Yep, its 'obvious flame-bait thread number 567'
So, you buy a game which everyone has been raving about for a couple of months and you find you don't quite like it as much as you hoped you would.
So what do you do?
Do you take it back to GAME and return it within 10 days for a refund or annother game?
Nahhh, that would be way too sensible.
Instead you go rant about it on an internet forum in the hopes that someone else out there will actually think your opinion is worth shit.
OK, bit of background first. I've played all 3 Panzer Dragoon games before this game, and generally enjoyed them. I never thought they were stellar, and Panzer Dragoon Saga was a bit short, but on the whole I have few complaints about them.
This 'review' is based on playing through to level 8 and playing some of the mini-games in Pandora's box. After that, my interest started to wayne....
So, my initial impressions - damn good actually. The first level is wonderfully spectacular Panzer stuff, fairly remenissent of the style of the older games. The scenery whizzes by at a spectacular rate as your dragon takes you on a roller-coaster ride through a war-torn city as you blast merrily away at anything your sights will lock onto.
Rain and water effects are nicely done, and the odd bit of scenery-dodging adds a bit of variation to theproceedings.
Ahh, but you know all about that stuff already......
The problem with the game starts at level 2, or more precisely, they start at the level 2 boss where you have to boost or slow down to move arround it to find it weak spot.
The first problem is knowing wether to boost or slow down, as its not always obvious which way round your dragon is facing during these parts, so you can end up wasting precious 'movement energy' (more on that later) due to stupid mistakes.
To be honest its not that big a problem on the level 2 boss as you can see which way the ground is moving, which in turn helps you figure out the correct action. But later on, some bosses stand stock still and even rotate arround to face you, making it almost impossible to guess wether you should slow down or boost to get arround it. This results in wasted movement energy and usually costs some life as well.
So, I said I'd talk more about the 'movement energy', so now I will.
In a game which allows you to fire a gun without reloading (ever), whilst flying a dragon which never seems to need to eat or sleep or get tired of carrying you arround and blasting stuff, the movement enery bar comes as something of a knife in the side of an otherwise fairly fluid 'instant action' game.
Not only does it magnify any of the players errors while engaging bosses, it also forces you to change dragon forms more often than you really should.
Quick example of a boss fight: Change to speed wing, boost to front of boss, change to heavy wing, shoot boss. Boss starts to attack, change to speed wing, slow down and let boss past.
wash, rinse, repeat - but its aggrivating as hell.
You could (possibly) stay in normal wing form throughout - but the movement bar is so slow to recharge there is a good possibility that you will get hit before you can move out of harm's way. (BTW, I'm thinking of the level 3 boss here).
Why the movement bar was included in the first place is a mystery. Games like Starfox 64 managed perfectly well without it, and it just seems like a really nasty way for the game to rob you of life.
What's next...ahh yes, normal movement (as in up, down, left, right). Well, not too many complaints about this as it isnt that integral to the game. there are a few places where you have to dodge scenery, but they are fairly infrequent and not that annoying. There is the usual complaint that, in order to move your dragon, you have to move your sights. So dodging and shooting at the same time is out of the question. Also, your view of whats ahead tends to wander a little too much.
Dodge down an to the left and that is exactly what you will be staring at- the bottom left of the playing field - as enemy craft zoom past you, while shooting you. Grrrrr.
Again this is no big deal, but the fact that it has been done better in games like Starfox 64 is a bit aggrivating.
Next up - boss battles. Well I've already had a good old moan about them with regards to the movement bar, so I'll just say that I found them to be far too long and drawn-out for my tastes, often lasting well over 5 minutes each. Boss battles seem to be more a war of attrition than based on any huge ammount of skill.
Even the bosses 'weak spots' can take an immense hammering before it finally keels over and dies.
Rez had a similar issue with its boss battles, but at least they were interesting and varied, whereas PDO's tend to be rather monotonous.
