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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."
This reviewer also panned Unreal Tournament.
FWIW.
"The human body's design spec is: A spacesuit for a fish." -Ken MacLeod's 'The Cassini Division'
Marc Saltzman isn't just a CNN croney, he writes for numerous newspapers (Globe Technology, Toronto Star), writes reviews for Electronic Playground TV Show, written game Design / Review books, and much more. Perhaps you should look beyond the CNN and see who the true author of the article is, you'd be surprised at the content that AOL has on their site and software even though it's branded AOL. Same is true with CNN.
Ubi sucks. They butchered Pools of Radiance 2, and they've apparently butchered Dragons Lair 2 also.
I havent bought an Ubi game since PoR, nor do I plan on ever buying another Ubi game again. Ubi is #1 on my personal shit list of game producing companies.
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
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.
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Nope. I know at least Sega's Virtua Fighter is also on display. Here's from Sega's website:
The Virtua Fighter series has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institute for its contributions in the field of Art and Entertainment, and is on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.
Here's a link to the source: http://www.sega.com/segascream/legacy/historyofvf
-- Kircle
Don Bluth's lifetime of work is some of my favorite stuff and it hurts a little every time I see one of his newer efforts flop. I've not played Dragon Lair 3D myself but general concensis among my friends seems to be on par with this review.
He and Gary Goldsmith's last theatrical animated feature, Titan A.E., also did less than expected at the box office. With such classics under his belt like "Robin Hood", "The Rescuers" (Bluth was a lead animator at Disney early in his career), "The Secret of N.I.M.H." and "An American Tail", here's hoping that he keeps the ball rolling and isn't discouraged.
His website can be reached at http://www.donbluth.com/
Yeah, I have the DVD version, it's just like the original, 'ecpt you don't waste soo many quarters.
They cleaned up the original graphics, and tossed on a bunch of old video interviews of the developers taken back when Dragon's Lair ruled the arcade.
While the original Dragon's Lair was a ground-breaking game, it sure had it's problems. The animation was very cool, and at the time it was head and shoulders above the blocky, aliased, 256 color look of anything else in the arcade. But the twitchy game play was pretty flawed.
The new game recreates those same strengths and weaknesses. The cell-shading looks great, and it really captures the look of the original. The animated look is really done right, and looks pretty fresh. But the game play can be at best uninspired to downright bad.
For example, on one level, you walk into a room with three exit doors. The floor starts to crumble. Only one of the doors works, and if you don't choose it right away, you will fall through the floor to your death. In the original, there were a lot of this type of puzzle. The correct door would flash white and you'd have a split second to move the joystick in that direction. In the 3D version, there are no visual cues. You have to use trial and error. Fortunately, you are not paying a quarter for 3 chances to find which is the right door. This kind of challenge captures what is worst about the original.
When DL3D is not following the dreadful control scheme of the original, it provides mediocre puzzles by todays standards. The one big technical distinction this game has, namely that it is the only game out to have HDTV output, is countered by the fact that the framerate can crawl in HDTV mode.
This game is very much like the original. It looks great, it's technically innovative, and it is deeply flawed.
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.