To start the ball rolling I've decided to put up a review today, but I will do another one later in the week. For Weds we shall tramp through the desolate lands that Dark Soul inhabits, but today I shall talk about Dragon's Crown, an ARPG that has you fighting Orcs, Goblins and surprise surprise there are also Dragons.
(Please note I do not intend to discuss the over sexualised characters in this review, I probably will do an article on it at a later point, because it is a problem in the games industry. But not in this review, this is just looking at the game, how it plays and if you guys might find enjoyment out of it.)
Dragon’s Crown is an ARPG set in a fantasy world where you are an adventurer traversing through dungeons and fighting monsters for glory and gold. You and your group are based in the Kingdom of Hydeland where you will take on quests from both the Adventurers Guild and the Royal Family who are in search of the fabled Dragon’s Crown.
In order to get through this adventure you will need to pick
one of the 6 classes, each of which have unique play styles compared to the
each other. The Fighter, Dwarf and Amazon being your close combat powerhouses;
the Wizard and Sorceress taking on the magic and support while the Elf fills in
for the long range role.
Most of the controls are similar for each character, square
for basic attack, circle for special attacks and by pointing the left analog
stick you determine which attack you will be using. This makes playing each
character simple though each play different due to their special abilities, the
Fighter with his shield to block attacks; the Dwarf being able to throw enemies
and allies; the Wizard and Sorceress using different spells depending on their
weapon etc, which means that after playing one character you can easily pick up
another and do fairly well with them.
Each of these classes become stronger as they level up and
find more powerful items and weapons, plus the skill points you get at each
level allow you to enhance not only your character’s unique skills but also
those that are common to all characters. The common skills tend to enhance your
characters attributes, whilst the unique skills unlock special abilities that
can allow you to fire off a flurry of arrows, become a tornado of flash and
steel and turn all the enemies in the area to stone.
Throughout your game, your actions and the events that happen
to you will be described through the Narrator and for anyone who has played pen
& paper games, they will instantly recognize that the narrator is designed
to make you feel like you were playing Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder or
any other fantasy RPG, coupled with the fact that you can decide what actions
and paths you take, this further reinforce the concept that you are in control
of what you do and say.
When you do get into the gameplay, after making your character you will notice that it harkens back to games like Golden Axe; Streets of Rage and Guardian Heroes as with each new area you enter you will be beset by a range of enemies and will only be able to progress by defeating them. Along the way you can unlock doors to side areas and chests for gold and loot, which you obtain by defeating the boss at the end of the level, the rewards that you get will be graded from S to E with E being the worst and S being the best.
I’m sure you will have noticed among the list of playable
characters that there isn’t rogue amongst them, so how do you unlock those
doors and get at the shiny baubles? Thankfully at the beginning of the game you
partner up with Rannie the thief, who will open up anything locked for you, but
whilst doing that he needs your protection otherwise he will be booted away by
your enemies from the chest/door and be unable to pick the lock.
He isn’t the only A.I. partner that you get, throughout the
game you will encounter the bones of fallen adventurers which you can pick up
and revive through the church in town. Once revived they can join you on your
adventures and help defeat the various foes you encounter. However, sadly the A.I.
is average at best and over time their equipment loses its durability, this
cannot be replaced forcing you to continually search for more bones to
resurrect higher level A.I. characters with better equipment. If you’re not
interested in an A.I. partner you can also bury them and give them peace, this
gives you a chance to obtain an item that they have for your own use. If it’s a
weapon or accessory, you won’t be able to repair it, but it’s possible that it’s
better than what you have already and if not you can always sell it extra gold.
Now after a while you have probably gotten used to the game
and feel fairly confident with all the mechanics, but at about halfway you are
introduced to Rune Magic- a way to create various magical effects by all
characters. This is done by using your pointer and
clicking on runes carved into the scenery and then on the rune stones in your
inventory. The carved runes are different for each area so while you may be
able to summon a fountain of gold in one area, you will only be able to make
your character invincible in another. These spells can be very powerful depending
on what you can cast, with one spell destroying all the undead in the area,
while another can send a shower of elemental magic to burn, freeze and zap your
foes.
