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Dragon's Lair 3D Not Worth The Effort
Anonymous Coward writes "While not the best source for gaming information, CNNs Technology section has a review of Ubi Softs Dragon's Lair 3D. Long story short, according to the writer Marc Saltzman, the game isn't worth it. In fact, the opening paragraph says, 'The only thing worse than a lousy video game is when it taints a well-respected, 20-year-old franchise.' One interesting tidbit from the article, the original Dragon's Lair is one of only three video games on display at the Smithsonian. The other two games being Pac-Man and Pong."
My first name is Dirk, so does this mean I'm going to go through ANOTHER round of meeting people for the first time and having them say, "oh, like Dirk the Daring?" Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad for this latest version to flop.
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In fact my hand still involuntarily twitches in the direction of white flashing lights.
Unfortunately, trying to control Dirk is a game in itself. And not a fun one.
Sounds like they've reproduced the all the 'magic' of the original, if you ask me.
While some would argue that any of those isometric-view or 3D Pac Man games from the late eighties and early nineties (Pac Man World, anyone?) "tainted" the original, I'd say even more would just go "huh? Never heard of 'em."
Did Frogger 3D "taint" the original Frogger? IMO, no, it's just pretty much been forgotten. Even better yet, what about Centipede 3D?
Dragon's Lair 3D might be a total waste of time and money for anyone developing or playing it, but that doesn't mean that it detracts from the original (which was pretty much as close to a video game version of "simon says" as you could get, of course. But, ooh, it's on a laserdisc! Eh, whatever...)
Possibly even less interactive, and for God's sake, how much Don Bluth animation can our ecosystem possibly SUSTAIN? I may never stop throwing up. . .(/rant)
So, I bet I wouldn't have liked it anyway. :)
You are not the customer.
Dragon's Lair Neagativity Assailed
Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- The US conspiracy in criticizing 'Dragon's Lair 3D' clearly proves that the U.S. is making absurd pretexts for overtaking DPRK fun with nuclear force, if necessary. It is all the more ridiculous when beloved Dirk the Daring is used by US war-mongers to enhance negative feelings among the the world's gamers.
The US remains committed to "secret" plans to topple the DPRK and criticism of fun-loving video games is just but one transparent ploy in the war-mongers game of double-standards.
The US should "pull out" all troops from South Korea and engage in proper dialogue. Until the US video mongers offer DPRK a non-aggression treaty signed by all congress members, the so-called "nuclear issue" of "Dirk the Daring" will not be settled.
Anecdote about Kim Jong IlPyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- In 1988, General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited a factory where people were very cold and had little food. He saw that there were no video games and suggested that fifteen minutes of proper video gaming would strengthen deeply cherished feelings and love of the country.
Seeing no video games available, however, General Secretary Kim Jong Il stayed up for two straight nights in order to give his beloved workers proper fun. Finally, General Secretary Kim Jong Il called upon his Libyan friends to deliver three cases of counterfeit Mickey Mouse cups for the workers. Seeing the cups, the workers were very pleased and held a toast with empty cups to their dear leader with their new cups. General Secretary Kim Jong Il hoped that although the cups weren't video game they would understand the spirit of the video games and to be entertained and enlightened nonetheless.
Yeah, the game _looked_ cool, but it played like a "rat touches button, gets shocked" experiment.
My experience with dragon's lair:
life 1:
2 seconds: dirk walking towards a castle.
2 seconds: pause.
2 seconds: dead dirk with skulls
life 2:
2 seconds: dirk crossing a bridge
2 seconds: pause.
2 seconds: dead dirk with skulls
life 3:
2 seconds: dirk sees some gold.
2 seconds: pause.
??
2 seconds: profit.
I was really impressed by that game. It was one of the few games from the 80s that really captured my attention (and money). Ah, the memories.
What I *can't* understand is why they chose Pac-Man for the Smithsonian... why not Ms. Pac Man? I think it was a better game, personally. And it is the #1 collectible arcade machine in the world.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
Tomorrow Slashdot will have an article stating that Zelda II is not as good as Zelda I.
In the small Putt-Putt arcade where I would frequent in the evenings of college, all my friends were totally into the fighting games. Mortal Kombat, Tekken, King of Fighters.. they played and mastered them all. Yet, I totally sucked at fighting games and couldn't remember the special moves to save my life.
So, when they were all pumping tokens into Street Fighter Turbo II GX Ultra I was pumping them into Dragons Lair 2. Sure, I knew it was just a fancy game of memory but I loved the Don Bluth visuals. After several months of pumping what must have been an ungodly amount of money into that machine, I had gotten so good that I could beat the game all the way through on a single token. Fifteen minutes of gaming on just 25 cents.
Then I took it a step further got good enough to beat it on a single token AND getting all the extra items. When that wasn't enough, I eventually had the entire game so memorized I could beat the whole thing on one token, getting all the extra items, never loosing a single life _AAAAND_ using only one hand. People would often come up to watch me play, their jaws gaping at how easy I made it look.
The best part was finishing the game on a single token and then watching as the next guy stepped up to try. They would always just start pounding on the stick like a frustrated ape.
It's been years since I played my beloved Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp but I sometimes wonder just how far I'd be able to get today.
Dont trust reviews. Think for yourself.
But that takes money, and, you know....effort.
Don't be so cynical. Wing Commander 2 will be in theaters soon... THEN we'll see who's laughing!
~D:
I was in my early teens when the original Dragon's Lair came out, and I remember after playing it once I came away unimpressed. Sure, it was cool to have a "cartoony" game at the time, but (IMO) the playability was awful.
;)
Hard to believe that a polygon-based game -- which you would think would be more responsive than a timing-based "choose your own adventure" type of video -- actually would be worse.
Maybe the developers needed to put more buxom female characters in the game. It seems to work for Eidos.