Crimson Dragon is all the intense, mutated nonsense of a Space Harrier level, mixed with the basic fantasy pet ownership of The Never Endin...
Crimson Dragon is all the intense, mutated nonsense of a Space Harrier level, mixed with the basic fantasy pet ownership of The Never Ending Story. it’s an odd, alien tale of human survival on a planet that’s not their own, and how they learned to enslave (or bond with, depending on how you look at it) dragons. to summarize: humans colonize a planet, discover everything on it wants to kill them, then succumb to a disease that kills and cripples most, but makes a select few stronger, and lets them bond with, and ride, dragons. believe me when i confess that this is the power fantasy of a pasty, bitter child.
The missions you’ll complete take place in stunning locations, sweeping on-rails through otherworldly flora. You do have some control –moving your dragon around the confines of the screen with the left stick, and nudging the camera around with your aiming reticule on the right. Keep your eye on the radar, as there’s little more annoying than a barrage of shots hitting you from somewhere you can’t see.
Each mission is a collection of minimission chapters, ranked individually. it’s hard to get the top ranks early on, but as you level up and build a full roster of elemental types, you can take advantage of comparative strengths.
Let fly
The different weapons range in difficulty from a massive auto-firing reticule that almost takes care of itself, to a more skill-based reticule that you have to drag over the enemies to create multiple lock-ons, before firing. Delivering damage is more engaging than avoiding it – the size of your beast on the screen makes avoiding damage feel like a lottery. there’s a barrel roll on the bumpers, but the most reliable – and slightly hollow - method of avoiding bullets is to simply circle the screen, making the process of moving and firing feel like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time.
In an unexpected, and entirely unwelcome move, Crimson Dragon seems to have taken a lot of design leads from free-to-play games. You earn bonus credits by wiping out complete squads of enemies. You never feel short on credits – going back to early levels with a strong dragon is a quick way of mopping up a quick 10k. but the gems are meted out far more stingily, as rewards for tough challenges. but don’t worry! Real money can cure this shortfall.
Crimson Dragon entertains most when it’s the power fantasy it wants to be - when you’re beset, besieged and bullied by streams of incoming missiles, you feel cheated rather than challenged, and the suspicion that those difficulty spikes are designed to get you into the gem shop damages your trust in the game.