Once upon a time
Nothing new on the horizon: a kidnapped princess, a wizard - Mordroc - cruel and fearsome, an immense castle full of enemies and traps, a fearless hero - Dirk - who throws himself headlong into the clutches of danger at the mere cry of help of his beloved, beautiful and defenseless - Daphne.
Even for those who have never played the original Laser Game, the plot that will be the Background to DL3D will immediately be old and stale. The clichés are all there, the clichés as well. After all, it is true that no one expected twists, articulated dialogues and a deep narrative interweaving. Furthermore, by recycling the same canvas as the first - legendary - "Dragon's Lair", the designers were able to tickle the deepest strings of the romantic soul of all the longtime players by re-proposing settings and situations that are certainly dear to most. We will soon have proof of this with our “triumphal” entrance into the mythical castle: the fearsome sprawling monster is still there, guarding the drawbridge… Ah, the memories.
In short, the most interesting story will certainly be the one told by the special inserts supplied with the actual game (like a DVD). We are talking about three different videos, unfortunately in English and not subtitled, which through various interviews and insights will reveal new details and anecdotes on the development of the original title planned more than twenty years ago. Definitely interesting.
Of cloak and sword
We had to save a princess remember? To achieve our goal we will therefore be called to guide the versatile Dirk through dozens of rooms full of enemies and traps of the most disparate concepts. We move from normal situations to be solved in full 90's two-dimensional platform style, with jumps at times of millimeter precision (sometimes almost frustrating) and infinitesimal game rhythm, to the more advanced, but still rather inflated ones, which will see us struggling with levers, buttons and various combinations.
During our wanderings we will be supported by the persuasive voice of our Daphne (the voices are in the original language, however all the text, including subtitles, has been localized in Spanish) who, in addition to giving us more than once some useful advice, will explain us how to exploit the several magical artifacts that we will earn as we progress through the game. Obviously, almost needless to say, between a precipice to be overcome like an unusual medieval Tarzan through the skilful use of ropes hanging from the ceiling and a magical room haunted by a horde of animated objects and crazy murders, every now and then we will have to use our trusty sword. Unfortunately, the fights turn out to be the weakest part of the entire production: the few moves available to us and the lack of spectacle of the same will soon bore us. Even the introduction of "special moves" or the remote attack with the crossbow fails to raise the fortunes too much.
Despite this, the skilful mixing of puzzle and combat sections still manages to maintain a fairly enjoyable pace of play.
My kingdom for a cell
It is useless to go around it too much: the most characteristic and peculiar element of this DL3D certainly lies in the use of Cell Shading. For those few who still do not know it, we remember that Cell Shading is a graphic style that allows, while using a three-dimensional graphic engine, to transmit to the gamer a visual feeling very similar (if not identical) to that of a normal cartoon.
The solid pastel colors and without shading, the hard and decisive edges: looking at the images on these same pages you will have an immediate confirmation of what has just been explained. First successfully used by console titles such as Jet Set Radio, the Cell Shading technique has among its undeniable advantages the fact of guaranteeing a personal and pleasant visual impact even with a low number of polygons and, therefore, with graphics engines that are not too greedy. of resources.
With these premises, in a market where "But do you go if you don't have the treddì engine?", It was practically obvious that the new chapter of a game based on the Dragon's Lair universe should exploit this graphic system: and results can be considered excellent. We will not reach the levels of XIII - also from UbiSoft, but it is true that by turning a blind eye to the intrinsic poverty of many game environments after a few hours of play we will really feel like playing inside a cartoon. The same, sadly famous (for the finances of the players of the time at least) death scene, although this time made with the three-dimensional graphics engine, is practically identical to the two-dimensional sequence used in the original cartoon.
Of course, we are far from the graphic wonders of the latest generation titles - and not only - such as Unreal 2 or Max Payne 2 but it is also true that if the technicalities are not all DL3D manages to present a graphic aspect that manages to distinguish itself from the mass.
The sound aspect, on the other hand, remains almost anonymous but without obvious flaws. Some catchy but in the long run decidedly monotonous music and a series of sound effects also directly inspired (and perhaps even taken from) by the first Dragon's Lair will still manage to keep us from turning down the volume of our audio subsystem to turn on the home stereo.
Comment
Let's face it, we are not faced with a masterpiece; nor to anything that comes close. Yet this "Dragon's Liar 3D" manages to entertain and certainly not by virtue of its noble pedigree. Audiographically it does not make us cry for a miracle (on the contrary) but, I repeat it umpteenth, the particular graphic style adopted manages to make up for this insufficiency very well and to justify the lack of visually spectacular but emotionally empty technicalities.
The mix between puzzles and fights, then, is overall well calibrated. Too bad that the fights turn out to be quite monotonous soon and that sometimes the camera system does not turn out to be properly "user friendly".
The puzzles, on the other hand, are most of the time well thought out and never too frustrating, the same control system except for rare exceptions (when for example, inexplicably you are unable to direct the character in the right direction or when the game view is suddenly changed without no notice whatsoever) appears simple and immediate.
A title without too many pretensions that, despite not boasting any noteworthy acute, nevertheless manages to entertain, even if taken in small doses and without hours of training. And this, after all, is no small thing.
- Pro:
- The return of a myth, complete with "special inserts"
- Personal and successful graphics
- Minimum Hardware Requirements
- Against:
- Not very deep gameplay
- Not very exciting fights
A myth returns
After more than twenty years from the release of the original title and almost a year after its debut on the American market, “Dragon's Lair 3D” finally arrives on our shelves.
Produced under the supervision of Don Bluth himself and developed by Dragonstone Software, this new UbiSoft title seeks to exploit one of the most renowned brands in the world of videogame entertainment with proven gameplay and a decidedly little exploited graphic style, especially in the PC field. .
If at first glance DL3D could make someone turn up their noses, perhaps in fear of being faced with a skilled commercial operation in full "nostalgia action" style, we can tell you right now that this title still tries to find its own videogame identity and personality in the boundless world of Arcade Adventure with three-dimensional graphics. Will he have succeeded?
Before answering, let's proceed in order and let's start with the story: A long, long time ago in a happy kingdom ...
