The side scrolling fighter has spent many a year in the dark
but seems to have had a mini revival recently. Code of Princess and the compilation
of Capcom Dungeon and Dragons games are already upon us and now Dragon’s Crown
is here to lure us back into the ways of bashing monsters senseless in the name
of gold and potions.
The first thing that hits you about the game is gorgeous art
style. Everything is presented in beautifully drawn 2D with some of the richest
environments and settings we’ve ever seen. Characters and enemies are also
highly detailed and all the heroes look unique and different from each other.
However, the representation of female characters is somewhat questionable. We
can certainly see female gamers being put off by the over sexualisation of some
of the characters.
Portrayal issues aside, there is a fair bit of variety in
the different characters on offer. Each comes with a handy recommendation as to
the level of player skills required and a distinctive weapon and skill set.
There’s something for everyone with characters ranging from warriors and mages
to archers and hammer swinging dwarves. Each class has a large group of unique
skills, along with a more generic skill set, that can be levelled up to further
fit the player’s individual style.
Most of your quests will start in town and here you can
visit the adventurers guild to accept missions. There are also the usual array
of shops to visit, a church to get characters resurrected, the tavern which
serves as your hub for organisation and the palace. More areas unlock as you progress
through the first part of the game and you can quick travel to any location in
the town via a handy pop up map. Once a mission has been accepted you can head
off to the teleport gate to warp to the appropriate dungeon.
Dungeons are far more varied than you might expect, with
each area containing a wide variety of enemies and traps. Some are filled with
mutated fungus while others contain orcs, lizard men and giant spiders. There
are also monsters to ride (a nice homage to Golden Axe), and numerous secret
places and loot to hunt out.
The main way of finding hidden items and areas to is to move
an on screen cursor around the screen and click on things. This works on the
PS3 by using the right analogue stick and via the touch screen or stick on the
Vita. It’s an idea that doesn’t really seem to fit as you can find yourself
moving the pointer over every inch of the screen to see if you can find anything.
That said, it rarely gets in the way and unless your OCD is likely to kick in,
it won’t break the flow of the game.
Combat itself is satisfying and fairly varied. Once you
start unlocking skills there are a wide range of moves and techniques you can
use to build massive combos. The further through the game you get the more
careful you have to be and button mashing certainly won’t get you past the
higher difficulties and later levels. Moves like the sliding take down become
invaluable and you’ll learn what you can and can’t block quickly or suffer the consequences.
The game opens up to online play around half way through and
then it becomes a much richer experience. This is a game designed to be played
by four good players and this allows for high score runs to be attempted for
loot and bragging rights. For single players you can add other characters to
your adventure to give yourself a fighting chance. Most of these characters are picked up as
piles of bones in dungeons and then need to be revived in the church back in
town. This, along with the need to appraise treasure you’ve found will be a constant
drain on your gold.
You also need to pay attention to the status of your armour
and weapons. As you attack and take damage they degrade and will eventually
break. Losing your equipment in the middle of a dungeon is likely to lead to
certain death, so it’s important to keep things maintained. This isn’t such an
issue normally, but when you get the chance to continue from one dungeon to the
next without heading back to town its needs careful consideration. Why would
you do this? To raise your score of course.
Overall, Dragon’s Crown is a roaring success. The PS3 and
Vita versions integrate nicely with cloud saving and there are no noticeable performance
issues when switching to play the game in its portable format. There are some
questionable choices with the art style surrounding the representation of
female characters but aside from that this is an excellent adventure. It’s the
best side scrolling fighter since Guardian Heroes and we can’t think of much
higher praise to lavish upon it than that.
Overall 8/10
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