Post by Loveorlust69 on Aug 6, 2014 13:21:50 GMT -5
So guys I know only a few of us have the Xbox One console, but I have found that even those few who do either do not know about or just have not bothered downloading either of the two free games for this month on their new console. So I decided to do this review in hopes that some of you might find interest in this game at least.
Crimson Dragon is a spiritual successor of sorts to an old series of games known as Panzer Dragoon. This game like its predecessors finds you controlling the vertical and horizontal movements of your character in an on-rail gameplay style (most of the time, more about that later).
Crimson Dragon has you taking on the role of a new recruit to the team of dragon riders known as Icarus Division. This division is made up of those who have survived a terrible disease that rages across the alien planet of Draco, which humans now inhabit, known as 'Crimson Scale'. Crimson Scale is an infectious disease that infects every species on planet Draco, including both humans and the wildlife. The few humans that have survived this disease were left changed. After recovery they found that they were able to not only communicate, but actually make bonds with the native dragons of the planet.
Your first mission on the team has you come face to face with an enormous beast known as the 'White Phantom' which hasn't been seen in over a decade. This beast is found next to a relic possibly connected to a lost city called 'Amara', and once encountered wipes out everyone in your unit aside from you. You are then tasked with fighting off creatures that have been infected with crimson scale in hopes to keep the disease at bay. Along the way many strange coincidences keep popping up that seem to indicate a connection between the phantom and the disease, but also that this city of legend may truly exist.
Dragons:
There are a 5 different dragons all with there own unique strengths and weaknesses. Each dragon has one of three elemental types: Fire, Wind, Light (electricity). These typings work on a rock-paper-scissors match-up style where Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Light, and Light beats Fire. There are two Fire types, two Wind types, and one Light type. As you gain xp for each separate dragon going from lvl 1-10 they will be able to evolve into their 2nd form, which raises most stats for the dragon after dipping down slightly from lvl 1-3 (or 4 depending on the dragon) then once it reaches lvl 10 again it can evolve into its ultimate form, which again goes from lvl 1-10 with a much larger increase to stats for the dragon. Also each dragon starts out as one of the three types but it can be changed to one other predetermined type (typically whatever type it is weak to) for its 1st and 2nd forms, but reverts to the first type at ultimate form.
Dragon Skills (attacks):
Each dragon starts off with two separate attacks. One of which can be changed. Your main attack is permanent and deals out damage in whatever elemental type your dragon currently is. The secondary attack starts out that way but can be changed with other skills that you find as random drops or mission rewards. These skills will be rated from 1-3 stars to show their rarity, and typically higher rarity skills offer higher damage. With this option of changing skills you can either equip your dragon with one single powerful move that will not be as effective against all opponents, or utilize the mission info screen which details the typing of the enemies in the area, and prepare equipping your dragons with a secondary skill to deal more damage to other types that your primary skill is weak to.
Wingmen:
Once starting the game you are given access to two different A.I. Wingmen, these two are free to use for a select amount of missions, but are not high lvl and therefore not very strong. Alternatively, you can use ingame currency to hire other friends or random players as your wingmen to help you on missions. These wingman not only offer another person dealing out damage, but they cannot die, and give you access to a limited use Super Combo attack that deals damage in whatever type your dragon is, as well as that of your wingmens typing.
Ampuoles:
These as I said are simply items that you acquire through random drops during missions, or as mission rewards. You can equip one at the beginning of each mission, however if you have multiple of one it will stay equipped until it you run out of them, or by unequiping them manually.
Multiplayer:
Now I haven't played more than just a few missions on multiplayer, but it doesn't seem very advantageous to do so. You play one of your available missions (or mission available to the host) and each player controls their dragon and is scored separately at the end of the mission. However, during the missions the wingman of the host cannot go from covering the hosts rear to going up front to take the lead without the host pressing the prompt to do so, and there does not seem to be any way to activate the Super Combo attack mentioned earlier, unless this has to be activated by both players and my wingmen just didn't use it when I pressed the buttons. I suppose it is kind of cool that you can play through the more difficult missions with a friend however, even if you can't use the combo move.
All in all I really enjoyed this game. For me it took roughly 5 hours (on hard mode) to complete, but for most players it offers a good 4-9 hours at the least of gameplay (depending on skill lvl and difficulty selected). Although I am a harsh critic of this games lackluster graphics, I enjoyed the uniqueness of playing an old school on rail shooter with new tech. It also helps I played and loved the old Panzer Dragoon games. With all of the achievements, different dragon types to lvl up and evolve, and different skill combinations this game is really fun. Also it seems they do challenges every few months and as a reward for completing the harder of the two challenges you receive a Chaos version of a certain dragon. They released a Chaos version of one of the Wind type dragons back in February, and are currently doing one for my favorite dragons right now the Silvertail (which starts off doing Light attacks) These Chaos versions deal out a new elemental type, Chaos (Dark type) but the attacks simply look like a darker version of the dragons base skill except dealing much more damage, and being black and or purple in color, as is the dragon, which you receive at lvl 1 in the ultimate form. These ultimate form chaos dragons can also exceed the limits of average dragons by leveling up to lvl 20 rather than only 10.
Overall this is a fun game, has a lot of replayability, pretty good achievements, and a nice nostalgic value, but thanks to the poor graphics, some slight issue with wonky camera during free flight at times, and an unimpressive multiplayer it will have a lower rating than I would like it to have, but it is still a pretty solid game.
