Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

"The only version that's actually playable...just."

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story has been universally reviled as an exceedingly punishing 16-bit experience, and while the Game Gear version is a completely different game, and notably easier, it's certainly pestered by quite a few problems of its own. Had the developers chosen to make a more straightforward game, it could've been a serviceable licensed title, but as it is, its fundamental gameplay problems drag it down in the end. Don't get me wrong: the fact that the designers at Virgin Interactive strove towards inventive gameplay is in itself commendable; it's just that they'd gone about it the wrong way and designed an entire game around two elements that don't really work all that well, making all sorts of harmful compromises in the process.

On paper, giving your character a whole array of moves instead of just a simple punch and kick is a great idea, but when you only have two buttons to work with - of which one is reserved for jumping anyway - something has got to give. In Dragon, you have Bruce Lee execute various kicks and punches by holding the action button and using the directional pad. The moves feature the standard inverted speed/power ratio and though that's a sufficiently complex combat system already, range with a very small window of enemy vulnerability was also worked into the equation. This essentially ruins any chance to time the attacks, especially with slowdown that kicks in all too often, and generally proves more trouble than it's worth. If the hit fails to connect, either because of the misjudged range or because the enemy decided to attack you in the meantime, you're left completely at his mercy so essentially, you wind up using the quick but weak punch all the time.

The combat system defeating itself is not Dragon's only problem, either. If you were paying attention, you know that there's no way to move and attack at the same time. Any fluidity of gameplay is thus nipped in its bud - but that's not the worst of it as there is no effective way to quickly turn around, either. This was half-addressed by the developers by having only one enemy having a go at Bruce at a time in the best Kung Fu movie tradition but once the active one is defeated, the next one is activated immediately. In case that he's standing directly behind Bruce - and he often does - the player has no time to react and he's able to score a free hit. The problem actually runs deeper than this: at the time the first enemy is disposed of, the player is very likely to still have the attack button engaged as it's nearly impossible to tell when the enemy is about to die: the enemies have no life gauge - and nor do the bosses, for that matter - while the various attacks all deal a different number of hit points. This way, you're invariably going to be caught of guard, having to release the attack button, turn around, press it again, and only then attack with the D-pad. Any kind of an attack in the opposite direction to where the player is facing would be the obvious patch-up (alternatively, they could've started the enemy AI routine loop with a few idle frames before the attack), but sadly, the developers hadn't thought of either.

The designers of the game were obviously very much opposed to platform game cliches and bravely replaced the standard platform jumping with something called the "high jump". Dragon features two kinds of platforms, solid ones and not-so-solid ones, the latter of which you can freely navigate by doing a high jump, which will beam Bruce up or down at will. This is another element which hadn't been properly thought through as it constantly stalls the gameplay by having the player use the high jump where there's nowhere to go or jump anymore (the high platforms are often out of view and there is no look up/down feature) while contributing nothing original in the first place. Furthermore, the stages are still mostly horizontal even though the high jump properties could've allowed for interesting vertical level design.

I haven't got round to mentioning the graphics and sound effects because they're the least problematic -though they definitely have their issues, too (I won't be mentioning music at all...because there isn't any except for the main menu tune, which means that 90% of the time, the game is dead silent). The graphics, while decent, make it impossible to reliably determine whether various large objects are actual platforms or only part of the background. This is not a major problem - except that you keep trying to pick up various bits of scenery and bumping into things - until you start to take advantage of a very rudimentary object manipulation system where you push various barrels and crates that clear everything in their path. As these objects bounce off solid walls, however, they often catch you off guard when you mistake an actual object for background art. As for the sound effects, there are two: Bruce punching and Bruce jumping (with a variation for the high jump) . You can't hear neither the enemies launching projectiles or bosses attacking, nor environmental hazards, such as the buzz saws in the Ice House level. Such sloppy work on the part of the sound department hammers yet another nail into the coffin of redeeming features - though honestly, it really doesn't make much of a difference anymore.

Dragon is not worth your time, simple as that, especially since you only get five lives in total with no continues (only your life bar is replenished after each sub-stage). I wonder when the designers will learn that such unforgiving arrangement only works with strictly pattern-based games with rock-solid controls - neither of which is at all applicable with Dragon. And even if you do manage to luckily button mash your way through, you may fall victim to the disappearing enemy bug which prevents you from exiting the current stage leaving you with only one option - resetting the game. This happened to me more than once and one time too many, and must admit I saw little incentive in fighting the game thereafter. You have been warned.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/07