As of yet, I have not seen a boss in PDO that compares with Rez's truly brilliant 'Running man'.
My final gripe is basically a combination of all the elements of control that PDO gives the player.
You can shoot (2 types) change form, speed up and slow down, move arround and also look in 4 directons - and you have to use all there things in order to survive.
While it sounds great for an 'on rails' shooter to give the player so much control, I found it somewhat overwhelming. For me, shooters work best when they are kept simple. You move arround, you fire and you have some smart bombs - thats it.
PDO simply gives the player a little too much to think about, so it feels like hard work trying to keep yourself alive, rather than a straightforward blast-fest that I was hoping for.
Rez succeeds in being a highly enjoyable game by stripping the control down to its basics. You lock-on and then fire - thats it. You don't move, you dont speed up or slow down and you dont have to keep changing your viewpoint. This allows the player to enjoy the game without being overwhelmed.
PDO's control is something that may grow on me over time, but I just think that if they had stripped a couple elements out (eg, the transforming and the boost, slow down), the game would have been more enjoyable.
At the end of the day, I dont think PDO is a terrible game. Its not bad enough to make me want to return it to the shop and - heck - I have every other Panzer game, might as well have them all.
The graphics are truly gorgeous, its the sort of game that the Xbox deserves to play host to, not endless PC-ports with their drab visuals and lackluster production values (yea, I'm overgeneralising - I know).
Also, the numerous extras in Pandora's box are a nice addition, the side story about the young boy joining the military serves to flesh out the PDO world and feels like it was given a little more thought than usual for a 'bonus' feature.
If I was going to give PDO a score it would probably be something like 72%.
It isn't shit. The game has a good sense of atmosphere, the scenery is wonderfull and there is a stiff challenge and engaging story there for anyone who perseveres.
But it also containd a number of elements that just bugged the hell out of me, and I also felt that the game was dragging itself out for too long, which would hamper any desire to play through it a second time.
In the end I just found it to be.......
Aggrivating!
OK, now Flame away.
So, you buy a game which everyone has been raving about for a couple of months and you find you don't quite like it as much as you hoped you would.
So what do you do?
Do you take it back to GAME and return it within 10 days for a refund or annother game?
Nahhh, that would be way too sensible.
Instead you go rant about it on an internet forum in the hopes that someone else out there will actually think your opinion is worth shit.
OK, bit of background first. I've played all 3 Panzer Dragoon games before this game, and generally enjoyed them. I never thought they were stellar, and Panzer Dragoon Saga was a bit short, but on the whole I have few complaints about them.
This 'review' is based on playing through to level 8 and playing some of the mini-games in Pandora's box. After that, my interest started to wayne....
So, my initial impressions - damn good actually. The first level is wonderfully spectacular Panzer stuff, fairly remenissent of the style of the older games. The scenery whizzes by at a spectacular rate as your dragon takes you on a roller-coaster ride through a war-torn city as you blast merrily away at anything your sights will lock onto.
Rain and water effects are nicely done, and the odd bit of scenery-dodging adds a bit of variation to theproceedings.
Ahh, but you know all about that stuff already......
The problem with the game starts at level 2, or more precisely, they start at the level 2 boss where you have to boost or slow down to move arround it to find it weak spot.
The first problem is knowing wether to boost or slow down, as its not always obvious which way round your dragon is facing during these parts, so you can end up wasting precious 'movement energy' (more on that later) due to stupid mistakes.
To be honest its not that big a problem on the level 2 boss as you can see which way the ground is moving, which in turn helps you figure out the correct action. But later on, some bosses stand stock still and even rotate arround to face you, making it almost impossible to guess wether you should slow down or boost to get arround it. This results in wasted movement energy and usually costs some life as well.
So, I said I'd talk more about the 'movement energy', so now I will.
In a game which allows you to fire a gun without reloading (ever), whilst flying a dragon which never seems to need to eat or sleep or get tired of carrying you arround and blasting stuff, the movement enery bar comes as something of a knife in the side of an otherwise fairly fluid 'instant action' game.
