Product Description
Princess Daphne has been kidnapped by the evil dragon, Singe, and hidden in a medieval castle owned my Mordroc, a powerful and malevolent wizard. To save her, you will take on the role of Dirk the Daring, a goofy but courageous knight. As he advances through the castle with the help of a magical amulet, Dirk must overcome a slew of challenges, from jumping over flaming pits and climbing ropes to flying across chasms and battling swarms of the wizard’s minions. Use q… More >>
Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair
I received this game for Christmas and almost returned it after I read the many bad reviews of it. I’m glad I kept it. It’s really fun and I’ve had no problems with the camera as some others have reported.
Yes it will be more fun to those who remember playing the original in the arcade. It will also be more fun to those with HDTV’s.
The puzzles and obsticles are just right, not too hard and not too easy. But I’m the kind who like to walk through games without being stuck for days on a certain part. The puzzles and levels are also different enough to keep the game from being boring.
I’d recommend the game.
Rating: 4 / 5
“Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair” revives the 1980s coin-op phenomenon with mixed results. Again, you take on the guise of Dirk the Daring, a long-limbed klutz of a knight, who is seeking his love interest, the flaky Princess Daphne, who was abducted by the evil wizard Mordroc and his greedy dragon. If you’re not familiar with the setup, it probably sounds pretty underwhelming, but the characters, sometimes even the environments themselves, exude such personality that the basic premise is rendered moot. It is a rare occurance to find a game this atmospheric complete with a protagonist as memorable as Dirk. You see, Dirk is daring, but only because he lacks the intelligence to surrender to the odds. He thinks he is a far more capable hero than he truly is, and all of this is conveyed with a complete lack of speech. Excellent.
If you’re an avid fan of the original game, and you have yet to play “Dragon’s Lair,” then you had best remedy that at once, since this game is designed with you in mind. Despite the fact that newcomers can pick this one up and run through it without a hitch, those players will probably not find as much to like as old-school “Dragon’s Lair” aficionados. After all, “Return to the Lair” recreates many of the previous game’s set-pieces, environments, traps, and foes in glorious 3-D. The cell-shaded graphics do a marvelous job of mimicking traditional animation, and are a sight to behold. Production values are all top of the line, though – that includes an awesome score and some resounding sound effects as well.
Controlling Dirk is easy enough with a little practice, as the scheme is sharp and intuitive. He will have to brave some truly inspired environments on his quest to rescue the princess, but as the game progresses they do begin to feel just a bit too similar to one another. Still, you do get the sense that you are invading some devious wizard’s castle, and that’s really the idea. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself can also be repetitive. You will guide your bumbling avatar through rooms complete with traps and a few foes, and at the end of each room you will find… well, another room with traps and a few foes. Combat is not particularly engaging, despite some excellent animations, and there’s a lot of fighting to be done. Occasionally you’ll face a boss impeding your progress, but defeating them just requires you to remember a set pattern of attack and defense, and these encounters are more tedious than exciting.
In the end, “Dragon’s Lair” may be flawed, but it’s strangely addictive, and very endearing. In gameplay terms, it is a little bit like playing through a bedtime fairy story. Naturally, that won’t appeal to every one, but I myself found enough enjoyment to complete the experience mostly satisfied with the journey.
Final Score: C+ (or four stars on a curve)
Rating: 4 / 5
Boy, I remember back in the old days how much fun games were. And standing out above the crowd was DL. It was fun to play and astounding to watch. Now comes this thing. First, it looks ok. It’s not as pretty as they want you to think and when Dirk jumps, it looks like he’s been pasted on, but it’s all right. Gameplay is extremely lacking. Dude walks like he’s in quicksand so you have to run everywhere. The enemy lock-on is ok, but the camera often spins around so a wall pops up to block your view. But the worst part of all is this: it’s boring. Run, lock-on, swing sword, repeat. Gee, exciting. I rented it, played it for an hour, and took it back. Think fondly of the old one and leave this one on the shelf.
Rating: 1 / 5
Ok first of all i have to say this, the graphics for this game are amazing. I hear about thisgame being the first hdtv game. I went out to blockbuster and rented it. You need a special ac adapter for the xbox so u can play games in hdtv and i had not gotten it yet. So i decided to play the game until i went out to buy it the next day. Next to halo this is my favrotite game. It has exellent graphics good sound efect and its a really enjoyable game. But hdtv owner will really see what this game can do when i installed tha adapter and played the game. The graphic changes were amazing. This is a must for hdtv xbox owners. It shows what the xbox system can truly do.
Rating: 5 / 5
At last, Dragon’s Lair can be played as it always should have been – in real-time 3D! I am glad to see this ground-breaking classic back and in good form. The look of the game is nearly the same as the original, but now you have complete control of your character. The developers have added some additional villainous creatures, but you still have the time-honored foes (Fire Drakes, Giddy Goons, Singe the Dragon). The game in its present state has 15 levels and over 250 “chambers” loaded with traps, puzzles, and secrets.
The cel-shaded animation is smooth and looks simply awesome. (It even supports HDTV 1080i, for those lucky enough to be able to take advantage of this!). The music and sound is great, and you can expect hours of gameplay. The only downside of this new Dragon’s Lair is exactly that of the original – limited replay value. But it provides a wonderful bit of nostalgia for us older folks, and the younger kids should get plenty of play out of the game.
Rating: 4 / 5