Eragon

Christopher Paolini's Eragon and Eldest, the first two books in his Inheritance trilogy, have been both lauded and reviled by literary critics. As the first creative work of a teenager they are quite impressive, but some have lambasted the series for its clichés and derivative themes. Much like Star Wars, Eragon is the coming-of-age story of a young man with the potential to save the world from an evil dictator, mentored by the last of a dying breed of heroes. Instead of a light saber, the Force and an X-Wing, Eragon's tools of the trade are his swordsmanship, his use of magic and the Ancient language, and his dragon Saphira, one of the last of her kind and the source of his power.

The first book saw plenty of success at booksellers, however, and has garnered enough of a fan base to merit a feature film conversion, starring an unknown young actor, Edward Speleers, in the title role, alongside a supporting cast that includes Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich. Will Eragon be the next Harry Potter? Probably not, but Sierra is hoping for at least comparable success and is thus publishing video games based on the Eragon franchise. We recently had a chance to take a look at how things are shaping up thus far.


The console and PC games are being designed as action-adventure games by developer Stormfront Studios, who have taken an approach with this game that closely resembles what they did with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which was released for the PS2 and Xbox to ride that wave of interest following the release of Peter Jackson's films -- a very similar situation. The characters have a realistic look to them, at least as realistic as one can achieve in a world filled with magic, monsters and a fire-breathing dragon. We saw rustic locales, like the village of Carvahall where the story of Eragon begins, as well as the site of the great battle outside the Varden home of Farthen D¿r (the Varden are the good guys, if you're keeping track), where Eragon and Saphira make their stand against the Shade Durza's invading army.

The combat system is pretty simple at first glance, with two attack buttons, one for quick strikes, and another for slower, more powerful blows. These attacks can be input in various combinations for different effects. One combination, for instance, will initiate a grapple maneuver which can be used to either finish off a foe, perhaps by striking them with the pommel of your sword, or by throwing that opponent into other enemies. Brom, one of the playable second characters and Eragon's Obi-Wan Kenobi-like mentor, has a different throw than Eragon, borrowing from the repertoire of professional wrestlers everywhere, impressively lifting baddies high above his head before tossing them down. Not bad for an old guy.