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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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Althought I got stuck pretty far in to the game, I think DL3D is an excellent game keeping true to the original Dragon's Lair.
DL 3D gives the full range of motion the original Dragon's Lair always lacked. D3 3D also keeps up the cartoonyness and originality from the original.
It's definately worth checking out in my opinion. But as the CNN review's opinion differs, it only proves that everyone has their own opinion...
Why is this on Slashdot now? That game has been out a while. I messed with it on XBox. It's the only title that does 1080i HD. The game itself was terrible...though my Dragon's Lair fan friend liked it.
Not even worth an article.....
Shall we define well respected? Dragon's Lair was never a good game, just memorable since it used full animated cartoons and had a story in a time in which no one questioned why the yellow circle eating dots. Dragon's Lair 3D didn't do anything to the legacy in my opinion.
Schnapple
In fact my hand still involuntarily twitches in the direction of white flashing lights.
Game reviews are so subjective I don't know why anyone would put any stock in them.
I could write up a review of the latest version of nethack describing how intense it is and how it sucks you right into the game and eats up hours of your life which would be a bunch of blather to someone who only enjoys FP shooters. Of course that's an exageration to prove my point but you get the idea.
All the best,
--Bob
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'
The game is a sequel. It suffers the same problems that most sequels suffer. What made the original popular was it's originality. Sequels suck because they try to leech off from the originality of the original.
That said. How the hell does one game make a 20 year franchise? Did Dragon's Lair spawn several sequels? If not, then it's a 20 year late sequel.
Real franchises spawn fun sequels...
Black and grey are both shades of white.
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...)
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/
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.
Mainly because my 3 yr old digs it so much. Lets play Dragons Lair. Lets play Dragons Lair. The kid tells his mom, "You're Daphne, I'm Dirk" and he proceeds to rescue here from me.
I think the game surpasses the original, (given proper allowances for what years they were both created.) Dragons Lair 3D allows Dirk freedom of movement, he can go anywhere basically, jumping, rolling, crouching, sneaking, climbing, swinging his sword, running etc. I find the idea much more enjoyable than a "go left, right left left up left right left to survive" type game.
The graphics arent up with the latest "Unreal 2" type lighting, etc. but who cares. They are 3D accelerated and the textures look good and Dirk himself and the cartoony characters look great.
The frustrating aspect of the game is the level bosses, sometimes they are so hard to figure out that you pretty much "throw down the mouse" and say "screw it, I'm not going to try for a 500th time today to beat the smithey" (HOW do you beat the Smithey?)
Dirk gets cool "essences" along the way from various level bosses, dragon wings to help him fly, spirit to keep him alive, eyes to let him see secret doors.
Overall, I give it an "A", with a "B-" for the level bosses and having to determine each of their secret formulas for whippin their butts.
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.
How does one bad review for a game constitute a statement like "Not Worth The Effort"?
Here's a tip: Try looking at more than one review before you bash something in such a high profile forum.
In the future, try looking up a game's rating on MetaCritic. Have a look and you'll see that altough not everyone liked it, it wasn't universally panned either.
The Slashdot editors need to wake up to the fact that Slashdot holds sway over many a mind. This influence should not be taken lightly.
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.
Don't be so cynical. Wing Commander 2 will be in theaters soon... THEN we'll see who's laughing!
~D: