While other versions of the game focus on playable two-legged characters, Eragon on the PSP tells the story from the point of view of Saphira, the blue dragon that's central to the book and upcoming film. While there's a single player Story mode here that's good for a few hours, the game is a bit more focused on thrilling multiplayer flight combat for up to four players. You can trick out your dragon in cool customizable armor and take to the skies for dynamic fantasy battles packed with some neat fire and magic effects. The game offers up a dozen unlockable arenas and multiplayer game types, most of which are fun variations of Capture the Flag or King of the Hill. For their third portable game based on elements from the Christopher Paolini book and the film's screenplay, developer Amaze have done another excellent job in bringing to life the world of Alagaësia with great visuals and some fine dragon designs. It's not the deepest game out there, but it certainly addresses the issues with the flying sequences in the home console version. With the total freedom of the skies here, it's an absolute blast to fly Saphira (or any of the other dragons in the game) solo or against friends.

The game follows Saphira from her young dragon stage, where she can only use her heat breath, up to the point where she's a fire breathing battle beast to be reckoned with. The missions play out quite well, thanks to the solid flight controls and combat moves that use both Eragon and Saphira's talents. Within a few minutes you'll be pulling off speed boosts or tight turns, leaning to strafe and flitting up and down with ease. While you're soaring around the maps you get to blast enemies and have that Dragon Rider on your back shoot a few types of arrows or spells to whittle down the opposition. There's a handy Dragon Sight radar that allows you to see what's headed your way and if you're being shredded then you can zip down to ground level to scoff some sheep or soldiers for a health boost. Enemies also drop blue (health) and yellow (energy) orbs that can be collected to fill meters on either side of the screen. Completing missions in Story mode unlock Arena mode stages, where you can face off against even more of the wickedly tough AI. In each Arena you get two four-part challenges to complete and each time you finish a set you're rewarded with armor for your dragon and its rider. You can also whip up custom Arena challenges in case you want to shake things up a bit (or extend the lifespan of the game somewhat).

If you're really game savvy then you may notice that there are a few minor similarities between this and Drakan: The Ancients' Gates, but unlike Drakan you don't get to hop off your dragon at any point and run around adventuring through caves and forests. In fact, Eragon feels like a better playing update to Savage Skies or Dragon Rage, two undercooked PS2 titles that pretty much killed off the dragon flight sub-genre on that system. Here, developer Amaze nails the different dragon powers by not making the game a simple fire and forget affair. You have to guide fireballs to their targets and use a lock-on for other ranged attacks, but don't call this Ace Combat with dragons at all; context sensitive actions are a main part of gameplay, something that helps when things get frantic. An orb in the center of the screen lets you know when you can interact with something, so all you need to do is hit the Circle button when prompted. There's a fun 'bombing run' camera mode that lets you pick up and drop boulders, exploding barrels and a few other objects onto anyone giving you grief. Another cool feature is the Battle Leap ability that has Eragon jumping onto an enemy dragon's back in midair and hacking at its rider with the R button.

I had to wait until a friend picked up his own copy of the game to try out the Ad Hoc multiplayer games and we certainly had a ton of fun with them. You can also use Game Sharing to play some multiplayer modes, but it's really more enjoyable to turn another PSP owner onto this game, as Story mode is fine enough when you see how cool it is to fly around as a dragon. In addition to standard Deathmatch, you get Rescue the Maiden (CTF with damsels in distress), Demented Doves (a sort of tag game with plague-infected birdies), Pillage and Burn and a few more familiar variants that won't breed contempt. As mentioned above, these are basically dragon versions of FPS multiplayer staples, but playing on the back of a flying fire breather makes for a super neat twist no matter how you look at it. We really liked the Butcher's Quest game, where you need to snap up a bunch of missing hogs and take them back to their pen. You can play it straight, trying to outscore your opponent with speed, or be sneaky, swooping in and scooping up their hogs, forcing them to work harder.

Visually Eragon looks great overall, with the PSP's widescreen format put to good use. There are some great looking dragons and nicely sized environments that are lovely to look at and even better to fly through. You'll find the height ceiling is limited in most areas, but this keeps combat quick and deadly, forcing you to deal with enemies by strafing or trying to get above them so your rider can leap down. Complementing the muted color palette are some great fire and spell effects, with the game engine co-operating for the most part with no major slowdown or graphical issues of note in single player. You may or may not experience a very small bit of lag when hosting a game, but this isn't that big an issue if you play a lot of multiplayer on your PSP. Most of the in-game text and menus mimic the console versions, making for a nice synchronicity between the games. It's such a kick to hit the skies as Saphira that it would really be interesting to see Stormfront Studios notice this, should they end up doing a sequel to the console version. Granted, I haven't read Eldest yet, but if the potential for more controllable dragon flight sequences exist there, it would really be great to see a game that uses this (and Drakan) as templates for some aspects of gameplay. Like all the other Eragon games, the score is brilliant throughout, mixing dynamic battle themes with the occasional quieter, moodier track. I'm sure some hardcore fans of the series would love to see all the game music collected on a CD, particularly since it's all so well done.

While the game does a fine job in terms of gameplay, the storytelling could have been a bit better structured. Granted, all the different games offer up variations on the same theme, meaning that if you're a huge fan of the book you'll probably want to play them all at some point. As I said in the DS review, the majority of licensed games are big teases for their source material rather than full meals that fill out everything you need to know. One notable quirk in the game (particularly since it's on a UMD) is the lack of a movie trailer to promote the film, something also missing from the console versions. However, before you stamp your foot in protest, understand that since the games were obviously completed while the film was still being made, there would have been a delay in getting the game to retailers before the film's release. Of course, TV commercials for the film will soon bombard the airwaves (and also tout the games I hope), so if you're reading this and still wondering what Eragon is all about, you'll be finding out soon enough.

Skilled players can probably blow through Story mode in a day or so, but the multiplayer modes make up for the brevity of that part of the game. Like the other versions of the game, the ending might seem abrupt, as there's more to come in future books. Nevertheless, I'd imagine that a few players may end up hitting their favorite bookstore (or whipping out those library cards) and setting aside some time to read the book to see what they missed. Given that this is a portable game made for quick bursts of play, you can definitely get in a few missions on your way to work or wherever and leave that train or bus with a big grin. Sierra and Amaze have hit the mark once more with another well-conceived version of Eragon and I'd definitely recommend all of them if you happen to be a multi-handheld household.

Reviewed by Greg Wilcox for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).