Crimson Dragon is a spiritual successor of sorts to an old series of games known as Panzer Dragoon. This game like its predecessors finds you controlling the vertical and horizontal movements of your character in an on-rail gameplay style (most of the time, more about that later).
Crimson Dragon has you taking on the role of a new recruit to the team of dragon riders known as Icarus Division. This division is made up of those who have survived a terrible disease that rages across the alien planet of Draco, which humans now inhabit, known as 'Crimson Scale'. Crimson Scale is an infectious disease that infects every species on planet Draco, including both humans and the wildlife. The few humans that have survived this disease were left changed. After recovery they found that they were able to not only communicate, but actually make bonds with the native dragons of the planet.
Your first mission on the team has you come face to face with an enormous beast known as the 'White Phantom' which hasn't been seen in over a decade. This beast is found next to a relic possibly connected to a lost city called 'Amara', and once encountered wipes out everyone in your unit aside from you. You are then tasked with fighting off creatures that have been infected with crimson scale in hopes to keep the disease at bay. Along the way many strange coincidences keep popping up that seem to indicate a connection between the phantom and the disease, but also that this city of legend may truly exist.
Dragons:
There are a 5 different dragons all with there own unique strengths and weaknesses. Each dragon has one of three elemental types: Fire, Wind, Light (electricity). These typings work on a rock-paper-scissors match-up style where Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Light, and Light beats Fire. There are two Fire types, two Wind types, and one Light type. As you gain xp for each separate dragon going from lvl 1-10 they will be able to evolve into their 2nd form, which raises most stats for the dragon after dipping down slightly from lvl 1-3 (or 4 depending on the dragon) then once it reaches lvl 10 again it can evolve into its ultimate form, which again goes from lvl 1-10 with a much larger increase to stats for the dragon. Also each dragon starts out as one of the three types but it can be changed to one other predetermined type (typically whatever type it is weak to) for its 1st and 2nd forms, but reverts to the first type at ultimate form.
Dragon Skills (attacks):
Each dragon starts off with two separate attacks. One of which can be changed. Your main attack is permanent and deals out damage in whatever elemental type your dragon currently is. The secondary attack starts out that way but can be changed with other skills that you find as random drops or mission rewards. These skills will be rated from 1-3 stars to show their rarity, and typically higher rarity skills offer higher damage. With this option of changing skills you can either equip your dragon with one single powerful move that will not be as effective against all opponents, or utilize the mission info screen which details the typing of the enemies in the area, and prepare equipping your dragons with a secondary skill to deal more damage to other types that your primary skill is weak to.
Wingmen:
Once starting the game you are given access to two different A.I. Wingmen, these two are free to use for a select amount of missions, but are not high lvl and therefore not very strong. Alternatively, you can use ingame currency to hire other friends or random players as your wingmen to help you on missions. These wingman not only offer another person dealing out damage, but they cannot die, and give you access to a limited use Super Combo attack that deals damage in whatever type your dragon is, as well as that of your wingmens typing.
Ampuoles:
These as I said are simply items that you acquire through random drops during missions, or as mission rewards. You can equip one at the beginning of each mission, however if you have multiple of one it will stay equipped until it you run out of them, or by unequiping them manually.
Multiplayer:
Now I haven't played more than just a few missions on multiplayer, but it doesn't seem very advantageous to do so. You play one of your available missions (or mission available to the host) and each player controls their dragon and is scored separately at the end of the mission. However, during the missions the wingman of the host cannot go from covering the hosts rear to going up front to take the lead without the host pressing the prompt to do so, and there does not seem to be any way to activate the Super Combo attack mentioned earlier, unless this has to be activated by both players and my wingmen just didn't use it when I pressed the buttons. I suppose it is kind of cool that you can play through the more difficult missions with a friend however, even if you can't use the combo move.
All in all I really enjoyed this game. For me it took roughly 5 hours (on hard mode) to complete, but for most players it offers a good 4-9 hours at the least of gameplay (depending on skill lvl and difficulty selected). Although I am a harsh critic of this games lackluster graphics, I enjoyed the uniqueness of playing an old school on rail shooter with new tech. It also helps I played and loved the old Panzer Dragoon games. With all of the achievements, different dragon types to lvl up and evolve, and different skill combinations this game is really fun. Also it seems they do challenges every few months and as a reward for completing the harder of the two challenges you receive a Chaos version of a certain dragon. They released a Chaos version of one of the Wind type dragons back in February, and are currently doing one for my favorite dragons right now the Silvertail (which starts off doing Light attacks) These Chaos versions deal out a new elemental type, Chaos (Dark type) but the attacks simply look like a darker version of the dragons base skill except dealing much more damage, and being black and or purple in color, as is the dragon, which you receive at lvl 1 in the ultimate form. These ultimate form chaos dragons can also exceed the limits of average dragons by leveling up to lvl 20 rather than only 10.
Overall this is a fun game, has a lot of replayability, pretty good achievements, and a nice nostalgic value, but thanks to the poor graphics, some slight issue with wonky camera during free flight at times, and an unimpressive multiplayer it will have a lower rating than I would like it to have, but it is still a pretty solid game.
RATING
7.5/10
7.5/10
