Publisher: Ubisoft
Price: $29.99
Genre: Fighting
Verdict: Rent it
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Pros: Lots of customization, fun secret battles, dragons hurling fireballs
Cons: Simple soundtrack, little change in enemy dragon visuals, stylus movement doesn’t always work so well
Time to take off that adult hat. It is time to forget about bills, the lawn, and the impending doom that is winter, and it is time to let that unused imagination run wild. Go back to a time when sticks made kick butt swords and two chairs with a blanket over them made a castle. Now that the imagination is running, it is time to start the review.
Humans and Dragons used to live together in perfect harmony. Before long, the humans decided it was time to wipe the dragons from the planet. So the dragons created their own world, Tammabukku, and all the dragons retreated to this retirement paradise. Soon, some of the dragons became unhappy with this paradise and decided to go rogue. Of course this is no fun, and now a war is to be fought. Ninnurtu, the dragon lord, is a bit old for fighting, so a fresh recruit is tasked to take on the Salmu (evil dragons) and restore peace to the lands.
The game starts out with a short tutorial on how to do some basic fighting. Fighting is done in a circular arena, and your position in this circle will determine what attacks get used. Flying, using your tail, shooting a fireball, and headbutting are all options here. Landing a successful attack will yield the option to use a gem attack, or to collect more gems. Gem attacks will pop up a connect the dot action sequence. Connect the dots fast enough and the attacks that follow will be stronger. Collecting the gems will build up a meter. Once said meter is full, you can unleash a deadly supper attack. Essentially, this attack is another connect the dot game, but with more dots. This is also a more powerful attack. Knowing when to use a normal gem attack and the super attack can make for some very short, albeit satisfying, battles.
After the tutorial has ended, a major decision is presented: which color, or element, to choose for the dragon. Four options are presented: Ice (blue), wind (yellow), fire (red), and earth (green) are displayed as gates to walk through. Choosing an element will yield what bonuses the dragon gets. Ice is healing, wind is health regeneration, fire is an improved fireball, and earth is poison. You must choose carefully, as only one dragon can be played at a time.
Now that the elemental decision has been made, hopefully with a D20 roll, it is time to customize the look of the dragon. Don’t fret when only a few options are presented at the start – new color options, heads, tails, wings, and feet will become available as bosses are bested in battle. There are some pretty cool options here, so be sure to go back to the home cave from time to time to tweak that dragon, Xzibit-style.
Once you are finished with all these tough decisions, it is time to take on the evil dragons. There are four islands to play through; each island presents a different element and is broken into sections. These sections vary in the amount of naughty dragons to fight against.
Everything from moving around the map to fighting is done with the stylus. The actions are very well suited to the styles. Swipe forward to attack, backwards to defend, and to a side to dodge. Flying can be done with a simple double tap on the dragon. The game does make good use of the touch screen; the only real problem was navigating around the stage with stylus. Often, the stylus would have to be re-situated on the screen as screen real estate had ran out.
The game itself looks pretty good. The fire island is full of lava, while the ice island is pretty much snow and ice, as would be expected. The game has also created its own dragon language. Whenever Ninnurtu talks, it is all in this dragon tongue. It does help add to the feel of th game. No, this is not Dragon Lit 102. Sorry to crush those dreams of walking around talking in the native dragon tongue. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
Repetition is a killer here. The enemy dragons tend to all look the same. With all the options that can be used for customization, it would have been nice to see these same options used on enemy dragons, as fighting an elder dragon that matches the peon dragon is kind of a buzz kill. This repetitiveness spills into the game’s backdrop as well. Lava will be the major theme of the fire world, while lots of trees and green plains will be the theme of the earth world. It would have rocked some socks off to vary this just a bit.
The game is also a bit lacking in options of play. Aside from the enjoyable decimation of other dragons, burning trees and dive bombing gems/rocks are all that are left. Some mini games would have been welcomed. Maybe some good old-fashioned tug of war with other dragons??
There is one off the wall aspect of the game that was unexpected. Ubisoft has included secret battles. These fights are not with other dragons, but with inanimate objects. Nothing says “I’ll kick yo butt” like a drum set. Drums not demonic enough, how about a cop car? Yes, destroying that cop car with fireballs is highly enjoyable! It is a bit of retribution for all the times I have been handed a speeding ticket! This was a nice touch, even if it doesn’t fit in the fantasy world mold created by the story.
Overall, the game is fun. The game can be bested in about five to six hours though. The option to play through with other elemental dragon types can add to the time, but keep in mind the world doesn’t change. Rent this one first. If nothing else, it will be an awesome time destroying some drums, or a cop car, with fireballs! It is worth it, especially if rocking a particular song from NWA during that special fight!
Popularity: unranked [?]
One comment