Dragon's Dogma

GAME OF THE WEEK:18 cert, Capcom, PS3 (also Xbox) ****

“Chosen ones” are very hot in fantasy games. Every hero is either resurrected, part dragon or blessed with magical gifts.

This more than compensates for the fact that we’re playing a videogame in lounge trousers and not actually saving a kingdom or fulfilling some ancient destiny.

In the elegant, lavish role-playing game Dragon’s Dogma, a dragon has taken your heart (literally, not in a boyband way). For reasons initially unexplained, you survive the mystical amateur surgery and set out on a quest for its retrieval.

This is traditional, third- person RPG fare: customising your character (you can be overweight, a child, beefcake, male or female), buying and selling weapons and tools, and traversing an open world. Your band of “pawns” (mystical colleagues, essentially) help you by ganging up on foes, giving you direction and even restraining enemies for you to stab – which is as fun as it is unfair.

The combat controls are simple to click into, but satisfyingly intricate. And the fights vary nicely. You’re delegating allies, stabbing little adversaries or climbing on the back of bigger opponents (evoking fond memories of Shadow of the Colossus). An unwelcome extra challenge is reading your teammates’ subtitles while in combat.

Dragon’s Dogma is an attractive game with an epic sweep. The lush, Wagnerian score helps, as does the fabulous creature design. The dragons and monsters look both otherworldly and organic. As all RPGs should be, it’s rich in detail, whether you’re exploring a cave illuminated by dragon fire, or looking at wild livestock gambolling in the fields.

While entertaining, it goes without saying that Dragon’s Dogma is strictly for RPG fans. Yes, you’ll be stabbing giant monsters, but you’ll also spend time talking to shopkeepers and wandering the countryside. And no, the dialogue isn’t great, but what’s a fantasy game without bad dialogue? It’s cosily reassuring to hear clunkers such as “A hobgoblin arisen – be wary!”