Rise of the Dragon

The Good
In the late Eighties, a small company called Dynamix created Project Firestart, an action/adventure game for the Commodore 64. It had features that were uncommon at the time, including cinematic sequences, video images, and action sequences. All three of these game mechanics formed the basis for Rise of the Dragon, their first MS-DOS adventure game.

Anyone who have seen Blade Runner will know that Dragon shares many similarities with the movie, in both story and style. The only difference is that we are investigating what happened to the mayor's daughter, not tracking down Replicants who pose a threat to society. Maybe it is also a coincidence that your character is also named Blade, and that the game is set in Los Angeles?

The games makes use of an internal clock, which updates every five seconds and is on the top-right of the screen, above your inventory. Like in real life, events happen at certain times. The inventory also has a clock, but with buttons that let you go forward a minute or a whole hour. Having these forward buttons is ideal for skipping time because you spend most of the time doing nothing until near the end of the game. Dragon is the only Dynamix adventure game where a clock is visible on-screen as you interact with the environment.

The graphics are quite impressive. All of the environments look as if they are taken right out of a comic book. The only difference is the animations in most of the environment, some of them, particularly the outdoor environments, blend in with the game's setting (ie: it is always dark and gloomy, no matter where you go or what time of day it is). Beautiful cinematic sequences are scattered throughout the game, and tell the player that something really big is happening. The game's introduction – where we discover what happened to the Mayor's daughter – is superb. Dragon comes complete with a comic book that continues where the introduction left off, where the mayor comes into Blade's apartment instead of contacting him on vidphone.

The realism the developers added to the game is amazing. Nearly everyone you meet remembers what you did to them. There are dialogue branches, and saying the wrong things to your contacts will result in them getting angry, which will jeoparize your chances of getting new leads. Character portraits often accompany the dialogue, and they are complete with facial expressions that reflect the mood they are in.

The music and the sound effects are great, often blending in with what is happening on screen. The game supports popular sound cards at the time, including the Adlib, SoundBlaster, and Roland MT-32. The introduction even contains digitized speech that can only be heard if you are playing with SB. In my opinion, the game's speech is nothing compared to what you hear in the Sega CD version, which does include full speech throughout the game as well.

There are arcade sequences scattered throughout the game, and these are similar to the action scenes in Project Firestart, released one year earlier. These arcade sequences are fun, but the controls need to be getting used to. They also work just like any arcade game – you shoot, jump over things, walk under things, turn off switches, and other stuff. They usually take about two minutes to get through, and it is worth it if you want to see yourself defeat your adversary. If these arcade sequences are too hard, then the game will eventually let you skip them and move on. Dragon gives you the opportunity to save your game before each arcade sequence, and this is ideal if you want a break from all that adventuring and just want to kill some bad guys.

The game can be replayed, especially if you want to take different dialogue branches to achieve the same result. For example, you can cheer your girlfriend Karyn up by giving her some flowers in one game to get a set of keys. Then, in your next game, you can make her angry and still get your keys. Let's say you skip those arcade sequences in one game, but you want to complete them in the next. There are also those alternate paths you need to consider to achieve what you need to do.

The Bad
As I said, you spend a lot of time doing nothing in the game, and the developers could have added more stuff for you to do. Why not do extra stuff at the warehouse instead of just blowing it up, or doing more stuff at other locations?

The Bottom Line
If you played Project Firestart or watched Blade Runner, then you know that the roots of Rise of the Dragon can be traced back to these two titles. With great comic book graphics and excellent sound that blend in with the game's atmosphere, Dragon is sure to please any cyberpunk fan out there. It's worth getting a copy of this game from eBay or other retailer, since it includes a comic book that sets the scene up quite nicely. Out of all the three adventure games Dynamix created, Dragon still remains one of my favorites to this day.

The Good
Rise of the Dragon features a cool science fiction story line that mixes in elements seen with such 1980's films as Blade Runner and Big Trouble in Little China. If you love graphic adventure gaming, set in a dark cyberpunk world, this will be a most enjoyable Sega CD game.

The Bad
First off all, for some reason, certain sexual themes from the computer game did not make it in the Sega CD version. One of the exotic dancers in the bar has been removed and the other one has been toned down. You cannot speak with the punk in the bar and the French kiss and suggested sex scene have been eliminated. It seems odd that such modifications took place, given that the game was rated MA-17. Second, the Sega CD hardware was not up to par with DOS IBM computers of the day, so the graphics looked slightly washed out, with a Matrix-like green tint. Last, but not least, you cannot avoid the few arcade sequences in the game.

The Bottom Line
Rise of the Dragon was one of the few graphic adventure games released for the Sega CD and fans of the genre, especially if they are unfamiliar with the DOS version, should enjoy it. The addition of voice actors greatly adds to the game, but the censorship is simply inexcusable for a game given a MA-17 rating, especially when everything else -- content wise -- from the DOS game seems to be uncensored.

The Good
I liked the plot for the most part. The game seemed very short, but I think the interaction between Blade and Karyn was rather well done. It had already been established that they had a prior relationship, and I liked the fact that making up to her was crucial to the game--Blade couldn't solve the mystery without her. Conversations in this game could be difficult--you had to pick the right responses in order to get the info you needed--I think this is a trademark Dynamix style, because most of the games I've played of theirs seem to require that you pick the right conversation path. The puzzles could be difficult sometimes. The graphics in this game are very nice--they look very gritty. Even though it's a 2D style it's very well done. I'm not picky about graphics, I just like to be able to see what I'm looking at. This game is also done in what reminds me of a comic book format--some cut scenes are actually composed of still shots with text instead of an actual animated sequence. My original copy of this game came with a "comic book", so I think that was intentional.

The Bad
I truly disliked the arcade sequence. My understanding of it is that you did have to play the arcade sequence in order to get the closing still shots. I didn't play the arcade sequence at all and got nothing but a black screen at the end. I'm not good at arcade sequences, which is why I play adventure games in the first place. The good thing about Dynamix is the fact that you can at least skip the arcades, but in this case apparently it was detrimental. Some of the puzzles were obscure.

The Bottom Line
Set sometime in a dark future, you play Blade Hunter as he attempts to solve the murder of a politician's daughter. Gather clues and enlist the aid of your allies as you search for her murderer.