Drakengard 2

AceGamez

It's more of the same plus one - you've just got to stick with it for a while until the action really picks up.

Game Over Online

If you can look past the iffy graphics, Drakengard 2 has a lot to enjoy. The fighting is fun and has enough variety to avoid monotony, so give it at least a cursory look.

GameBiz

There is an engaging story and lots of new moves to learn.

Worth Playing

It's repetitive and technically deficient, but the fact that they managed to squeeze this concept onto a console woefully inadequate for it and still come out with a fun game at all is surprising, and provides hope for the future.

Deeko

The first Drakengard recieved a cult following more on story than anything else and the tradition continues with D2. Featuring some very dark and mature themes that are even a bit disturbing at times.

RPG Fan

It's too bad, because Drakengard 2 could have been, and could have done, a lot more than it did.

Game Informer

From a gameplay standpoint, this is probably more aptly called "Drakengard 1.5" rather than a full sequel, but the improvements make the series' tantalizing mix of big action and dragon airfights much more playable than the first. [Mar 2006, p.106]

Pelit (Finland)

The drunken cameraman is back. Slashing and slicing is not as satisfying as it should be. Legna the Dragon is the real hero of this nice little action-oriented RPG. [Mar 2006]

GameSpot

While the second installment in this relatively new franchise does slightly improve upon its predecessor, it's still noticeably rough around the edges.

Next Level Gaming

Given all its shortcomings this is not a title that I will be shouting about from the mountaintop.

Yahoo! Games

If storyline's more your thing, Drakengard's action is backed up with a plot that's significantly deeper than your run-of-the-mill action game, and the button-mashing gameplay is hearty and sincere.

GameBrink

The graphics are really basic for a PS2 game, but the cinematics look incredible. The on-foot mode is just plain boring, ... and most of the game concentrates on that mode, sadly. [JPN Import]

Gamers' Temple

A multitude of flaws takes the enjoyment out of fighting off multitudes of enemies.

Play UK

While it's not great there's something about it, the story and the levelling-up mostly, that draws you in so you might eventually finish it. [Issue#139, p.70]

IGN

Drakengard 2 improves in every area of the original except where it needed it most: the repetitive gameplay. The massive amount of filler here is pretty apparent and it could've been easily dropped in favor of more interesting battles against more creatures.

Play.tm

For all the work that's gone into Drakengard 2, it really isn't a great leap over its predecessor which is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game.

PALGN

Two gameplay styles, both under-implemented. Only fun for those who don't mind repetition.

GamePro

Almost a mirror image of the first game, which is both good and bad. While it has a great story, it also suffers from some of the cardinal sins of action gaming. You'd think that by adding a kick-ass dragon in to the mix that you'd be dealing with a winning formula. It's just too bad, however, that this doesn't end up being the case.

GamerFeed

Drakengard 2 is sort of like a dentist trying out a new drill. It's got a different method to bringing forth the action over the original attempt, but you still can't help but feel the same old pain after a little while.

PSM Magazine

In it mindless way, it's not not fun, plus it all looks great, has a reasonably compelling storyline and characters, and lasts a pretty good while. It's just, well, mindless. [Apr 2006, p.72]

Eurogamer

Drakengard 2 just doesn't have the style or grace or education or expertise or power, to pull it off. Like The Flaming Lips trying their hands at Bohemian Rhapsody you really want the homage to work but, to be honest, it just doesn't.

PSM2 Magazine UK

"Drakengard" wasn't doing anything new two years ago and its sequel does nothing new either. This really is a case of flogging a dead dragon. [Apr 2006, p.58]

Games Radar (in-house)

If you want to kill lots of bad guys and must have a fantasy setting, it may just do the trick. Otherwise, you'd be better off keeping your wanton video game massacres firmly planted in feudal China.

VideoGamer

Ultimately it just feels like you've played it before (and if you completed the first game, then I guess you have), and that feeling permeates every part of the lenghty campaign. Nothing feels fresh, nor is there any depth to any aspect.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

An ugly, ugly game. [Apr 2006, p.80]

PSW Magazine UK

Drakengard 2 is decent enough, but ultimately looks a bit cheap and doesn't really pull off its ground or aerial combat with great conviction. It mutters 'average' from the first minute to the last.

Play Magazine

Drakengard 2 picks up where its predecessor left off, warts and all. [Apr 2006, p.63]

eToychest

Drakengard 2, instead of improving on the original, nullified the weapons system, replaced an interesting hero with an unoriginal cookie-cutter protagonist, and managed to make what should have been a fun game - Dynasty Warriors mixed with Panzer Dragoon Orta - tedious and boring.

G4 TV

More than once we snapped back from a gaming haze, wondering why we were still playing.

Gamestyle

Sadly Drakengard 2 is a crushing disappointment, even to those that managed to tolerate the first instalment.

Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK

The CG sequences are fairly impressive, but this isn't enough to save Drakengard 2 from extinction. [Mar 2006, p.94]

1UP

Besides some nice CG work in the occasional cinematic, this is just a tepid return to mediocre series filled with potential never realized.

games(TM)

It’s such an exercise in drear that only a masochist would get any pleasure out of it, and even they’d have to ignore the hackneyed sub-Uwe Boll narrative. [Apr 2006, p.107]

GameCritics

I see no reason to purchase and play a mediocre amalgamation with no exceptional qualities to recommend it, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised because nearly every game employing dragons as anything but enemies ends up stinking.