Dragon Rage

Published by 3DO
Platform: Playstation 2
Price £29.99
Released: Out Now

In search of the most precious resource in the land, Zeenium, the Orcs have resorted to despotic means. The Dragons and Sprites and other kinds of creatures and races have felt the full brutality of the Orcs. These races had the choice of slavery or death. To make matters worse the only way the Zeenium can be collected is through Dragon eggs or by slaughtering the Dragons themselves. You control Cael Cyndar, a Dragon, who on the verge of being executed summoned up a previously unknown elemental power to break free from his chains and escape. The time is now ready to take revenge.

We may as well get it over with right away and say that the game isolates the deaf gamer with very little text feedback and masses of verbal information that you simply miss out on. There is no multiplayer mode either so you can't even find solace in that. In fact the only mode you can play in is the campaign mode. The introduction explained the story behind the game and as this isn't subtitled you'll be left to figure it out somewhat from the visuals. On page 5 of the manual there is a brief description of what is going on.

The first mission of the campaign leaves you completely in the dark. A small paragraph, prior to the first mission, gives a little background to the proceedings. Once in the mission the objectives are given verbally and no text is provided. If you press the start button to go into pause mode there is an option to look at the mission briefing. This is totally different to the verbal one that was given and is more of a summary of the mission with no specific details. During the missions there is additional verbal information given and this is not provided in text either. There is no getting around it, you will find this game very difficult to understand.

The missions basically involve you either collecting eggs or killing Orcs. Control of the Dragon is quite good and he can do a varied amount of actions. A funny requirement is that he has to eat certain creatures in order to to replenish his health. The camera angles are never an issue either as it always seems to remain at a suitable angle and distance.

Graphically speaking the whole think is decent. While it's never going to push the PS2's graphical ability the look of the game is appropriate and the whole thing looks pleasant. The Dragon's fire attacks and the powers are all nicely animated and up to scratch. In fact the animation for the Dragon is quite good and at no time does it look wooden or artificial.

Generally speaking the game as a whole, would be in line for around a 7-7.5 out of 10 but when you take into account it's suitability for a deaf gamer the score takes a nose dive which is a shame as it wouldn't have added much time to the development to fully subtitle the game.

Overall Game Rating: 4.0/10 Quite simply the mark would have been a lot higher had subtitles been included. The game itself is a decent affair but it does very little to accommodate the deaf gamer.

Deaf Gamers comment: Very hard work for a deaf gamer to get any enjoyment out of it.