Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard 

Dragonshard is the first game set in the new Dungeons & Dragons world of Eberron, now I haven't played D&D for many years or followed it's evolution much, so I can't comment on it's authenticity, but we do get treated to a kick ass intro movie which goes a long way to setting the scene. These little CG movies must cost a fortune but I do love them. It's also the first D&D RTS game ever, the Dungeons and Dragons universe probably lends itself more to roleplaying titles after all, indeed Dragonshard does have RPG elements but we'll get to that later no doubt.

Many moons ago, lots of games had their own custom installers, but until Dragonshard, I hadn't seen one for years. It's also in much the same style as the games menu system. I guess it's like some sort of magically powered machine. Nice idea, but generally I do other things while games are installing, so it was more of an inconvenience than anything else.

 

Dragonshard certainly doesn't offend, but neither does it massively excite, it's a solid fantasy based real time strategy with many D&D style RPG elements that's actually quite good fun to play. The story isn't completely stupid and campaign mode plays well with many side quests added to each mission, although the campaigns is a bit short for my liking. It also has an extremely thorough group of tutorial missions that will set up even the most novice of strategy gamers for the task ahead.

Hardcore RTS players might find it a touch limited in places, mainly with base building and defense, but it is quite easy to pick up and play and there certainly is some depth here too, I guess that's the sign of a well made game, easy to play, hard to master.

I can't really criticise Dragonshard, there's just isn't anything really wrong with it. What I would say is that while I have very much enjoyed playing Dragonshard, I never really got totally sucked in. It's hard to explain, this is a very, very good game that's very well made, it's just not a brilliant one. Well worth it's price tag though, especially if your a fan of Dungeons & Dragons.


Minimum System Requirements:

Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP/Vista?
1.3 GHz processor
512 MB RAM
3 GB free hard-disk space
8x CD-ROM drive
64 MB 3D video card with DirectX 9.0c support
DirectX-compatible 16-bit sound card

 

Screenshots:

http://i29.tinypic.com/aakmmg.jpg

 

Links:

http://rapidshare.com/files/114584470/DDragon.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114587924/DDragon.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114591172/DDragon.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114594470/DDragon.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114597770/DDragon.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114614471/DDragon.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114618234/DDragon.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114622485/DDragon.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114626476/DDragon.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114630175/DDragon.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114634213/DDragon.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114639093/DDragon.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114643211/DDragon.part13.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114647228/DDragon.part14.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/114647572/DDragon.part15.rar

Patch
http://rapidshare.com/files/114648052/DDragonPatch.rar

Pass: akefalos