Rise of the Dragon

"A Blade Hunter Mystery"

Before producing ''Heart of China'' and ''The Adventures of Willy Beamish'', Sierra's sister company, Dynamix, had developed the first game over two years. This game was called ''Rise of the Dragon'' and was completed in 1990. Well,
Dynamix could have released the game before that year. However, from what I read from the hint book of the game, they decide to wait for technology to catch up and work on another game ''David Wolf: Secret Agent''. With the technology that was available, Dynamix made ''Rise of the Dragon'' look like a cyberpunk thriller and included some full motion video (FMV). Yes, in many adventure games, you sometimes get a cinematic sequence, detailing what is happening.

But ''Rise of the Dragon'' wasn't Dynamix's first attempt at creating a cyberpunk thriller packed with FMV. In 1988, they produced a similar game called ''Project Firestart'' for the Commodore 64, in which you are a cadet aboard the Spaceship Prometheus, and have to blast big green aliens, self-destruct the space ship, and get the hell out of there.

STORY

In 2053, a drug syndicate has hit Los Angeles, selling drug patches (substituted for real drugs) to minors. One of the victims hit by this drug is this whore named Chandra Vincenzi, who got the drug in the first place by Chen Lu.

This girl happens to be the daughter of the president of LA. He knows that a former police detective who claims that he can help him investigate the drug patch known as MTZ.

That's not all I'm afraid. The leader of this drug syndicate, Deng Hwang, plans to unleash a lethal substance that will wipe out Los Angeles in three days. As Blade investigates the drug cartel, he will uncover the plain developed by Hwang.

Score: 7

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay consists of the average adventure's point-and-click interface. The time is displayed on the top-right of the screen, while box that contain Blade's shadow can be clicked to display his inventory. Move the cursor over the screen and you'll notice that it changes. For example, at the start, pointing the cursor over Blade's VidPhone terminal will make it change into a magnifying glass, so you can examine the VidPhone more closely. Moving the cursor at the top, bottom, left, and right edges will display an ''EXIT'' sign. Finally, If you've done anything in a day and are board, you can speed up the time.

Blade's case won't be completed without the assistance of his girlfriend Karyn, who guarantees not to help Blade unless he goes out with her for dinner to make up for the previous night, where he stood her up. Williard ''The Jake'' Jakeston is your informant found in one of those pleasure domes and he will tell you what is happening around town.

As well as the adventure part, depending on what you do, Blade will have to use a gun and indulge in some arcade sequences. All arcade sequences have a similar plot where you must shoot baddies and get to the boss. For example, a villain called ''Snake'' will hold ''The Jake'' hostage unless you defeat him in an alley. If you are not there at the right time, ''Snake'' will murder him. If you cannot defeat villains like these in the arcade sequences five times, you have the opportunity to skip the sequence and watch the next thing that is going to happen.

Score: 7

GRAPHICS

Graphics in this game are futuristic. Some of them are hand-drawn and animated well and look like as if they come from a cartoon show. Sadly, gamers will be put off with the graphics as they expect 3DFX-based games with a maximum frame rate. In my opinion, I don't really care about them. At least, the graphics look great around the same time ''Rise of the Dragon'' was released.

Score: 6

SOUND/MUSIC

As well as the graphics, the sound and music in this game is excellent. As well as the graphics, some gamers I know expect to have 3D surround sound pumping through the speaker and would like the sounds sound like they come from a keyboard synthesizer. Well, in 1990, there were no such things that were introduced today, such as 3D sound cards and sub-woofers. Once again, I think the sounds and music are excellent.

Score: 7

OVERALL

Overall, ''Rise of the Dragon'' has a good story, graphical interface, and sounds and music. This game is rated M and contains nudity.

If you want to play this game but haven't got it, you might find it on one of many abandonware sites out there or you might get it from a shop that only sells old games for $10 or $15. When you do get to play it, you won't be able to hear the sound effects, unless you turn off your CPU's L2 cache. As a result, the game will run slow but try to be patient with it.

Score: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/00, Updated 08/28/00