Dragon Rage

"More of the 3DO curse..."

While I’ve always been a fan of games that take the role of Dragon’s and run you through a world that is filled with magic and myth, there comes a time when a game seems to take a detour. Dragon Rage is the latest version of a dragon destruction shooter done by 3DO, which has never really been known to create anything in top rate. With a powerful storyline, you would figure that a game such as this would be more pleasing than being just another shooter with poor visuals and horrid audio!

The story line that you find here is nothing short of a mythical adventure through a world that you would almost wish existed. Taking the role of a dragon, you must destroy the overbearing Orcs that are looking to take over the world through the destruction and massacre of the dragon race. You’ll fly high above the land, blast enemies with elemental power and collect items that will help you to further your quest. However, as you dig deeper into the game, you’ll find that the overly simple control and lack of exciting game play really puts this title into the ground with little more than a whimper.

Game play found here in Dragon Rage is simply a shooter in which you take control of a dragon rather than a space ship or otherwise. You’ll blow through several different stages that force you to take on several groups of Orcs and otherwise while collecting gems to power up your dragon. However, what you may find is that the game seems to take a turn for the worst in later stages, simply because the action that the game provides is little more than spot and attack formula. The definition for a shooter is to have constant action, which this game doesn’t seem to provide in too many spots and in most cases, the auto aim feature that is here hinders the game play rather than helps it!

When you get into the battling of the game, you’ll find that most of your attacks revolve around blowing things up from the air. From time to time, you’ll dive for the ground and eat whatever enemies or even cattle may be found to help further your quest and regain a little energy. While this may all seem exceptionally simple, you may find that the use of elemental gems {which are found in the weirdest places} and the fact that you run on a Mana system much like Diablo is just a little too frustrating to deal with. As I mentioned before, the auto aiming feature seems to draw away from the game and force you to make repeated runs in places that you’ve already cleared out.

Control is another factor that you have to get into and take with a grain of salt. Although there is really nothing spectacular about the control, there is also nothing here that will challenge veterans to the genre in any way. Beginners will find this to be easy enough to pick up and play within minutes, and because of the auto aim feature that you have with your dragon, there is no need to use precision aiming in your attacking runs or while you eat your enemies. All in all, most veteran shooter fans will probably find this to be a lackluster feature in the game play and a little too slow for their liking.

Visually, Dragon Rage just seems to fall flat in several different areas of the game, most notably in the area of the way that the world is laid out for you. Even though the introduction to the game is done in such a fashion to rope you in, the simplicity that you find in the control can be found in the presentation of the game visuals in several different ways. Special effects are little more than brief flares or overly bright, flashing images that really do nothing but draw your attention for the first few minutes. Stages and otherwise are done in such a way that it seems dull and the colorization of the game is drab and dreary in most cases, with no real redeeming qualities!

Audio wise, the music is not exactly what you would be looking for in a shooter style game, with the overtone sounding more like a butchered version of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy than anything else. The action that you find in the game just doesn’t match the music and although some of the sound effects are pretty neat {such as blowing things up} there is just not enough variation on the game to really keep interest. When you blend all of these things together, you may find it exceptionally hard to really get into the way that the game is supposed to sound, so be prepared for a rather disappointing ride through this realm.

Dragon Rage is a mixed game that just doesn’t seem to have the goods to make it one of those sleeper hits unless you’re a dragon fanatic. Gamers who love the idea of razing towns with spouts of fire and killing off Orcs while eating cows will find this to be a cute ride, although a little misleading. For the most part, what kills this game is the misbalance of challenge and difficulty while throwing in several instances of annoying features as an afterthought. As would be expected, anything that has come from 3DO lately just doesn’t seem to cut the mustard in most cases, and this title is no exception to that fact.

With the sub-standard visuals, horrid voice acting, misplaced music and sound and the overall lack of challenge, there is little here for those who have played shooter games on most systems. If you’re looking for a game that will end up frustrating you in some points, not so much with the difficulty but the sheer lack of action that is involved, then you’re in the right spot. However, if you value your money, you might want to take this Rage out on a weekend run before spending your hard earned money on a game that is less than ideal for the Play Station 2!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/02, Updated 02/20/02