Flying Dragon

"Taking button-bashing to the next level."

I'll outline a few things first. One, I'm not a fan of fighting games. Two, this review of Flying Dragon comes from the American import version of the game. But no-one can possibly like this game. As a proud Australian, I can only pray that the game doesn't reach these shores until something is done about the severe lack of fun and graphics in the game. Flying Dragon suffers from top-rate button bashing, and this is more than enough reason not to buy this game.

Graphics: 1
Oh dear. The N64 was released a few years before this game was, and developers have suffered in the top pocket for producing games with shoddy graphics. So some smart guys over at Culture Brain decided to make a fighting game for the N64 (rarely a good mix) with blurry graphics and average five-colour backdrops. Another problem is that the framerate is poor (but it isn't that choppy - what a relief!), and that the SNES had better looking backgrounds. So graphically, this game just isn't nice.

Gameplay: 5
The best aspect of Flying Dragon is the gameplay. It's sort of like two below-average fighting games in one cartridge, with the serious virtual mode and the arcade style super deformed mode (They probably have real names, but I wasn't interested in this game right from the start). The super deformed mode is a novel idea, as ridiculously out of proportion fighters go at it one on one. But the problem here is collision detection. Occasionally you will punch or kick right through a character. In the virtual mode, there is an attempt (albeit pathetic) at making a realistic fighting game. But it also is pathetic as no-one will enjoy playing this game - after a while you realise that there are better games in every genre on every system.

Sound: 4
Could be a whole lot worse, but is still pretty bad. Repetitive loops with no variety are not recommended in any game, but Flying Dragon seems to utilise these dodgy tracks at every opportunity. The SFX are out of time in the super deformed mode. There's no need to crank the volume while playing this game - unless you've got a CD playing through your stereo.

Fun: 0
There is no enjoyment or fun to be gained while playing this game.

Multiplayer: 4
You can always laugh while beating up your friends in fighting games, and the multiplayer is the game's 'saviour'. But again, as with every aspect of this game - why wasn't some effort put into it?

It's as if there is a curse on Nintendo's 64-bit console - making all fighting games in cartridges poor. There are some people who will like this game, but they are few and far between. Flying Dragon loses any appeal it may have had when you start playing it, and it doesn't exact come across as the console shifting game of the milennium.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/01, Updated 09/02/01