Rise of the Dragon: A Blade Hunter Mystery

"Yah! A game no one really cares about......think i'll write a review for it."

Ok, this game appears to have no one that cares about it, no reveiws, no full length FAQs, no nothing. Me being the loving gamer that I am, Im only to happy to dust the little guy off (10 layers of dust and mold go flying) and give him a home inside my Sega cd. So what kind of game is this exactly? Rise is a graphic adventure much in the same vein as Snatcher on the Sega cd, but for those unwilling to pay $100 on ebay to get a copy of Snatcher and still don't know what im talking about (which seems to be a lot of people) Rise is a thinking mans game, you go around discovering bits of the main story through puzzles and conversations with lots of npcs, not a lot of blazing action to be found here. If you liked games from companies like Sierra On-line, (in their hey day mind you, in the days of Police, Space, and Kings quest, oh yea and Quest for Glory, my fav) or Lucasarts (Monkey Island) you'll probably like this game.

Graphics: 8/10

Ahh, the old school style of graphics. Everything in this game is 2D (which might be a turn off to some...) it's all hand drawn no polys to be found here. Everything is set up from the point of view from your charater (1st person veiw for all you ''cool'' people who know the lingo :) ) Most pictures are drawn very nicley, although a few images look a tad washed out with the colour limitations of the sega cd. The animation, what little there is, is pretty stiff mostly comprised of 2 or 3 frame sequences, were not talkin Disney quality here. Luckily though the arts good enough to make up for this little shortcoming.

Sound: 8/10

Quality stuff here, and whats even better the voice acting isnt to bad! I know with most games from this time (the days of the duo and sega cd, cinematics were a new thing back then) most voices were pathetic (all your bases..... sorry couldn't resist)but Dynamix musta spent some dough and got some half way talented people. Music wise its a nice array of rock/eletric stuff, it's not gona reach the top 40 anytime but its alright to listen to.

Gameplay: 8/10

In this dept, your gona love it or hate it. It's typical graphic adveture fare with you being in control of a little on screen cursor manipulating on screen objects, there is one little difference between this and most other graphic adventures, you're actually given a time limit, you're given a couple of days to unravel the mystery. Now this may sound a little anoying but you're given more than enough time to wade through the game, even if you do die it's really easy to get back where you were even if you're starting back from the begining. There is one little break in the puzzle gamin tho with some ''arcade shooting'' sequences through out the game (they're pretty scarce) they're ok I guess but the puzzle bits are where its at, and dont fret action impared potato people, if you screw up the action sequences enough times, you bypass them(yah).

Story: 8/10

I'm not going to reveal to much but rest assured it's intresting enough to get you through the game. Your character is Blade (runner, no just kiddin :)) hes some sort of detective, who gets hired to investigate the death of the mayor's daughter from some new type of narcotic. While traversing a warehouse he discovers an old chinese man who relates a legend long forgoten, and Blade discovers he is the chosen one blah blah, must fight forces of evil blah blah (you get the picture) The backdrop is very similar to Blade Runner with a dark dingy industrial future, even the main charater Blade bears striking resemblence to Deckard.

Fun/Longevity: 8/10

The one problem a game like this has is that once you finish it you might not be inclined to play it again. It's got one path to follow and once you've solved a puzzle its hard to act suprised the second time through, kinda like reading a murder mystery for the second time (whoa so the buttler did it)but for anyone who likes an interesting story with some nice art give Rise a whirl, plus you can pick a copy up for about 5.00 instead of Snatchers 100.00 :P

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/01, Updated 04/30/01