Panzer Dragoon Mini

"Decent"

Most fantasy films, literature, and games are based around the fabled ''Dragons''. Generally, dragons are stereotyped as being interlinked with magic, evil, mythology, and power. Dragons, are by definition:

Mythical monsters traditionally represented as a gigantic reptile having a lion's claws, the tail of a serpent, wings, and a scaly skin.

What about the oft disregarded riders of these mythical beasts? Men that have to spend countless hours in the den, training and breeding the dragons. For what I speak of is only fantasy, but in Panzer Dragoon, it’s a reality. Dragoons are riders whose job is so hard, even the bravest of men can’t conjure up enough valor to perform. When Sega takes these ideas, and meshes them simultaneously into one game; magic happens. For magic to happen the formula has to be concocted flawlessly. I’m not an alchemist, but Panzer Dragoon: Mini is missing a few significant ingredients in its mix

Missing ingredients: Panzer Dragoon style game-play.

While the game in itself is fun for being a classic rail shooter, they could’ve added more. On a GameGear, I understand the hardware limitations perfectly. Being able to initiate battles with any monster within 360 degrees of you was what keep the series entertaining. Here, they tried to emulate that style on a platform that can’t handle it. You no longer have manual control over the direction in which your dragon looks, as now the view only changes at pre-determined spots. But, because the viewpoint switching is now so limited, it doesn't add anything to the game play. While the previous incarnations had you using the ability to look around as an advantage against enemies, here it seems as if it was only done to show it could be done on the small screen.

Besides the issues concerning the movement of the series from console to hand-held, you’ve got a well developed, sturdy game. Monsters materialize out of nowhere and fire either one of two projectiles at you. One, which is indestructible, is just a big rock. The other, a lava stone, can be destroyed.. These two projectiles make up the whole enemies arsenal. Many of the enemies move erratically, making it harder for you to be able to target them. This works, as it adds another challenge to over come in a game full of them. What makes it so challenging is the fact that your health carries over to the next stage, and isn’t replenished enough. Upon that, you’ve got bosses that can deal out the pain in high amounts. Beating these bosses usually requires the discovery of a pattern. Sadly, by the time you find that pattern, you’ll most likely be one with dead. Compared to most other rail shooter and the past PD series, by far one of the hardest. Adding some frustrating times into what could be a well-rounded game. Being the hardest doesn’t mean that it’s still no fun, as the challenge adds to the fun-factor before it comes annoying.

More ingredients

Being dead might suck and all, but you can bet your sweet ass you’ll die hearing some classic tunes. Themes from both Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon: Zwei are integrated into the music. Around level 3, I became pleasantly surprised to hear my favorite theme starting up. I turned into a fan boy and started thinking in my mind how much I loved this game now, how’ll I give it a 10 and such blasphemy. That is, before I was brutally maimed by a horde of flying cyborgs.

Spices are nice

With simplistic games comes simplistic controls. Flying around requires the pushing of the control pad, which I hope didn’t come as a surprise to you. The A and B buttons do the game thing, pressing it once will fire little beams of power; holding it makes them home. Using the attacks are not near as important as being able to evade attacks. In fact, you’ll never even have to fire one shot ‘cept at bosses if you can evade well enough. This requires practice, and PD: Mini isn’t worth it.

What might strike you as well done is the visuals. Crisp, clean, and nice, the way I like my women. What does matter , though, is how the monsters look great. Most of the visuals surpass those you'd see on a GBA (SACRILEGE!).

The enemies represent the environment too. Exotic millipedes erecting from the ground in a wild jungle. The sight of a bird soaring above you . The look of the soil only being two colors. WHAT!!, Two damn colors. It’s hard to believe, but with everything looking so good, something has to go wrong. It’s funny as hell watching two colors flying at high speeds at the bottom of the screen; the whole game. It adds humor, for me anyways.
Panzer Dragoon: Mini isn’t a bad game, it’s flaws are just very apparent. Overcoming these flaws shouldn’t be that hard of a task, with some time and patience. If you got a game-gear, and a lot of money to blow; buy it. Wait, Wait, Wait, don’t buy this game, send me that money..

Final Verdict

Graphics = 8
Sound = 8
Game-Play = 5
Control = 7

Final = 7

It had potential, but in the end, is a shortcoming. The game won’t last the average player 2 days. Pass on this one, for the fact that it's a rare import and hard to find.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/03, Updated 07/29/03