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Logo by Max Layne Photography
| Microsoft Xbox 360 |
There are very few movie tie-in games that are able to offer gamers of the younger ages an enjoyable game that can hold their attention
for longer than 10-15 minutes. When a game that is able to hold their attention rolls around, they jump at the chance to pick up the
game for their kids to enjoy. “How To Train Your Dragon” is a tie-in game that is based on the movie of the same title and it puts
players in the shows of a young Viking who trains dragons and then enters them into fighting tournaments against other trainers.
When players first turn on the game they are asked to choose their character, the boy named Hiccup or the girl named Astrid. From
there gamers will spend roughly half of their time in the game on quests searching for items for villagers and looking after and
customizing dragons to use for battles. Players will need to feed their dragons, let them sleep and apply special herbs and materials in
order to earn the dragon’s trust and improve its mood. When the dragon is in good health, players are able to take them out for training
exercises where a variety of new moves and attacks are able to be learned. They are also able to take their dragon to a challenge area
where they can guide them in various tests, such as flying through a series of rings, in order to earn experience points to use later in the
game.
When a player’s dragon is properly trained and cared for, players are able to place their dragon’s into tournaments which, if they are
able to win, will unlock new quests for the players to go on, challenges to attempt to complete and training exercises to work through. A
secondary mode in the game, dubbed as Arcade mode, lets players take on groups of computer controlled dragons or go up against a
friend on the same screen.
When it comes to be a straight-up fighting game, “How To Train Your Dragon is a very average game. This is very little that feels
original about the battles or the stages on which the battles take place in the game. However, by the time players reach the third
tournament, the fights become very challenging and will leave even more advance players have some trouble. This is one game where
button mashing won’t work, and players will eventually need to actually learn the combinations if they are planning on winning a match.
If “How To Train Your Dragon” is the first fighting game for a child to play, the game can get to be very frustrating and may end in tears.
However, the game using a lot of time walking players through how to play the game with the training exercises, and the repetition helps
to make sure players know how to control their dragon. However, for those that have had a good amount of experience in the fighting
game genre, this can get to be a boring game very quickly.
As parents of children help their young gamer work through the game, or as older gamers work through the challenges, quests and
training in the game, it will become very obvious that the game is based a lot on repetition. Whether it is performing the same moves
over and over again in training or bagging vast amounts of chickens or dozens of pieces of ore, most of the overall experience feels like
grinding for no other reason than to simply make the game last a little bit longer than other games of this type. What players are given
is an okay game that many younger players will be able to sit down and play for extended periods of time, but it is still a shame that
players are also tasked to repeat most of the activities so much that it will make some of the more advanced gamers want to pass this
game and begin on something that will offer a little more variety.
When deciding whether or not to purchase this game, parents need to realize that “How To Train Your Dragon” is a video game tie-in for
the Hollywood film of the same title, and kids who see the movie and enjoy it will probably enjoy the game as well. However, the game
does not follow the same storyline as the film, but instead offers a more in-depth experience.
The game’s primary action is very similar to that of a typical fighting game, with two dragons fighting to attempt to reduce each other’s
health bars by using complicated combinations of attacks involving slashes and flames. It is not nearly as graphic as most fighting
games as there is no blood or gore and the dragons do not die at the end of the match, but the dragons do make contact and react from
the hits that are thrown at them.
It should also be noted that there is a conflicting message that is being passed to the player in the game. The heroes of the game are
supposed to care about the dragons that the train but there are no issues with taking the dragons and putting them in fights against
each other. The game supports dragon fighting tournaments against a friend sharing the same screen.
There are a lot of good things about “How To Train Your Dragon,” but there are also a few issues that go along with it. However, issues
in a game are very typical for movie tie-in games and should be expected. Players will have a lot of fun designing, raising and training
their dragon, even if the battles are a bit of a drawback.
for longer than 10-15 minutes. When a game that is able to hold their attention rolls around, they jump at the chance to pick up the
game for their kids to enjoy. “How To Train Your Dragon” is a tie-in game that is based on the movie of the same title and it puts
players in the shows of a young Viking who trains dragons and then enters them into fighting tournaments against other trainers.
When players first turn on the game they are asked to choose their character, the boy named Hiccup or the girl named Astrid. From
there gamers will spend roughly half of their time in the game on quests searching for items for villagers and looking after and
customizing dragons to use for battles. Players will need to feed their dragons, let them sleep and apply special herbs and materials in
order to earn the dragon’s trust and improve its mood. When the dragon is in good health, players are able to take them out for training
exercises where a variety of new moves and attacks are able to be learned. They are also able to take their dragon to a challenge area
where they can guide them in various tests, such as flying through a series of rings, in order to earn experience points to use later in the
game.
When a player’s dragon is properly trained and cared for, players are able to place their dragon’s into tournaments which, if they are
able to win, will unlock new quests for the players to go on, challenges to attempt to complete and training exercises to work through. A
secondary mode in the game, dubbed as Arcade mode, lets players take on groups of computer controlled dragons or go up against a
friend on the same screen.
When it comes to be a straight-up fighting game, “How To Train Your Dragon is a very average game. This is very little that feels
original about the battles or the stages on which the battles take place in the game. However, by the time players reach the third
tournament, the fights become very challenging and will leave even more advance players have some trouble. This is one game where
button mashing won’t work, and players will eventually need to actually learn the combinations if they are planning on winning a match.
If “How To Train Your Dragon” is the first fighting game for a child to play, the game can get to be very frustrating and may end in tears.
However, the game using a lot of time walking players through how to play the game with the training exercises, and the repetition helps
to make sure players know how to control their dragon. However, for those that have had a good amount of experience in the fighting
game genre, this can get to be a boring game very quickly.
As parents of children help their young gamer work through the game, or as older gamers work through the challenges, quests and
training in the game, it will become very obvious that the game is based a lot on repetition. Whether it is performing the same moves
over and over again in training or bagging vast amounts of chickens or dozens of pieces of ore, most of the overall experience feels like
grinding for no other reason than to simply make the game last a little bit longer than other games of this type. What players are given
is an okay game that many younger players will be able to sit down and play for extended periods of time, but it is still a shame that
players are also tasked to repeat most of the activities so much that it will make some of the more advanced gamers want to pass this
game and begin on something that will offer a little more variety.
When deciding whether or not to purchase this game, parents need to realize that “How To Train Your Dragon” is a video game tie-in for
the Hollywood film of the same title, and kids who see the movie and enjoy it will probably enjoy the game as well. However, the game
does not follow the same storyline as the film, but instead offers a more in-depth experience.
The game’s primary action is very similar to that of a typical fighting game, with two dragons fighting to attempt to reduce each other’s
health bars by using complicated combinations of attacks involving slashes and flames. It is not nearly as graphic as most fighting
games as there is no blood or gore and the dragons do not die at the end of the match, but the dragons do make contact and react from
the hits that are thrown at them.
It should also be noted that there is a conflicting message that is being passed to the player in the game. The heroes of the game are
supposed to care about the dragons that the train but there are no issues with taking the dragons and putting them in fights against
each other. The game supports dragon fighting tournaments against a friend sharing the same screen.
There are a lot of good things about “How To Train Your Dragon,” but there are also a few issues that go along with it. However, issues
in a game are very typical for movie tie-in games and should be expected. Players will have a lot of fun designing, raising and training
their dragon, even if the battles are a bit of a drawback.
| Genre: Action Developer: Etranges Libellules Publisher: Activision |
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