| System: Xbox 360 |  |
| Dev: Digital Lecture | |
| Pub: Microsoft Studios | |
| Release: May 18, 2012 | |
| Players: 1 | |
| Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p | Animated Blood, Cartoon Violence, Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes |
For example, several scenes in the game are re-used and flipped, and toward the end of the game this gets incredibly frustrating. Seeing Dirk fall down the same hole five times or ride the same magical pony twice in two different directions just makes it feel like the game is stalling for time.
Playing with the command prompts turned off makes a lot of your commands feel entirely arbitrary. Sometimes Dirk has to attack the monster before him, and other times he has to dodge it—and the animation doesn't always give you cues as to which one is correct. This may have gone over well in the days when games were designed to make you hemorrhage quarters, but with so many modern games granting players infinite lives, the lack of prompts just makes the game feel cheap.
Not only that, but the game truly has no replay value. Unless you are a score junky that wants to get your initials at the top of the leaderboards, a single hour-long playthrough will expose you to all the content the game has to offer.
Still, despite all these flaws—which stem from the time period in which the game was created—Dragon's Lair is still a gem of a title, and I still find myself wanting to take up the adventures of Dirk randomly in my spare time. The game will be delightfully nostalgic to gamers of old, and should be tried by anyone who is too young to remember it. It's an important part of gaming history, one that will make a fine addition to your Xbox LIVE Arcade game collection.
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By Angelo M. D'Argenio Contributing Writer Date: May 22, 2012 |
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