Microsoft hopes to revive the on-rails dragon-riding Panzer Dragoon series under a new name in Crimson Dragon. Fans of the on-rails shooter genre have had little to celebrate, despite the Xbox brand’s history of support in favorites like Rez HD on Xbox 360 and Panzer Dragoon Orta on the original Xbox.
Can Crimson Dragon complete its mission, revive the genre, and bring the thrill of dragon flight to the next-gen Xbox One?
One thing is for certain, it won’t win any awards for its plot. Crimson Dragon is little more than an excuse to whip you around on a flying beast’s back, and the narrative back drop for these mechanics serves just that. On the planet Draco, a virus named Crimsonscale kills off humans and enrages organic life, but you take on the role of a Seeker, immune to the virus and one capable of fighting back and discovering the source of the epidemic. It’s a contrived, baseless hook, but so long as it gets me on a dragon flying fast and shooting faster, I couldn’t care less.
Crimson Dragon is one of Xbox One’s earliest downloadable games and the reduced price makes it easy to write off cheesy dialog or a threadbare plot. It also means the niche nature counts in the game’s favor. You really won’t find anything else like Crimson Dragon in the Xbox One launch lineup, certainly not with the excess of shooters, racers, and sports games. Light RPG elements help shine light on this unique launch experience.
From level to level, you complete phases that continue to grow in difficulty and variety. Common enemies will be mixed in with more powerful ones, varied waves will attack in force, and a boss battle might appear as well. If you perform well you’ll be rewarded with valuable items, increased credits, and a better overall score. Those credits can be used to unlock more dragons, helpful wingmen, unlocking levels, and even obtaining an extra life after a nasty defeat. You can also level up a variety of dragon-whips, no ghost-riding allowed, but the success for each of these mechanics varies.
Unlocking new dragons and taking them for a spin can only make levels feels so different and some introduced upgrades like the AI-controlled wingmen feel like they don’t make a dragon’s lick of difference. Why bother including these ancillary riders if they don’t make a level any easier? The single-use attack your co-operative buddies offer hits every enemy at once and recharges your health, but due to the cost it might be better to buy a more powerful dragon.
While I really like the Panzer Dragoon style of gameplay, Crimson Dragon can give your eyes a wicked sense of whiplash. Some level paths are so chaotic it can be hard to keep up, but for fans of the genre it’ll feel like par for the course. Combine these twisting, camera contorting flight paths with some truly challenging enemies even on lower difficulties and you might have Xbox One’s most hardcore game at launch, but for anyone else it could be too frustrating to finish.
The developers of Crimson Dragon have already made changes to their game in response to critics, but much of the experience’s problems are rooted in the genre and mechanics. It’s for that reason that Crimson Dragon splits the difference between a cheaply produced spinoff and a new extension on rail-shooting bliss.
Daniel Bischoff is a contributor for CraveOnline. You can also find him on GameRevolution.com and follow him on Twitter @Game_Revolution.
Review copy provided by publisher. Game is exclusive to Xbox One.
