Dragon View

"A Perfect Average Game"

I haven't play such game for a really long time. I mean nowaday, it's hard to get a balance game. Some goes for stunning graphic with crappy story and gameplay, the classic goes for amazing playing experience and unforgettable story but lack in the graphic department. Dragon View falls neither into these two extremities.
Story-6
The title Dragon View really doesn't suit the story, in fact, it barely relevant to why u start your journey. Your lover, or should is say girlfriend, is captured by the evil wizard Giza, why her? Well, u will figure it out but really, the story is quite simple. It could had some more depths with some twists for it to be more interesting. everything is guessable, no complicated story for u to interpret or analyze(yeah, Xenogears!)
Gameplay-7
Having said that, u would expect a nice balance action/adventure/RPG game type. Yes, i mean it, the battle system is quite simple that should close resemble action type game. There's no party to control only your main character, Alex(by default) though u can rename him to whatever u want. There's no active time or turn-based of anykind to worry about, i know there's better example out there but think Final Fight, except with sword. So where does the RPG comes from? Well, u have HP, u have MP, there EXP and there's Level Up, enough factors for it to be RPG. And the adventure? We have the dungeon, the world map, isn't that adventure enough? Nuff said about gameplay.
Graphic/Sound-7
Moving on to graphic, there's nothing really amazing or stunning, just detail enough for a game. The world map is badly draw in 3-D, and i find it quite annoying. Other than that, the towns, the characters, the monsters, the dungeons are well-presented in their 2-D forms. The sound and music are quite good, the world map, the battle had their own theme, each dungeon also had its own theme that suit the mood really well, overall, very good.
Challenging/Replayability-6
The game difficulty is just right, no impossible tasks or bosses or anything, some bosses requires strategy to win and some dungeons might make u frustrated but they're not that hard. I personally take approximately 10 hours to finish the game so it's really a short game. U could always play it again to to find all the the upgrade for sword, armor and magic, or see the story but I doubt it since it is quite simple u probably get it the first time playing.
Rent/Buy- I don't know about renting but u probably find it at old game section, get it online or through some other means
Lastly, thanks for reading this, this is my first time writing a review so excusez-moi for any mistakes=)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/02, Updated 09/01/02