Dragonshard Review

Both champions and captains add a nice role playing aspect to the game but they do lack the feeling of a true RPG character. There's no choice in character creation and no difference between them from one game/mission to the next. Champions and captions also do not keep the experience they've earned, each mission does not build upon the previous one, each mission basically starts over from square one.

The above ground battles in Dragonshard can involve anywhere from a handful of combatants to small skirimishes that involve dozens of units. Dungeon crawl battles in the underground map tend to be a little smaller but there seems to be a larger variety of monsters and creatures. Bugbears, beholders, zombies, gelatenuious cubes and more await as you quest for gold and experience.

There are two types of resources in Dragonshard, gold and crystal shards. The crystal shards are gathered from above ground deposits and are fairly plentiful. Gold is obtained two ways from your home base and from adventuring. It is automatically generated from your home base but in order to successfully complete a mission you'll need more than your base can provide on its own. This is done by venturing below ground and collecting the gold that lies throughout the dungeon of the second map.

Although not necesasrly a physical resource, experience is also very important. It is through experience that your captains will gain the ability to recruit soldiers, cast new spells and utilize special abilites that are necessary for success.

Dragonshard is limited by the fact that it only contains a total of three factions. Two factions for the single player campaign and a third faction that can be played in multiplayer/skirmish mode. In addition each faction only has anywhere from 12-15 different units so there's not a lot of choices when it comes to picking a faction or building an army. The third faction not playable in the single player campaign is the Umbragen who are decendents of ancient drow elves.

The game interface includes two minimaps to both the above and below ground maps as well as all the typical hot keys for moving around the game without having to click on every object or unit. The overall control of units and buildings is fairly typical of most RTS games.

Audio & Graphics

Dragonshard's graphics are fully 3D and overall look very nice. There are some above ground environments that could have more detail but this lack of detail has been compensated for in the look of units and the below ground environments. Most notable is the detail given to the classic D&D monsters encountered throughout the game. Bugbears, beholders, gelatenious cubes look fantastic as well as the movement and actions of other units such as rangers firing arrows or sorcerer's casting spells. The lighting affects and shading of the underground dungeons adds a nice touch, giving the environment a dark omnious feel to it as you direct your party into each new chamber.

While the sound of battle and spells being cast is on par with most games, the voice overs are anything but that. The repetitive lines of some characters and the narrator's voice especially, can become down right annoying after a while, but overall it doesn't hold Dragonshard back.

Bottom Line

The combined real time strategy and role playing game elements in Dragonshard are a nice touch and upgrade to the genre. An even greater emphasis on the RPG elements to allow for customizable characters or the ability to save character experience would have been a nice feature that we hope to see in future games. The game is limited by the small number of factions and units but overall Dragonshard does a good job of breaking away from the RTS cookie cutter mold and offers a unique experience that makes it one of the year's best RTS games.