I never had a chance to play Panzer Dragon back in the days and always thought it looked fun. So when I saw there was a new PC version I went for it, although $20 felt a bit pricy for such an old game. Unfortunately, after having cleared the game once I have to say that content wise it is perhaps worth $2 to me. I can understand if people who played it in the past feel nostalgic, but for someone who has never played these games there is just nothing there. The game play is almost fun for the first level but goes downhill from there. Graphics are initially pretty but becomes more and more boring the further the game progresses. Controls are awkward and convoluted. The story and cutcense are uninspiring. The animations are stiff, stiff, stiff and lifeless (look at the facial expression and artefacts on the face of the protagonist). Is the game challenging? Perhaps. I could not determine if it was lack of skills or just difficulty to control. but I still cleared the game in the first go. At some point during gameplay shooting went from manually key spamming to auto-fire and I have no clue how that happened, neither does the in game menus reveal anything. I took a long time until I realised I could lock targets and send bursts of missiles at them (perhaps level 3 or 4) and even longer time (until about level 5 or 6) that I realised I could move my dragon up, down, left, right. It is a pitty the game does not include a tutorial because I think badly needs one.
Game starts well enough. First hour was relatively enjoyable allthough the controlls are really stiff. It takes half a second before you can move in either direction after jumping, can't jump from ladders, obstacles that are ceilings and walls that do not look like walls... Most of the time enemies drop green orbs but they do nothing until suddenly and seemingly randomy (perhaps once in 50 times) it fills up full health. Go figure... Somehow I ended up in the solar temple and manged to save but now there is no way out. None of the enemies drop any weights and I need 2 to make it out. I have already had enough and it has not even been 2 hours. I cannot even begin to describe how dissapointed I am in what initially looked like a promising metroidvania experience. If the solar temple map is ever fixed I might give it another try but until then stay away from this game.
Shovel knight is a beautiful piece of craftmanship. It has all the best parts of the best NES classic and simultaneously manages to feel refreshing and original. The graphics: characters are charming, backgrounds interresting and vivid. The chibi style suits the overall atmosphere of the game: not to serious but not riddiculous. There are tons of fun animations and you can "interact" with characters in more than one way. The music: It is NES music, just perfected. The song "Strike the earth!" makes you want to reply level 1 over and over again. Difficulty: The levels are designed in a way that forces you too learn new tricks to proceed without any boring tutorials. Nothing is too easy or too hard. Controls: Perhaps my only criticism of this game: it simply does not recognice my game pad! Anyway this game is not ideal to play using a keyboard so you better find out what game pads will work before buying it. Content: This game is richer than it gives appearance of. There is a lot packed into each level but not soo much that it feels complicated or cluttered (yet again perfect balance). The "feats" system strikes me as exciting and original. In summary: This is a game made by heart rather than for the wallet (contrast to the average generic 3d first person shooter which seems to be all game companies develop now adays). I hope to see equally good sequals in the next few years and a bright future for Yacht Club Games.
