dragon drive, who's played it

[Strider]

Oh dear, what's happened here then?
This has to be one of the worst games I've played for ages. for a start it looks like Panzer Dragoon on the N64. Your dragon bumps off buildings whenever it hits them and every time you use your special weapons the game shudders to a halt.
Oh, and one of the cube guys killed every single boss by simple holding the l trigger and pressing fire. Saying that though, I'm sure some hard core treasure/anime fans are going to say it really good

[Zeelich]

I was hoping for Sin&Punishment with dragons.

[rjpageuk]

Here are some more impressions:

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/showthread.php?t=21983&page=2

Both the IGN impressions and Valgars impressions are there (scroll down a bit).

Valgar is probably the biggest Treasure fan I know (and owned every game they have ever been involved in) and even his comments are tinged with disapointment:

So..I just beat the game. Let me first say that I went into this game, expecting nothing. In-fact, I just prayed that I wouldn't have to go through something like that HORRIBLE Silpheed game. Trying to beat that game, is like trying to stab yourself in the eye.

First thing I noticed is that the package is much fatter than other JP GC games (btw - JP GC cases are so god damn awesome it makes me cry) because it has an exclusive anime disc in it.

The game is about 15-20 stages long, it took me about seven hours (estimate) to beat it. Tons and tons of Cut-scenes with characters and anime litter the game. The presentation is real nice, I had no clue what the HELL was going on the entire time though.

I mean, there was this one...monster thing (seriously, it was running on the ground a lot, and I was always thinking "WTF is that, DIE! " ). Ends up in the end Anime you see that this "Monster" is carrying the main characters girl (hot japanese school girl) around. (I'm not sleepy, but I thought this face was perfect)

Anyway, I think the gameplay is real solid. The Rail-shooter levels arn't bad. When you have played Sin and Punishment though, everything else that tries to be a rail-shooter just ****en blows (Yes, that includes Panzer Dragoon).

My favorite was the 3D roaming, the controls feel real great (the dashing is very nice). Battles with other dragons are real fun. One battle you have to fight 1v2 against a FIRE and ICE dragon. You can morph your dragon into a faster/weaker, stronger/slower, giving you new powers.

When you beat the game it saves your data and then I belive you go onto a harder difficulty with your current level. I also unlocked some stuff, as to what I unlocked? I will never know. Each level has a ranking as well, for hardcore players.

Graphics..I don't see any of this pop-up or blury textures (but lets be serious here, what the hell ISN'T blury on the Gamecube?). Really, it's just that the graphics arn't very good. Most dragon models are dissapointing, some enemies are just...best left not talked about, and the levels arn't anything to brag about.

Overall, I never had the feeling like I needed to stop and bash my head against the nearest wall. It was definatly a solid fun game and I'm sure I'll go through it again.

[Treble]

Graphics..I don't see any of this pop-up or blury textures (but lets be serious here, what the hell ISN'T blury on the Gamecube?).

Is he joking here? The GC has a far sharper output in RGB than either the PS2 or the Xbox. I have to assume he's talking about composite. Either that, or he's very much mistaken.

[Saurian]

Graphics..I don't see any of this pop-up or blury textures (but lets be serious here, what the hell ISN'T blury on the Gamecube?).

Is he joking here? The GC has a far sharper output in RGB than either the PS2 or the Xbox. I have to assume he's talking about composite. Either that, or he's very much mistaken.

I laughed at that - he obviousy doesnt know about decent video connection. The Gamecube RGB output is superb and VERY sharp no matter how far you turn the gain up, compared to the PS2 and Xbox it's far superior - F-Zero through modded RGB and VGA is gorgeous!

[rjpageuk]

I wondered about that too, but he had this to add:

Well I've found my eyes to bleed profusely when playing Zelda or Mario. The blury levels in Ikaruga are an insult(playing in Progressive Scan here) and really most games hurt my eyes.

I think he just spent too much time playing his DC through VGA .

Incidentally this guy is the same Valgar who is currently sitting 2nd overall in the worldwide Ikaruga rankings!

[Saurian]

Incidentally this guy is the same Valgar who is currently sitting 2nd overall in the worldwide Ikaruga rankings!

Deep brer!

Sounds like he needs to give his eyes a rest tho!

[War Crimes Tribunal]

Shame.

Still, it's another reason for the usual retards to slag Treasure off!!!111LOL ROGTF etc.

[dataDave]

He's wrong when it comes to the 'blurriness' of the Cube. What is he on?

Either that or his TV sucketh.

[rjpageuk]

Please before anyone else posts about the cubes bluriness: he is probably just used to playing through VGA on the DC.

Maybe we could comment on some of the other real impressions or something?

[tankplanker]

is it really as bad as it sounds? I really wanted this to be good

[mattSix]

Here are some more impressions:

You can morph your dragon into a faster/weaker, stronger/slower, giving you new powers.

When you beat the game it saves your data and then I belive you go onto a harder difficulty with your current level.

Each level has a ranking as well, for hardcore players.

these are encouraging - but i'm not sure it's enough for me to justify an import.

*wonders if star soldier is his next shump fix?*

thanks for posting this.

[bowser123]

So has anybody played this yet then?
It sounds promising on paper but I'd appreciate a little more info before any purchase is made.

[Strider]

So has anybody played this yet then?
It sounds promising on paper but I'd appreciate a little more info before any purchase is made.

Did you not read my original post?

This game is pure dross and not a patch on Treasure's usual efforts

[Max M]

Oh dear. Wario World and Stretch Panic were nothing special either. Treasure needs to get to work on a new 2D shoot-em-up. 8)

Apparently this game started off as a PS1 title by the way. Maybe that's why the graphics look odd. I don't understand the blurry thing either, one thing I love about the Cube's visuals is they have that smooth and sharp "arcade" look, like the Dreamcast did.