story by defeating enemies but I think some upgrades were locked by story progression if I remember correctly. Both parts works surprisingly well for its time and I truly enjoyed the gameplay. Also you unlock new story parts or should I say additional branches of the story. This I liked too until I recognized that there was no satisfying conclusion. If no ending makes me comfortable then this is a failure for me. Clarification: I don't need a happy ending in everything but there is a limit. Now to the elephant in the room with the cast. I have no problem with Caim whose is a bit odd and can be described as emotionless and berserker in battle. However there is Arioch a mad elfin woman and continuously child murderer (That is not a typo and I wish it was) and if that does not shock you Leonard has pedo tendencies (That is also not a typo). Of cause to make matters worse there is Seere who is actually 24 but because of a pact did not age and looked like a child. Where do I even start here. This is the most awful character idea I have seen. I am still in disbelieve how anyone could have greenlighted this and that it made not a controversy back then. I checked the Wiki for Drakengard to see if I remembered this correctly and it was correct. At the end I am terrified by this and don't know what happen here as it passed all checks and is PEGI 16 or ESRB M (17+). I continue with the review. The presentation was good for its time but the graphics aged not well. The character designs were really good and the soundtrack was O.K. for me. Overall I don't know what to make out of this game. Gameplay wise it was good but the downer endings and the 2 above mentioned problematic characters weaken the experience. I even considered given a 0/10 because of this. I go with a 3/10 and give a warning about the 2 characters as it was deemed acceptable by the authorities.… Expand
  6. xdan
    Jun 5, 2017
    0
    I'm amazed this unplayable garbage has a positive score. Worst spent time in my life.
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  7. tomflanders
    Mar 31, 2018
    4
    Had a really cool vibe to it. Graphics and gameplay were decent but always felt like something was missing...
  8. dggt
    Jan 25, 2020
    4
    Good UI, cinematic cutscenes are great as well, but gameplay is ultimately boring, infinite amount of same looking enemies that had to be killed with 1 button
  9. Persona2Anime
    Sep 26, 2022
    0
    Terrible game, terrible story, has nothing worth of true value in the slightest.

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2004
15
#15 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 55
  3. Negative: 8 out of 55
  1. RealGamer
    72
    It seems ironic that in Square Enix’s attempts to make a game appealing to fans of two genres they have actually created a game that features pretty standard gameplay and may not attract its intended audience.
    Read full review
  2. Just RPG
    65
    Just isn't fun enough to keep you playing. With repetitive missions, no multiplayer and mediocre gameplay, it often devolves into a chore.
    Read full review
  3. Armchair Empire
    59
    Two genres thrown together that don’t really try to be better than the games that they’re based on, descending into a mundane exercise in repetition.
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