Not only does it magnify any of the players errors while engaging bosses, it also forces you to change dragon forms more often than you really should.
Quick example of a boss fight: Change to speed wing, boost to front of boss, change to heavy wing, shoot boss. Boss starts to attack, change to speed wing, slow down and let boss past.
wash, rinse, repeat - but its aggrivating as hell.
You could (possibly) stay in normal wing form throughout - but the movement bar is so slow to recharge there is a good possibility that you will get hit before you can move out of harm's way. (BTW, I'm thinking of the level 3 boss here).
Why the movement bar was included in the first place is a mystery. Games like Starfox 64 managed perfectly well without it, and it just seems like a really nasty way for the game to rob you of life.
What's next...ahh yes, normal movement (as in up, down, left, right). Well, not too many complaints about this as it isnt that integral to the game. there are a few places where you have to dodge scenery, but they are fairly infrequent and not that annoying. There is the usual complaint that, in order to move your dragon, you have to move your sights. So dodging and shooting at the same time is out of the question. Also, your view of whats ahead tends to wander a little too much.
Dodge down an to the left and that is exactly what you will be staring at- the bottom left of the playing field - as enemy craft zoom past you, while shooting you. Grrrrr.
Again this is no big deal, but the fact that it has been done better in games like Starfox 64 is a bit aggrivating.
Next up - boss battles. Well I've already had a good old moan about them with regards to the movement bar, so I'll just say that I found them to be far too long and drawn-out for my tastes, often lasting well over 5 minutes each. Boss battles seem to be more a war of attrition than based on any huge ammount of skill.
Even the bosses 'weak spots' can take an immense hammering before it finally keels over and dies.
Rez had a similar issue with its boss battles, but at least they were interesting and varied, whereas PDO's tend to be rather monotonous.
As of yet, I have not seen a boss in PDO that compares with Rez's truly brilliant 'Running man'.
My final gripe is basically a combination of all the elements of control that PDO gives the player.
You can shoot (2 types) change form, speed up and slow down, move arround and also look in 4 directons - and you have to use all there things in order to survive.
While it sounds great for an 'on rails' shooter to give the player so much control, I found it somewhat overwhelming. For me, shooters work best when they are kept simple. You move arround, you fire and you have some smart bombs - thats it.
PDO simply gives the player a little too much to think about, so it feels like hard work trying to keep yourself alive, rather than a straightforward blast-fest that I was hoping for.
Rez succeeds in being a highly enjoyable game by stripping the control down to its basics. You lock-on and then fire - thats it. You don't move, you dont speed up or slow down and you dont have to keep changing your viewpoint. This allows the player to enjoy the game without being overwhelmed.
PDO's control is something that may grow on me over time, but I just think that if they had stripped a couple elements out (eg, the transforming and the boost, slow down), the game would have been more enjoyable.
At the end of the day, I dont think PDO is a terrible game. Its not bad enough to make me want to return it to the shop and - heck - I have every other Panzer game, might as well have them all.
The graphics are truly gorgeous, its the sort of game that the Xbox deserves to play host to, not endless PC-ports with their drab visuals and lackluster production values (yea, I'm overgeneralising - I know).
Also, the numerous extras in Pandora's box are a nice addition, the side story about the young boy joining the military serves to flesh out the PDO world and feels like it was given a little more thought than usual for a 'bonus' feature.
If I was going to give PDO a score it would probably be something like 72%.
It isn't shit. The game has a good sense of atmosphere, the scenery is wonderfull and there is a stiff challenge and engaging story there for anyone who perseveres.
But it also containd a number of elements that just bugged the hell out of me, and I also felt that the game was dragging itself out for too long, which would hamper any desire to play through it a second time.
In the end I just found it to be.......
Aggrivating!
OK, now Flame away.
