Panzer Dragoon Orta review.
Panzer Dragoon Review
Description: Title: Panzer Dragoon Orta
Price: £10-£20
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Smilebit
Genre: Shooter
Platform: XBox
Arcade shooters have become an established and well known genre, especially with older gamers, one game series that may spring to many Sega gamers minds is "Panzer Dragoon". The game's stories are based around a group of people chosen by the Dragon gods to save the planet from various threats such as the "Empire" and bring back peace to the planet. Many avid Sega fans were desperate for a new Dragoon game and so Smilebit (Developer) and Sega (Publisher) brought Panzer Dragoon Orta to the XBox. Many new versions of games from an old games series have failed to create any impact among gamers (Defender to name one) often being rushed and mediocre affairs. Luckily Smilebit and Sega knew what they were doing and brought use this finely polished shooter.
First off, this game is no slouch in the visual department, everything has a rich polished quality about it, from the textures on surfaces and walls, the lighting, and the character models, it delivers in this area and puts the XBox's graphics processer to great use. The enviroments themselves are actually very calming to look at, lush forests, rocky canyons, psychodelic hypnotizing walls inside a large computer database, snowy wastelands, the game is just filled full of wierd and bueatiful landscapes, smilebit and Sega really have done a lot to make sure this is a visual feast for the eyes. Characters all have their own unique design and are hardly ever re-used in the later levels. Some enemies include Whales that swim through snow and can fly, and a giant 4 legged mechanoid. Many games rely on using the same enemies way too much, Panzer Dragoon wins points due to the fact that it hardly ever force feeds you repetitive level and character design.
The games sound is unique to say the least, instead of opting for American/English voice overs Smilebit and Sega chose a Japanese voice cast only, this may be seen as a bit strange (As most game developers opt for different voice overs for each region) but it works great, and gives the game it's own unique sound, the subtitles explain the game well, and even though people non-fluent won't recognize the language they will know how the character feels, due to the change of tempo in the characters voices, it's extremely well done. The music in PDO is also another thing that makes the game stand out, it's very soothing, quiet, and relaxing, not what you would expect from a shooter. It works great with the surrounding enviroment, both of these factors of the game meld in perfectly, providing high quality visual and musical entertainment for the gamer.
The structure of the game is like many other Shooters, destroying waves of enemies and beat the boss. What makes this shooter stand out though is the inclusion of "Four way directonal viewing". This allows for the user to look around in all 4 directions allowing the user to spot enemies before they approach to the front of them. A great edition and something the Panzer Dragoon series has been noted for. This makes enemy formations much more of a challenge as they appear from all angles, keeping the player alert. The dragon your character rides upon also brings me to another unique point of this game, this creature can fire shots that do damage to other enemies and special attacks too via the white button. You can evolve your dragon, allowing it to fire at a faster rate and gain new abilities, it's a really neat addition that gives depth to what is a very basic concept. The dragon also has a multitude of forms it can change into mid-flight.
Light Wing - This makes the dragons wings smaller and allows the dragon to fire a faster rate of shots, this comes with a disadvantage, the shots aren't as possible, so therefore this form would be best used to fit through small tunnels and take down smaller enemies quicker.
Base Wing - The standard form, a good all rounder and suitable for any situation with a decent fire rate.
Heavy Wing - Gives the Dragon a large wing base and stronger shots. The disadvantage is that the fire rate is slower and the dragon is a larger target.
The game consists of ten stages, not much at first but each scenario is lengthy and the multiple difficulties give the player an incentive to return to the game to unlock more secrets. Overall PDO is a very polished, very addictive and playable shooter that fans of the genre must own, people who haven't experienced the genre should also look into this for their first taste of the shooter genre. Must-buy in my opinion.
Graphics: 9.3
Brilliantly detailed character models and enviroments, each uniquely designed to give the game it's own unique look, lighting effects are also top notch.
Sound: 9.1
Brilliant musical score, very relaxing, and although the voice acting is in japanese, they convey enough emotion for the player to realize what the characters are feeling along with subtitles too.
Gameplay: 8.8
It may be a tried and tested formula, as with most shooters, but the dragon form and evolution features and the 4 way look system give it a unique edge over it's competitors of games in the same genre.
Lifespan: 8.7
Fans of the game will play through the game repeatedly to unlock all of the special features in the game, non fans have to be taken into consideration too as they may not play it for as long, thus the lifespan not quite making it to 9.
Overall: 8.9
SCREENSHOTS
(Note: Taken from the first level only as not to spoil the later enviroments for anyone who decides to buy the game)
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