Dragonriders: Chronicles of Pern

Written by Ryan Smotherman  on July 10, 2001

Final Glimpse: Gotta hurry and read the book before this game's releaseЕbah! Who needs to read anyway?

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Chances are most of you gamers out there have never even heard of this title, or for some reason or another you just haven't paid it much attention. I for one didn't give it any consideration until recently, and I'm starting to wonder why. It's certainly shaping up to be a remarkable title with a lot of potential, not to mention loads of depth and beauty. Dragonriders: CoP is based off the novels written by science fiction author Anne McCaffrey. So, if you're a fan of her books, or huge fantasy worlds in general, you should definitely take notice

The basics of the storyline is this, you play the role of a young dragon rider named D'kor. Your Queen, Nalaya, has suddenly died, and all the dragon riders must seek out and find a new Queen for their people. You see, Nalaya was the controller of the Golden Dragon, the only one that is capable of reproducing, so finding a new Queen is a little harder than it seems, as the new one has to fit a certain criteria. To make matters worse, the dragon has laid a golden egg that is to be the future Dragon Queen. And since the loss of her master, the dragon is saddened and on the verge of leaving her nest.

Now, I admit the story is a tad bit on the confusing side. Plus, the developers promise even more story with dozens of sub-plots throughout the game. One being that a mysterious disease is spreading out through the land of Pern, as you could imagine, this could pose a few problems to your mission. Dragonriders will more than likely contain one of the biggest stories in gaming history, and I'll be sure to go over more of the backgrounds to the world of Pern in my review when it's release.

Speaking of the world of Pern, from what I've seen so far, it's looking quite stunning. The world itself is massive in size. You move your character around, in a standard 3rd person perspective, exploring a huge detailed world that's full of mountains, caves, buildings, dragons, and over 200 distinct characters. Which further iterates the actual scope of the game. As you explore the world of Pern you'll encounter many different types of gameplay styles, and to move on throughout the game you'll need to complete certain tasks, whether it involves a puzzle, item collecting, or just simply finding the right person to talk to. In addition, you can expect to come across some good ole fashioned sword fighting along the way.

Dragonriders will also feature a few RPG elements as well. Just as in any RPG, certain statistics will increase whenever an objective or battle is completed. Also, expect to run by a few characters that will teach you a few new useful moves and abilities. Such as a new attack to help you in taking out your foes, or even the ability to pick pocket people, and I'm sure some of these moves will more than likely be required to pass a point within the game. Considering your character is a УdragonФ rider, I'm sure we can also expect a little of the gameplay to involve flying through the skies on your dragon, named Zenth, which I'm really looking forward to. Although, I have yet to see any details on the gameplay aspects of dragon riding.