Panzer Dragoon

"A must-have shooter with artistic design"

Panzer Dragoon is one of the greatest franchises made by Sega, which happens to be almost exclusive for the Saturn, and probably that's the reason why it was never as popular and successful as it deserved to be. It all started in 1995 when a 3D shmup (or a rail shooter), Panzer Dragoon, was released as a launch title for Sega Saturn.

The game is set in a quite original universe. The action takes place in a post apocalyptic world, few thousands years in the future but it's not like a typical post-apo world (like e.g. Fallout) at all. Humans have to fight hard to survive, the "old civilization" remains in pieces but it's not the big bad nuclear bomb that's responsible for it. Well, the reason was similar, terrible wars which used destructive technologies reduced the planet to a wasteland. These technologies aren't the only remains of the "Ancient Age", age in which the planet was ruled by the Ancients whose creations leveled their own civilization. Ancients could also create various creatures and monsters, for war or practical uses, which survived the world's downfall and now they remain as humans enemies. Eventually the remains of the ancient technologies were used to create weapons, battleships, vehicles and more. The faction called "The Empire" uses those weapons to gain domination over the planet.

That's a how a brief version of the PD's universe's story looks like. In the game you take the role of Keil, who eventually becomes the rider of the blue dragon, known as Solo Wing, and your mission is to stop your main enemy, Dark Dragon (original name, don't you think?) form reactivating an ancient ruin, The Tower (another original name) which holds a massive potential of destruction...

PD is a rail shooter, you fly on the predetermined path and shoot enemies on your way. At first it looks like a 3D version of Space Harrier but PD has a little twist, you can shoot in every direction, not just straight, opponents approach from everywhere and that's why you can rotate your view to shoot enemies on your side's and back (you're also given a handy radar). There are two weapons at your disposal, a regular gun and a lock-on laser, by holding the button you aim at few enemies (up to 8) and release it to see bunch of lasers taking them down. That's pretty much all what the gameplay is about.
Game is divided into 7 levels called episodes (plus one available through a cheat). Of course you fight the boss at the end and then the game shows you shot down ratio and gives you additional credits depending on your performance. Fortunately you don't die from one shot, you have a whole life bar but that doesn't mean the whole adventure will be easy. Well, at least the first few tries won't be, few playthroughs and completing the game on hard won't be that difficult. All levels can be completed in less than an hour (half an hour if you're good), there're almost no rewards for completing the game (you're only given a cheat code for invincibility but that's no secret after it looking up in the Internet) and it doesn't even use the save feature (so no high scores etc.). That's the biggest problem of Panzer Dragoon, lack of replayability.

Visuals in PD are rather decent, still nice though for a first generation title, but it's not the quality of the graphics that matters, it's their style. The design of levels and creatures is really original and superb. PD's world definitely looks interesting, you'll meet various enemies from battleships of different shapes and sizes, mammoth-size sand worms, to all kinds of monsters including a really epic final boss... As for levels, you'll fly through the city ruins scattered across the sea, desert packed with mighty sand worms, tunnels dwelled inside the cave, and above the almost limitless forest while struggling with the Empire's army...
I have to mention that video clips are of really good quality for a Saturn game, especially when it comes to how smooth they are. An almost 10-minute long intro is one of my all time favorites, it made a huge impression on me when I saw it the first time.

I always praised the PD's soundtrack which is one of the best among all Saturn games, expect to hear some really great music (mostly electronic but you'll also find some beautiful, "classical" tunes) that perfectly matches the games' atmosphere, without it, half of the PD's "magic" would perish.

I mentioned that game doesn't provide any bonus features but there's something that can boost PD's replayability a bit- cheats. Normally such things should be available after completing the game or something like that but here you'll have to use codes. The hidden episode I mentioned that can be unlocked by a code, the Episode 0, is a sort of survival where you shoot randomly appearing enemies to regain life that's slowly declining. You can access via cheats alternative versions of lasers (more powerful and cool looking), level selection screen, option to play as dragon or rider only (the latter one is called Space Harrier Mode) and few others.

Maybe not the greatest Saturn game, but it's mandatory to have it, as well as other Panzer Dragoon titles (if you can afford PD Saga of course), since when you think "Sega Saturn", you also think "Sega Rally, Nights, Virtua Fighter..." and also "Panzer Dragoon" (no matter if you mean this one, or Zwei or Saga), it's one of the few titles that defined the system and started a great series. Classic.

Gameplay 8/10 Shooting things is fun, right? And Panzer Dragoon gives you more freedom than a typical shmup.

Graphics 7/10 Don't expect much from a launch title but it's still a decent looking game. The design though deserves much appreciation.

Sound 10/10 Music wise, Panzer Dragoon is simply outstanding.

Replayability 5/10 I could forgive the game's shortness if there were any bonuses.

Originality 8/10 Original looks, not the first rail-shooter on earth but with a bit of a novelty.

Overall 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/09

Game Release: Panzer Dragoon (EU, 08/30/95)