Double Dragon Trilogy

Not only is the installation of the GOG Galaxy Client not optional as mentioned by djdarko, what bothers me is that multi-player is disabled unless you log in. Failure to launch the game with the GOG Galaxy Client, failure to have an internet connection, or failure to log into your GOG account, will disable in-game multi-player. Having to use the galaxy launcher itself doesn't bother me personally, but requiring it to call home and forcing me to log in definitely does. The entire point I purchased this game was for some good old LAN time fun.

Against the judgment of the other reviewers, I've decided to give this a go. I really wanted to like it, but I can't recommend it. The game doesn't have the classic arcade intros in all of the systems. We don't see the "demo" intros of Billy and Jimmy Lee (or Hammer and Spike, whichever you prefer) beating up enemies or getting beaten up. You can play this on a controller, including the Xbox One controller, but it doesn't have the interface. The buttons are generically called 1, 2, 3, etc. You'll have to remember your inputs if you haven't played your game some time. I've never played the game online, so I can't give that one a score. The original Double Dragon plays the same way it always has. It's a classic beat'em up in which you have rescue your girlfriend (yes, I know, the "damsel in distress" trope, blah blah blah, but that's how it was back then; take it or leave it) from Machine Gun Willy and his thugs. I wish the game had the HD graphics like the Xbox 360 version. This is the first time I've played Double Dragon II for the arcade. It almost plays like the first, but this time the almighty elbow punch won't save you (at least not as frequently). The enemies get killed too easily until the very last part of the game (don't you just like those sudden difficulty spikes?). The NES version, unfortunately, is one of the few ports that is better than the arcade. This is not the version you're looking for. Ditto for Double Dragon III. But this is, by far, the worst of the three. Billy is extremely stiff and you don't have a variety of moves, unless you "buy" them. Actually, buying power ups from a store is limiting since you only have "one coin" to use each time for each mission. Kicking is your best move, by far. This is not the Double Dragon game you're looking for. The original was released for the Xbox 360, but not any more. Stick with that (if owned), and the NES versions of the game, or even Super Double Dragon for the SNES. Don't buy this game.

I used to play the arcade versions of the trilogy all of the time years ago. Wanting to experience this again, I purchased the Double Dragon Trilogy from GOG. I was really hoping for a great trip down memory lane, as Double dragon was the forefather of the two player fighting genre. However, I was sadly disappointed. Upon installing the game, I noticed a login screen . Evidently This trilogy runs through a third party called the Galaxy client. This is one thing I am not a fan of, as it reminds me of Steam. That being said, I updated the game after installing it and attempted to play. However, there was even more disappointment. The game did not launch at all. Instead, I received an error which said" An unknown exception has occurred" Evidently this game does not seem to want to work on Windows 7 Ultimate. I also attempted to use a specific version of Direct X intended for this game. This proved pointless as it seems Windows 7 Ultimate does not want to install the required version. I was able to install and run the game on my other pc, which has Windows 7 professional however. The graphics are amazing, I'll give it that much. This being said though, I noticed it was not exactly like the arcade versions. It seems as though some of the moves and controls were compromised or missing from this release. My advice...DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. Use an emulator if you truly want to experience these games the way they were intended to be played. The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (M.A.M.E.) would be the most authentic way to achieve this. M.A.M.E. will run on almost any operating system as well, unlike the Double Dragon Trilogy. Hopefully Dotemu and GOG can offer support to it's customers for this incident. I am still waiting to hear back from them, and I have a feeling I will be waiting a long time.

Classics are always difficult to rate. Should I look at the games through the eyes of the kid I was when I played Double Dragons for the first time? Or from the vantage point of the 30+ years of game development that have passed in the meantime? Or through the glasses of the now more experienced gamer who almost has trouble imagining what was so appealing about the games back then? These games were the pinnacle of beat'em ups in the late 1980s and in 1990 (when DD 3 was released). Today, they serve as a reminder that even though by far not everything in the game industry has changed for the better, the action genre has gone a long and fruitful way. There's no point talking about the graphics and sound because they are limited by the time of their origin (even though I'd say that on the C=64, the music was better than on the arcade) - the biggest issue is the playability anyway. Fighting strategy mostly consists in finding out whether you should keep the enemy at a distance or get as close as possible, sometimes you're doomed no matter what because the random generator just doesn't have its best moment, and I mostly went through each game using just one move that suited me best (fist punch in DD 1, kick in the sequels). The games are repetitive and dull; what saves them partly are a few nice enemies and, well, yes, the memories. When it comes to adventures, some 1990s' games are still best, RPGs have their greats in both the previous and the current millenium, but when it comes to this genre, I'll stick to the more recent games. Don't get me wrong, I still love the Double Dragons, but I just won't play them anymore.

The games works, and fairly well with that. If you have never played those games back in the days, and want a chance to have a taste, don't let the horrible scores deter you, because they are both working and very enjoyable. I never played those before, and it's a wonderful double dragonian ride.