we’ve fought the dinos before, try playing protector now. This game is based on the upcoming movie of the same name based on a novel by Christopher Paolini. Eragon is a fighter who fights through hordes of soldiers and enlists the help of his comrades and his dragon, Saphira. Together they help him remove the evil king, Galbatorix, from power and restore the Dragon Riders to their former glory. The subject matter is based on the movie but the gameplay is not up to the mark.

The game starts off with Eragon discovering what he believes to be a gem while walking through the woods, and brings it to his village in an effort to sell it. However, he soon discovers that not only was the gem actually a dragon egg, but his discovery of the item has attracted the attention of King Galbatorix, who will stop at nothing to find and destroy it and keep the now-defunct Dragon Riders from rising again.

Galbatorix destroys the village and kills Eragon’s uncle. With the help of Brom, a former Dragon Rider, and Saphira, the dragon that hatched from the egg and bonded with Eragon, you must find a way to defeat the evil King and end his reign of terror.

The player, that is you, controls Eragon, and starts out as a feeble farmer. You have a sword and a bow, and you quickly learn to use magic, as well. You’ll be on foot, most of the time, fighting wave after wave of enemies. There are a number of strikes to chose from, the quick strike, a powerful strike, and a block for melee combat. You can combine two strikes to pull off special moves like grapples or knock downs. But all the action still boils down to hitting buttons until your thumb (or your brain) goes numb.

You will have to hack away at a foe, uninterrupted for several seconds before he finally goes down, only to repeat the process with a dozen more enemies. It doesn’t help matters that detecting the target is a rather clumsy affair. You’ll often find yourself watching your blade go right through your foes with no effect whatsoever. You can use a bow in the game to pick out enemies from afar, but since your bow does even less damage than your sword, you’ll have to spend a long time shooting arrows at an enemy before he finally dies.

There are some sections in each level that require you to shimmy along ledges, climb up buildings, leap across small gaps and tiptoe on narrow beams. None of it is the least bit interesting or challenging, and it ends up feeling pointless. But nevertheless, once you start defeating the villains, you begin to like the game a whole lot more.

Minimum system requirements: Supported OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP (only), Processor: 1 GHz processor or better when using video cards with hardware T&L (2 GHz or better recommended, 2 GHz required for video cards without hardware T&L), RAM: 256 MB (512 MB recommended), Video Card:64 MB DirectX 8.1-compliant video card, Sound Card: DirectX 8.1-compliant sound device, DirectX Version: DirectX 8.1 or higher (8.1 included on disc), CD-ROM: Any, Hard Drive Space:1.4 GB, Peripherals: Windows keyboard and mouse