Review: How To Train Your Dragon 2 Wii U

It’s been five years since Hiccup and Toothless successfully united Dragons and Vikings on the Island of Berk. While Astrid, Snotlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to Dragon races (the Island’s new favourite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the centre of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons.

Pros:

• Decent graphics with a beautiful island which has some stunning views. From caves to surfing the water surface, The game really does look good. All the characters look like they were just cut and pasted from the film.
• Music and voices of each character are the ones from the film. Music will go through a selection of songs, each one having a unique style and sound.
• Controls are easy, A is used for speed boost,R button is shoot fireballs and L+R bumper buttons are for tight turning. B is used for brake and allows you to hover. Right stick is to change or pan the camera around. Left stick is movement.
• Supports analogue stick and d pad for movement.
• Off screen play, Game screen is mirrored on both the TV and game pad.
• Auto saves regularly through the game.
• Gameplay is pretty much an open world game where you can pick one of the many riders and their dragon, Fly around and take part in events which play out as mini games with a bronze,silver and gold rating.
• In free roam you have side quests that act more like achievements or trophies, You earn  a % for doing varying tasks like finding all the riders tokens, shooting x amount of fireballs or finding all the hidden caves for an example. There is an extensive list and apart from tokens all progress carries over to each character.
• The map/island is a huge playground, Find secret caves fly up to the highest mountains. You can fly over towns and see people working and going about their business.
• Markers clearly show up on screen to help you find events and starting an event requires you to land on the perch next to it.
• Tokens that each dragon rider has (50 of them) each give off a noise to help you find them. They help figure out the direction you need to go and is a real god send as the whole act can get quite addictive.
• Mini games or the events are varied and offer loads of different ways to play the game. One minute you could be using the touch screen to shoot at vikings on a ship and the next you could be in a tournament with other riders shooting and racing around the island. New events open up as you finish the earlier ones.
• You can check on your progress on anything in game from the pause menu.
• At any point in free roam you can pause the game and go to the dragon hangar and change your dragon/rider team. Everyone from the film is available and each have their own catch phrases.

Cons:

• Landing on perches is tricky business and the detection is really quite off.
• Camera messes around as you attempt tight fast turns or panning the camera around.
• Panning the camera around is very juddering and feels really awkward.
• Any hit no matter how minor, Will result in you falling off your dragon and going back to a imaginary checkpoint.
• Characters may have dialogue but it soon gets repeated and then it hurts every time they open their mouth.
• No online leaderboards which could of helped events sustain a longer life and offer replayability.
• No proper story mode instead just giving us a plethora of mini games with an open world hub.

In Summary, Movie tie in games never get a good deal and this game does not change that fact. I mean to be honest for older gamers or fans of the show, You feel annoyed at the lack of story mode or no actual structure. The controls are a real pain in the ass at the beginning and this will deter you. With that out the way I would say and I proved it, Kids love it. They can just fly around and do things with no pressure, Use their favourite rider and laugh at the various witty remarks throughout. Granted its only a short lived high but a high none the less. So in short this game is more for kids only and is a good short attraction.