With so many fantasy RPG’s out there is there really room for another, in the form of A Farewell to Dragons, even if it is based on a book by Russian authors Sergey Lukyanenko and Nikolay Perumov?

As the story begins you play a doctor who must battle through endless thugs and vistas to save the world from a great evil. As with many other games you gather a group of like minded people, a fellowship if you like. And as you battle away - the game does contain an inordinate amount of repetitive killing - you are able to increase your skills and increase you armour.

Graphically the game is a lot of fun. While you may start in your average medieval woodland setting, at the start of the game, later portions see you enter a cyberpunk fusion of a world, though throughout the camera can be a bit of a pain getting stuck behind object when it should not. A top down strategic view would have added much to the game.

Any RPG player will be familiar with all the elements which this game offers and while it’s not a bad way of whiling away forty hours of your time it’s not going to give you any experience which you haven’t encountered before.

The score is fine, if understated, for its subject matter and the translation from the original Russian is at points unintentionally amusing. Another weak point of the game is the AI, especially your own gang. At points I was pretty convinced that I would have done better if I had dumped the lot and got on with the quest by myself.

So it’s not bad and it’s pretty enough... if pretty is enough to keep you playing for such a long time.

5

Charles Packer