Kotaku Game DiaryDaily thoughts from a Kotaku staffer about a game we're playing.
Movie tie-in games that pop up with little fanfare are seldom good, so I didn’t expect much from Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders. I certainly didn’t expect a charming, puzzle-packed old school Zelda-style action role-playing game. What a pleasant surprise.
From the Academy Award® nominated film How to Train Your Dragon comes the next. Available on. Mobile device. How to Download and Install How To Train Your Dragon 2 Full Pc Game – English Version 2015 – Direct Link – Torrent Link – 600 Mb – Working 100%.
Released last week on Xbox One, Playstation 4, Switch and PC in advance of the third installment of the How To Train Your Dragon film franchise, Dragons: Dawn of New Riders is not a video game adaptation of the film. Instead, it’s a new adventure set in the world of HTTYD, developed by Climax Studios. Rather than taking control of one of the series’ established characters, players control a new human, the amnesiac scholar Scribbler, and a new hybrid dragon named Patch. With the aid of Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and other champions of the Isle of Berk, Scribbler and Patch brave bandit-infested islands and puzzled-filled dungeons in order to recover the new rider’s missing memories.
It’s not the type of game I would normally take a chance on, but I do love the movies. Also, I was stuck in the hospital following a surgical procedure and was bored out of my skull. It was play this, or fall asleep watching Netflix. I made a good choice.
Advertisement
Dawn of New Riders is an action role-playing game in the vein of older Zelda titles like A Link To The Past. Scribbler and Patch traverse overworld islands, facing off against trappers and other perils. Though he’s a scholar, Scribbler knows a thing or two about fighting, taking down foes with various weapons, blocking their blows with his shield or dodging and rolling out of danger. Patch the dragon initially acts as support for Scribbler, using his frost breath to freeze enemies, making it easier for his rider to finish them off. As Patch grows and gains more powers, he becomes more useful in a fight.
Advertisement
Patch is mostly used as a puzzle-solving device. When Scribbler comes across an impassable body of water, players can switch to Patch and use his ice breath to make a path. When Patch grows and gains lightning breath, the dragon can open new areas and activate switches and devices using electricity. When the pair descend into dungeons, they can split up to activate switches and open paths. They are the ultimate co-op pair.
Advertisement
There’s a lot of common dungeoneering and exploring in Dawn of New RIders. It’s a game that doesn’t do a lot of new things, but makes great use of classic ARPG mechanics. The combat is responsive, and the puzzles are mildly challenging. There’s a crafting element to the game, with Scribbler collecting materials that can be used to brew potions or forge and upgrade weapons. The game even incorporates my favorite action RPG feature, equipment that actually shows up on the player character when equipped.
Advertisement
I wouldn’t say Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders is an outstanding action role-playing game. It does the whole brief grunting thing rather than being fully voiced. It’s a short adventure, clocking in at six or seven hours. And while it has dragon flight, it’s simply a method of transportation instead of a vehicle for grand air battles.
As licensed games go, especially those aimed at a younger audience, Dawn of New Riders is nevertheless much more than I expected. If you’re looking for a way to explore the world of How To Train Your Dragon following the upcoming movie, this is a heck of a fun way to do it.
- Hats off to Dreamworks for offering some bold surprises in a respectable sequel filled with moments of humour and emotion among its ample noise and movement.
- The writer and director Dean DeBlois takes the comedy to a deeper, more satisfying place than he did in the original franchise-launching animated film.
- Christian Science Monitor6/20/2014 by Peter RainerOverlong and overly busy but more emotionally powerful than its predecessor.
- The entire film is a romance -- visually, parentally, ecologically. It's got the emotional, humorous, exciting sweep you want from a summer movie.
- Although there are times when bits of the movie feel extraneous, the production as a whole comes across more like an organic extension of the original tale than something tacked on purely to score at the box office.
- It's clear that [director Dean DeBlois] took inspiration from the first Star Wars trilogy - not a bad model for breathing new life, and yes, a bit of fire, into one of Hollywood's more nuanced animated franchises.
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 is soaring, emotionally swooping, utterly satisfying fun.
- Not only does this second movie match the charm, wit, animation skill and intelligent storytelling of the original, I think it even exceeds it.
- New York Magazine/Vulture6/13/2014 by Bilge EbiriDespite its expanded, ambitious battle sequences, Dragon 2 is at its best when it quiets down and dares to be intimate.
- One of the most beautiful animated films ever made.
- More than just teaching kids what to think about the world they're coming into, it's a rare film that encourages them to think for themselves.
- This was not a sequel that anybody needed, outside of the accountants. And there's another already planned.
- Philadelphia Inquirer6/13/2014 by Tirdad DerakhshaniOne of this year's true surprises, the superior animated sequel not only is infused with the same independent spirit and off-kilter aesthetic that enriched the original, it also deepens the first film's major themes.
- It's a rip-roaring ride.
- Nothing in this likable sequel flies quite so high as those aerial shots.
- Young and old fans of the first movie will be lining up for the wit, for the inventiveness of the characters, for the breathtaking visuals - and just the sheer fun of it all.
- While a lot of recent animated movies stuff the screen with bright colors, frantic action, and constant wisecracks, How to Train Your Dragon 2, like its prequel, has managed to focus on something more important - a sense of awe.
- This may be the first and last time anyone says this, but if 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' is this good, why stop at 3 and 4?
- Most sequels get made for commercial reasons, whether or not the world needs them. 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' is a movie the world needs.
- Minneapolis Star Tribune6/12/2014 by Colin CovertThe impressive part is the storytelling confidence of writer/director Dean DeBlois. He has created a thoughtful tale as meaningful for grown-ups as it is pleasurable for its young primary audience.