Not as good as the first game but it's a great buy nonetheless. (MUST PLAY FIRST GAME BEFORE THIS ONE)
Gameplay: Drakengard plays much along the same line as the Dynasty/Samurai warriors games. It's mostly comprised of you and some rather worthless teammates vs. an entire army of enemies. To combat the enemies you can pick one of 67 weapons including axes, staves, spears, short swords and long swords. Fans of the first game will notice that many of the weapons from the first game have been brought back. What really sets Drakengard apart, however, is the weapon level up system. Every weapon can be leveled up to a max level 4. Weapons level up by gaining experience along with your character. When a weapon level's up it gains new combos, magic levels, attack changes, and story pieces. Weapons can also have a different magic attack. Some are unique while some are repeated quite often. Each magic attack can be charged up to a max level of 4 but the magic can only go as high as your weapon's level. What this means is if you have a level 3 sword. you can only use it's magic up to level 3. you can also use level 2 magic or 1 but you can't go higher than 3 until the weapon levels up. A new inclusion to Drakengard 2 is the strengths/weakness's system. In the first game, you only had one character, Caim who basically fought against every enemy. However, in Drakengard 2 you have 4 different characters who will join your party at certain story intervals. Each character has different strengths and weakness's (with the exception of Eris and Manah who have the same). For example, Nowe is strong against regular soldiers but is weak against undead. So if you are playing as Nowe and encounter an undead, you can switch to Eris, who is strong against the undead, to fight that monster. Then when you go back to fighting soldiers, you can switch back to Nowe again. Switching characters is incredibly simple too. In the first game you equipped weapons before battle and then you could switch between any of those equiped weapons in game. It works the same way in Drakengard 2 but with one exception. Each character specializes in a certain type of weapon so when you switch to a certain characters weapon, it will automatically change you into that character. So if you are playing as Nowe, who uses swords, and you want to use an axe, you just pick whatever axe's you have equipped and then when you exit the "Grand Wheel", your character will change to Urick, who uses axes. Overall, the gameplay get's very involving and you will love leveling up your weapons in order to see their stories (usually as interesting as the game's story itself).
Story: While the gameplay is fun, the storyline is where Drakengard 2 really shines. It continues 18 years after the battle between the Union and the Empire of the first game. Now before I begin here, it is important to note that playing the first game is extremely important to understanding this storyline as it brings back many of the characters from the first game and refers to them repeatedly. Anyway, the final seal from the first game is still in place along with five keys that protect the final seal. In order to protect the keys, the Knights of the Seal have been formed which brings us to today's world. The story centers around a boy named Nowe who was raised by a blue dragon. It is important to note that although Nowe is a dragon rider, he does not have a pact with his dragon, Legna. A pact is something that a human can make with a beast. This basically means that when encountering a magical beast, they can both decide to combine their souls in order to increase both their powers. The price for making this pact is that the two are bound together forever and if one dies, the other dies as well. Also, since human's are significantly weaker than these beasts, they must pay a certain price. In the first game, the protaganist, Caim, gave up his voice in order to enter a pact with his red dragon, Angelus. Another character gives up his ability to age in order to make a pact with a golem. Other stranger prices have been paid throughout the Drakengard universe but usually the price is pretty significant. Anyway, back to Nowe, he is found as a young child by a general in the Knights of the Seal and is taken is as that general's child. Nowe soon joins the Knights of the Seal as their supposed Savior, since it was prophesied that a dragon child would come to be their savior. From there you go on plenty of twists and turn leading up to one of three conclusions. Like the first game, the main ending is obtained by beating the game once but you must then go back and work to get the others. In this game, rather than beating certain objectives, the endings are obtained by simply beating the game again on a higher difficulty. I cannot speak for the second two but the main storyline is extremely unpredictable and leaves you guessing until the very end. Extremely epic and a great change for those of you that appreciate the darker storylines. While it's definitely not as disturbing as the first game, it's still pretty dark. Not for the weak of heart.
Graphics: The graphics have recieved a major tune-up as well in this installment. Much nicer textures are a great change from the first games rather blah environments. No longer will a grassy field be a giant plate of solid green. Also the CG's look far more realistic. While the first game was nothing awful, you will probably remember the lack of any real coloring in the peoples faces. The CG's look extremely realistic in this game and it's very impressive. Sound: The voice-overs are a great change from the usual boring people. This game has complete voice-overs for all characters at all times which really helps in bringing you into the storyline. The actors all play their parts very well. The only problem with the voices is the constant "screaming" from the soldiers. I quote screaming because they can't really be called screams. Just a kind of weird gargling noise that just detracts from the gameplay. It sounds gross when I write about it but it's just really fakey when you actually hear it. Value: Well overall, the main game will probably only last you a couple days a great rental but if you really want to get all the endings, it'll probably take you much longer than that and trust me, the endings are really worth seeing. Also leveling up the weapons isn't that boring either ;D I definitely recommend a rental for a quick playthrough and if you are in for more than that, it's a great buy too!