Drakkhen (SNES) - Full Playthrough

Описание: 00:00:00 Intro and Game Start
00:14:22 Hordken's Castle
00:50:19 Sent North to the Swamp
01:03:22 Haaggkhen's Castle
01:25:22 Heading North
01:41:16 Naakhtkha's Castle
02:03:34 Haaggkha's Castle
02:48:23 Hazhulkha's Castle
03:30:38 Hazhulkhen's Castle

Drakkhen was originally a PC game released in '89 by Infogrames. Two years later, Kemco would pick it up and port it to the new fangled Super Nintendo. It's an interesting title and one I have a soft spot for, it being one of the chief games that reminds me of my late tweens. But enough personal rubbish, let's take a look.

So one of the main things Drakkhen had going for it was it was an RPG for the SNES at a time when the SNES didn't have a whole lot of those. It also did away with the typical turn-based combat, favoring a more real-time experience wherein your party and the enemies you encounter would battle it out while you watched. The view was also unique for the time, with a first-person perspective while you explored the Drakkhen Island. The music is great. In fact, I really, really like whatever instrumentation Kemco used for this game, and I think they did too because I think it got reused for the sidescroller Phalanx.

It's a unique, fun experience, but holy cow, for an RPG it's a short one. Admittedly, I've beaten it before, so I knew what to do and where to go, but even then, nothing is too cryptic ('...come back and fight another day...' day, sun rises in the east at day time, so approach the golden pyramid from the east) should hold you up for more than ten hours, I'd imagine. While long back in the day, that's a drop in the bucket compared to Skyrim or some such.

I have played through the PC version, or as close to it as I could ( I seem to remember that, after getting the Eighth Tear and returning to those flashing triangles, a bunch of dragons just landed and killed me), and a lot got left out for the SNES release. For one thing, Gary Gygax of D&D fame helped with the whole project, and in particular he assisted in the dungeon design. And like his D&D modules, they were LOUSY with death traps. He also wrote the story, which was much deeper, more violent, and better explained. On the SNES, not only is some information missing all together, but it seems like Kemco translated things from English to Japanese and then back into English, with the results being, of course, that some lines of dialogue now make no sense.

Still, overall, I'd say Drakkhen is a fun experience (even though we never got a Drakkhen II, you liars). This isn't a 'Don't miss it' situation, but if you're looking to have an enjoyable, RPG romp that won't become a dedicated job for the next three months, it's worth a look.

7/10 (Just because Steam says 6/10, and I think it's a bit better than that.)