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Feature:Australian Gamer presents - The Best of 2008

'The Orange Box' Review
by Yug

Podcasts by TheScarecrow at 10:41pm
Games that are amazingly addictive by BeaversLoveWood at 10:37pm
Game On Night 30 Jan by Kyne at 10:36pm
Tegan & Sara by TheScarecrow at 10:34pm
Indie/Casual Games by Oracle at 10:34pm
The relationship thread by Gaute at 10:32pm
NEWS [ For all you Apple gamers (hah!) imagine playing COD4 on this... Or any game. ] by ItachiKun at 10:30pm
Zombie Plans by Gaute at 10:30pm
new WATCHMEN footage/picture heavy ie SPOILERS by BeaversLoveWood at 9:22pm
Your favorite weapon in any game by Hippy at 9:10pm
Fallout 3 by Hippy at 9:06pm
PS3 Home by Hippy at 9:04pm
Fable 2! by Hal at 9:04pm
Game you've played the most times? by Hal at 9:02pm
What do you listen too when you're gaming? by Hal at 8:53pm

WII

19 Jan

PS2

19 Jan

X360

30 Jan

PS3

30 Jan

PC

30 Jan

PC

05 Feb

Let's take a look at this from an objective standpoint. Adhering to all theoretical laws of badass and awesomeness, there should be no cooler creatures than dragons. They breathe fire? Yes. Kill worthless beggars and dumb villagers for no other reason than enjoyment? Check. They fly around and impress all those worthless ground-dwelling animals? You better believe it. If this is all true (which it is), then why are dragons so underutilised in video gaming today, the most popular form of entertainment in the world? I use Dragon Hunters as a prime piece of evidence that dragons are not receiving the glory they so rightfully deserve.

Dragon Hunters is apparently based on an animated series and movie of the same name, which I've never heard of and will never watch. It's a side-scrolling platformer where you take control of three namby-pamby "heroes" who come across as the most unreliable adventurers you could ever imagine. The only hero worthy of taking on a dragon is Dennis Quaid, and even then it's a bit of a one-sided battle. There's a probably a story here, but it's presented in a stereotypical shovelware format of text boxes at the beginning and end of every level. Yawn.

Ignoring the stirrings of crappy, I loaded up the first level and began my adventure. Each of the three characters can be used at any time simply by touching their icon on the bottom screen, and each has their own unique abilities which must be utilised at key points throughout the level. It sounded innocent enough until I realised the abilities are jump, attack and roll. This is true - only one guy can attack, only one can jump (well, jump high enough to reach any proper platform) and one can roll. Most levels follow a standard jump - enemy - roll structure, so you're forced to switch back and forth between each guy to perform basic actions. The high jumper can't attack or defend himself at all, so go ahead and switch to the heavy whenever you spot a bug. It's a tedious, tacked-on gimmick that is rendered obsolete as soon as you remember that you were running, jumping, attacking and rolling with one character in Metroid on the NES.

I was surprised and impressed by the levels themselves, both in regards to graphical quality and artistic design. The environments are rendered in full 3D, and the most intriguing addition is an anti-gravity tweak which comes in to play several times during each level. The gravity works in a similar way to the segments seen in Super Mario Galaxy - jump up towards a platform above, and your character will switch mid-air to continue running upside-down. It's good to see this concept being used in a side-scroller, but it's never actually used for much and ends up as not much more than a gimmick.

The game's structure features four portals leading to a "realm" (fancy word for level), each with its own fairly generic theme. Venture through each portal and you're presented with a mission menu. Here is where the developers could have attempted some really innovative gameplay to complement the cool anti-gravity levels, but the tasks are as generic as you can get. You'll be collecting orbs, killing enemies and - GASP - collecting gold nuggets. Worst of all, you need to do these tasks in different runs. It's essentially one level that you need to run through five times to complete each task, but with enemies replaced by orbs or something equally uninspiring.

It's hard to continue here, considering that's about it for the game. You won't be fighting dragons on a regular basis aside from the occasional tired boss battle, and there's certainly no hunting to be done. Again, for a game that dares to use the coolest creatures in existence, it ends up being an extremely uncool experience. There's a rolling ball and whack-a-dragon game to be played by yourself or with a friend, but I can't imagine anyone would ever bother. Your kids may be fans of the Dragon Hunters series already so this might give them a short burst of fun, but it's highly unlikely. Why can't anyone make a game called Nintendo Hero: The Dennis Quaid Experience?

Final Verdict

If you're a rabid fan of Dragon Hunters, you need to find some other show to watch. I suggest Dr. Phil.

Pros
The graphics are good for the DS and the cool gravity-based levels are fun.
Cons
Everything else. The level potential is untapped, the characters are annoying and gameplay is a mindless fetch quest extravaganza.