Summary
The future doesn't look good for LA
The Good
Rise of the Dragon is set in the grimy future of Los Angeles. It is the year 2053. Dirty rubbish litter the city. Crime is at an all-time high. You can't walk the streets without seeing a bum leaning against a wall, asking people for money every time they pass them. People with a sex drive often go down at the Pleasure Dome looking to satisfy their needs. Women who can't get a decent job in the city get employed as strippers or work as prostitutes. And house prices are out of control that most LA citizens are forced to live in run-down apartments.
The good thing about living in 2053 is that advanced technology was introduced. - technology such as VidPhones, personal ID cards that allow you access to your own apartment, and Em-Ways, a travel system where you select your destination and the next available train will be stopped and you are placed on it. Hovercars are used if people don't give a damn about traveling on trains. If only we had this kind of technology in these early years.
Outside the Pleasure Dome one night, a young girl called Chandra Vincenzi has the time of her life. She never hesitates to experiment with new things that she hasn't even heard of before. She experimented before and no harm was done to her system. But one night, she gets more than she bargains for when she buys a drug patch (another technological advancement) from someone she calls “Lu”. She places it on her skin and makes out with a stranger that happens to pass her. Shortly, she mutates into a monster and dies. Sadly, Chandra's death is not the only case. Several kids around the area have been reported horribly disfigured by the drug. The mayor, who happens to be Chandra's father, contacts former police officer, William “Blade” Hunter, to investigate these strange deaths. He tells him not to go to the press because of the serious of the investigation. What he not tells him is that his previously unorthodox police tactics suits him for the job.
The first thing that I noticed in the game are the hand-painted backgrounds. They give you a good feel of what you can expect when it comes to exploring other locations in the game. For instance, you start the game in Blade's apartment. It is dirty, with rubbish thrown onto the floor and dirty water coming out of the faucet. You will go into other dirty apartments like Blade's throughout the game. The Em-Way, where you do all your traveling, shows you the kind of scum that hang around in subways. The dialog boxes that the game uses for conversations consist of gray-and-white gradients for the borders, and black areas for the dialog itself. I like that combination.
During your investigation, you interact with characters – some good, some evil. The two people that you consistently need to be in contact with is Karyn, your girlfriend who you need help from if you want to succeed, and “The Jake”, your informant who tells you what is happen in the investigation.
Rise of the Dragon is time-based. Depending on what you do and how to do it, a series of events will occur at a specific time. Also, this works as in real-life. In the game, businesses will close after 5 p.m. And it takes up a lot of time traveling at long distances.
Dragon focuses on real-life scenarios. Almost each character remembers what you did and said, and how you treated them in the past. If you cheat on Karyn or have stood her up, then your relationship with her is over. She will never speak to you again, ruining your chances at your investigation. If you speak to “The Jake” in a rude manner, then he tells you to get lost, and does not give you the information you need. It is quite interesting to see how the people react when you are rude and abusive and say the wrong thing to them Finally, if you foil somebody's plans, expect them to get revenge on you.
The music reflects the type of environment that you are in, and it blends in well to what you are doing. The music that is played can tell you whether you are in a safe or dangerous place, and you should proceed with caution. The puzzles range from easy to slightly hard, and have you, for example, tapping into someone's VidPhone lines, finding the difficult way to enter the enemy's headquarters, and overcoming the heavy security once you get in.
In
Dragon, there are multiple paths that you can take in the game. I always like the idea of alternate paths, since you have the opportunity to explore other locations and pick up on dialog different than the default ones.
There are a couple of arcade sequences which are fun, and have you defeating two of the most dangerous men. This involve you killing security guards using whatever weapon that the game lets you use. You jump over pits and duck under hazards. More often than not, timing plays an important role and you may be killed if your timing is incorrect. If you die about five times in an arcade sequence, you can just skip to the end. Unfortunately, if you decide to do this, you won't get face-to-face with the enemy.
The Bad
The pumping soundtrack that plays during the start credits is missing. The soundtrack is included in the Amiga version, and it draws you into the game.
There are five days to complete your investigation. If you spend half your day following up leads, you basically end up wasting half the day waiting for the next day to arrive or the next event to occur. A minor problem with the time is that you waste only a minute going between scenes (it doesn't work in real life) and although there are multiple paths in the game, doing it differently may cost you some time.
The Bottom Line
Rise of the Dragon is the first adventure game from
Dynamix, and it is excellent. The game takes place in Los Angeles, 2053, where a mysterious drug that is all the rage is killing kids one-by-one. You, as Blade Hunter, must find out what's causing them to die in such a horrible way, and find the person responsible for creating the drug. The game has great graphics and sound effects, and the arcade sequences and the multiple paths you can take make
Dragon replayable. It would have been good if the game was released on CD-ROM. Besides voice support, we would get to watch an extended introduction rather than the crappy two-minute one. Oh, wait... There is a CD version, but that was only released for the failed Sega CD console. What a pity.
