Last updated on 15 April 2008 22:49 +0100

Single player level reviews

Here you will find reviews of single player add on levels that have been made by the Drakan community. Levels can be downloaded from Planet Drakan or alternatively here instead if you can't be bothered with Gamespy's stupid File Planet system. You can read the review by clicking on the level title, there is also a link where you can download the reviewed level from within the review.

You can find instructions on how to install and run add on levels for Drakan by going here. 

For information on how we rate levels, go here. Levels are reviewed by Arokh's Twin unless stated otherwise. 

***Please note; Planet Drakan are not updating their site anymore so up to date levels can be downloaded from here (all multiplayer  + single player + other files) or here (single player levels only) Direct links to files will be posted on the level's review***

Date order (newest last) dates are in UK format DD/MM/YYYY

Key: Air = human and dragon playable characters.   Ground = Biped (human) playable character only.

Level rating system

Levels are rated in 5 key areas and the individual scores for each area are added together and multiplied by 2 to give the final score. When reviewing levels the most important things I look for are basically summed up as below. Note that expectations and level quality changes over time; some of these levels here are 6 years old! For example, a level rated at 86% back in 1999 may not score as highly if re-reviewed today. There are some great quality levels out there, particularly the ones made in the last year or so. 

1) level design and architecture; a level that is stunning to look at and has good use of textures as this shows time and effort has been put into the level to make it look cool. Levels that have rounded natural looking landscapes and caves score highly in overall level architecture where boxy, sparsely detailed levels with triangular mountains do not. Texturing that does not suit the level's theme and / or have the well known carpet tile effect takes a drop in the score. Good levels show realism such as villages with crop fields, town squares and detailed buildings. Also enemy installations which have separate areas for eating, sleeping complete with appropriate furniture score highly in overall level design. I could go on but I guess you get the idea. An example of great architecture and texturing is 'The Breaking of the World' by Mick - one of the best SP levels out there.

2) Good lighting; a level that is all the same brightness throughout and has no shadows or lights looks bad. Lighting in a level should come from an intended source and caves that are as bright as day are a big no-no. Note the interior of the tavern in the game as that is the best example of indoor lighting. Poor lighting degrades the atmosphere of the level and in turn the gameplay.

3) Scripted events and new ideas (such as the magic / skill system in War of a Dark Age); Things like traps, NPC's milling about round villages, farmers working in their fields etc make the world seem more alive and keeps the player interested. The level, 'Search for Arokh' for example has some cool fully working machinery which you can use to your advantage to defeat your foe.

4) A good storyline / plot; A level with no goals or backstory is a bit pointless and can lead to the player becoming bored and moving on. If a level only has a brief introduction, NPC's who you meet should be included to help move the story along and give some indication to the player where he / she should be heading. Most levels nowadays seem to be so-called PC Drakan2's  - I'd like to see some levels featuring new playable characters set before and / or after the PC and PS2 games for a change. Also if the story is quite an extensive one, it pays to make sure it fits in with the official backstory and plot of the PC game. 

5) Good enemy placement and an even balance of weapons, powerups and enemies; Levels that are way too easy give no challenge and are often not much fun. On the other hand, a very difficult level results in cheating or the player giving up.

Well, here is a brief overview of how levels score in percentages. You will notice that most levels score between 60% to 80% which are good scores and they are definitely worth playing. Only truly outstanding levels score 90% or above and these are few and far between  - you should definitely play these without a doubt.

0-30% - considered a poor level which may be full of bugs, poor level design etc.

31-50% -  considered below average, these levels may have one or two good features but fall short in other areas.

51-65% - average level, good but could have done with some more work, also if a level is good in most areas but full of bugs then it may fall into this category.

66-75% -  above average, usually levels that fall into this category are good but may have one or two things that prevent them from attaining a higher score. 

76-90% - Very good, may have one or two problems in some areas but definitely worth playing without a doubt.

91-100% - Perfect level, 9 or 10 out of 10 in all areas, no bugs at all, great atmosphere and a truly great single player Drakan adventure.

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Installation instructions

First of all, you unzip the level(s) to a directory named the same as the PCL's title. For example Hidden Vale should be unzipped into a directory named Hidden Vale. The directory name may be different in some cases, so check the readme to see what it should be called.  This directory should go in your ../program files/psygnosis/drakan directory. Please note that if a level has to be put into an alternative directory, I will mention this in the review. Of course, check the readme that came with the download to double check. I have tested all PCL's and I can assure you they all work fine as long as they are installed in the correct place.

Next, you need to start Drakan in developer mode. To do this, hold down shift whilst starting Drakan. You should get the options box but a third tab should be visible entitled developer mode. Click on this and tick the enable developer mode checkbox than start Drakan using the button below. This only has to be done once so you can start Drakan in the usual way in future.

Note that this causes the intro cutscene to be skipped and the game to bring up the menu straight away. Next, select new game then select the level you whish to play from the menu. Simple as that!

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