It's no Oblivion or Halo, but it is not as bad as the general view on it and there's a small amount of fun in Eragon
Gameplay- surpisingly deep, you have two basic attacks which oddly enough are strong and light you can also chain them together to form combos. You would not be wrong comparing it to Marvel ultimate alliance accept it's rarther more fluid in Eragon. You have a bow and the classic infinite ammo quiver and as you progess through the game unlock various types of magic, push,pull,fire and sheild. It's rather basic but it adds some meagre amount of depth to a shallow game. One odd thing about the gameplay is the sheer amount of ways to one hit kill enemies, You can use your bow for headshot, push them off cliffs or burn them with magic and kill them with your sword if they're on the floor.
Graphics- The graphics are unimpressive though I don't remember them ever coming across as especially bad. The game tells the story through uninspired comic book style cutscenes which are flat out bad. Artistically it could be argued that, certainly in some places the game reflects the gritty style of the harder parts of Eragons journey. Unfortunatly, you'd be flat out wrtong if you said that. The levels are linear( with the execption of the dragon riding levels ) although strangly look quite nice and the designers have hiden an egg in each level which unlocks a 'making of' featurette.
Sound- Really nothing to say here, the music is all lifted from the film and the sound effects and voiceovers are awful. The music is fairly rousing although as it's taken from the film it makes the sound seem like the design team tought thedy could cut a few corners. The actors from the film have all reprised they respective roles and to be honest they're all rubbish with the possible execption of brom who is only mediocre.
Replayability- The designers have cleverly gone for acheivments you have to go through each level several times for- i.e play level A on easy, play level A on normal and ,guess what, play through level A on hard. And they don't
apply to each other, so youy're have to playt each level a minimum of three times and on top of that find the egg.
Extras- The unlockable 'making of' films are interesting if rather uninspired. They also have an unintentional comedic value due to the fact that several of the designers seem to jerk about, unable to sit still. There's an unlockable arena level which consists of fighting row after row of enemies which in the grand tradition of arenas steadily get harder.
Conclusion- The good base ideas are undermined by repitive combat, strangly hard combat and generally lazy finish to the game. It's not brilliant but it's not absolutely awful either