Now eventually after completing the first nine areas and
defeating the bosses there, you will unlock the online multiplayer the next
time you go out to the gate. The added advantage of playing with humans far
outweighs A.I. companions with the added bonus that you will save a copy of
each player you come across, thereby allowing you to summon them as an A.I.
partner that has multiple bags filled with equipment. The bones that you find
around the levels also have a chance to be that of a human player who ran out
of lives and died there. Revive these and you have an A.I. partner that has
multiple bags of equipment, making them last a lot longer than your other A.I.
partners, while burying them seems to give you a better chance of obtaining
high level equipment from them.
Along with unlocking the multiplayer, a new gameplay
mechanic is introduced which is randomized dungeons. By going through the gate
you will enter a random dungeon and by completing it you are offered the chance
to continue on to another. Each time you complete a dungeon you will get a
bonus added to your money, loot grade and xp earned; so in order to get greater
rewards you will need to do multiple dungeons back to back. This would take a
lot out of your weapons so you will need to acquire extra bags to equip items in;
essentially they are a different set of items and weapons for you to use when
your current set’s durability runs low.
And those nine dungeons you have now gotten used to have all
changed, the difficulty margin has been bumped up to Normal difficulty, meaning
enemies spawn in areas they didn’t before, new types arrive and once you’ve defeated
one lot yet another come to take a bite out of you, if that wasn’t enough a B
path is added for each dungeon which leads to a completely new area, along with
a completely new boss, each of which needs to be put to the sword.
And all of these dungeons, monsters, characters etc look
gorgeous, Vanillaware have clearly spent a lot of time and work making the
artwork, which with the animation system they have that blends and morphs it to
make it move, means that it’s fantastic to see in motion. While there are a few
female character designs that do pander exclusively to the male audience, they
thankfully number in the few rather than the majority. Coupled with a great
fantasy soundtrack this game certainly invites you to dive in and enjoy the
experience and the story.
There are a number of problems with the game, some to do
with the multiplayer, others with the game design.
For starters just because you have unlocked multiplayer for
one of the characters, it doesn’t mean that you have unlocked it for the rest of
your characters. Each one will need to defeat the first nine bosses before you
can go online. Thankfully, the high level A.I. adventurers you have amassed
will make getting to the multiplayer part of the game a lot quicker, allowing
you to get into the thick of the action in only a couple of hours.
Local couch co-op is good to go from the start, however all
the characters will be associated with Player 1’s Playstation account, so you won’t
be able to load up your own characters if you go round to a friend, nor will
you be able to take them back home.
And while the multiplayer can be nice and smooth, if at any
point you connect or someone joins who has a bad connection, the game slows
down dramatically, with it freezing every 5 secs in order to synchronize all
the players. Unfortunately for those who don’t have a great internet
connection, the A.I. isn’t suited to playing dungeon after dungeon, due to the
fact that the A.I. can’t change which bag they are using during an adventure,
nor can you send them away when they become useless as such, you either have to
quit at the next point or hope they die and someone else takes their place.
And while the randomisation of the levels along with the A
and B routes, does mean you get a fair amount of replay ability it does get a
bit monotonous after a while. Higher difficulties do help by having different
enemies pop up in the areas you have already been to, but it’s not enough to
stop the game feeling like a grind after a while.
Even with these problems, this is a great game that relives
the golden age of side scroller beat-em ups. Fans of Golden Axe and Guardian
Heroes will certainly love this game and those that enjoy fighting games will
get a pleasurable experience; with the large number of dungeons and bosses to
defeat and a difficulty level that continually ramps up, all means you will
find it very difficult to put down once you pick up the controller.
Also never trust a fairy around alcohol.
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