Drakengard is based in a medieval world, fought over by the Union and the Empire. Both are trying to gain control of the goddess Furiae, who maintains the harmony of the world. The main character in Drakengard is Caim, who fights for the Union, a fighter with a fair amount of bloodlust. At the start of the game he makes a pact with a dragon, and together they both fight against the oppression of the Empire. It's a story, which is fairly well told in a number of ways, either by use of various cut-scenes or through text between the levels, and players will soon find themselves wanting to progress the story further. This is just as well, as the gameplay in Drakengard leaves something to be desired.

Most of the action takes place on the ground, mainly using Caim, but also with other characters as the game progresses. Control is fairly simple with just one button for weapon attacks and another for magic attacks, which can be used periodically after building up enough power. Other buttons are used for blocking and rolling out of the way. The reliance on the single button for attack does lead to a lot of repetitive button mashing and melee fighting on the ground is characterized by a relentless hacking through dozens of mindless enemies. Hack through enough of them and the game progresses to the next level with little creativity or thinking needed.

Extra weapons can be found to complement Caim's original sword, but these are used in just the same way. They can affect the gameplay though, through their differing attributes. Axes, swords, hammers, daggers and all the other weapons available all have different speeds and power, so certain weapons are better against certain enemies. Each weapon also has its own type of magic, all of which are offensive in nature but differing in characteristics. At the start of each level up to eight weapons can be equipped and can be easily switched between during the game.

In the air the control is fairly similar to on the ground, with the main difference being the ability for the attack button to be held down to target multiple enemies. Even so the aerial fighting in Drakengard is just as uninspiring as the ground attacks. Fighting on the back of a dragon could be an exciting mix of fast, highly maneuverable flying and devastating attacks. Instead what we get is a relatively slow moving and unresponsive beast with short, punctuated attacks. There is not so much the sensation of flying than there is a feeling of floating on a turret, spinning around and attacking those around you. Compounding this feeling is the total lack of any environment in the air other than clear air. After some recent games that nailed flying and created an exciting game by having chases and attacks by aerial enemies through low-level environments this is just disappointing.

Perhaps a little more rewarding are the areas that combine the ground and aerial fighting. The control of these two facets are the same as before, but the dynamic changes slightly with a choice between using a melee weapon and using the powerful dragon's breath, which can take out several opponents in one hit. As the game goes on the balance shifts to the melee combat, with the dragon becoming vulnerable to ranged attack due to a relative lack of maneuverability. Switching between the two styles is easy enough, with the press of the Select button, and gives a little more depth to the game.

Characterising Drakengard throughout is some fairly lackluster AI. Most enemies seem to be there just to increase the number of opponents on the screen, and just stand still waiting to be attacked. Where there is some sort of offense it is quite obviously programmed and following a very simple pattern. Dodging or predicting attacks becomes very simple and most difficult areas are hard because of the sheer number of enemies rather than any intelligence on their part.

Apart from the story one of the main things Drakengard does have going for it is length. Typically this sort of action game is over in a few short hours. Drakengard bucks this trend with a lengthy campaign, extended with the addition of multiple endings, finding all 65 weapons and hidden chapters. Unfortunately the much-vaunted RPG aspects of the game, which would have extended replayability, are all but non-existent. While both the dragon and all the weapons can be upgraded these are automatic upgrades that occur at the conclusion of each level. A degree of customization or experimentation with the upgrades would have been good to see.

Graphically Drakengard shows quite a bit of difference between the cut-scenes and the in-game presentation. The CGI cut-scenes are well up to Square Enix's normal standard and are impressive throughout. This does create a level of expectation for players for the rest of the game and unfortunately the in-game graphics are not as good. The character models are reasonably well done though with some nice animations, especially when using magic. The dragon is also well done, although its range of motion is quite limited. There is not a lot of variation among the enemies however, and this is quite noticeable when there is multiples of the same type of enemy onscreen at the same time, all looking and moving the same. The standard of collision detection is also rather dodgy, and it is possible to hit enemies with still a fair distance between the characters.

Where the game's looks are heavily let down is in the environments, which are quite frankly boring. Featuring very little detail or texturing the look of the levels makes the game look quite dated and is more something we would have expected a couple of years ago. Adding to the problems is a high level of fogging, both on the ground and in the air. The draw distances are very low, and are some of the worst we have seen for quite some time.

There is a lot of voice acting in the game, much more than a standard action title, and most of it is of fairly good quality. We would have liked to have the option of the original Japanese voices but with the standard of the English voices this is no great loss. In terms of the musical soundtrack we are quite disappointed. Square Enix has delivered some of the best soundtracks in gaming but this is not one of them. Favouring a dark and heavy orchestral style that seems to draw a lot from Wagner the soundtrack often becomes a struggle to listen to. A lot of our problem with the soundtrack comes when in an in-game battle and the music switches to a short, repeated loop that can become quite excruciating over the course of a 10-minute battle. Certainly having something lighter or more reactive to the action would have made our experience a lot better.