Panzer Dragoon captures some pretty memorable imagery in its intro cutscene. Between the orchestral soundtrack, the large landscapes and the backdrop of a sort of post-apocalyptic world where dragons are actually mutants I couldn't help but feel like I was watching some forgotten 80s sci-fi movie, some big budget production with rough spots but a unique identity that never quite got the chance it deserved and eventually fell into obscurity. I'm not sure why exactly that comparison jumped to me but it's one that remained in my mind through much of my playthrough. I was somewhat fond of movies like The Neverending Story and Labyrinth growing up (especially the former, though nowadays I'm very much more into the latter), and the limited 3D painted an obscure but extremely evocative picture of this world I was getting a glimpse at somehow reminded me of that sort of fantasy. Something else I was reminded of was progressive rock, and once again I'm not exactly sure why, but if Panzer Dragoon is a playable album cover, it's In The Land of Grey and Pink, or Fragile, or Foxtrot.
Enough reminiscing. Panzer Dragoon is commonly considered to be a "style over substance" game, and I would generally be led to agree, though I find nothing wrong with that concept myself. At its basic level, you aim and you shoot, with the greatest mechanics being the ability to look around yourself to face foes surrounding you (which must have been pretty mindblowing back in '95), and the capacity for a charged homing shot, which I think this game introduced? I'm far from an expert on the genre. My main issue in regards to the gameplay is that your drago(o?)n is quite sluggish to move. It's clear that this isn't meant to be a super snappy game, but even then avoiding some attacks feels pretty impossible at times. Full disclosure, while I am marking this game as beaten, I actually could not reach the end without usage of the level select cheat code, mostly due to level 5 being quite a lot more challenging than the ones before and after. This might speak less about the game's difficulty and more my lack of patience or skill, and I have no doubt that others will find no issue with the level of challenge, but it is something that held the experience back just a hint for me. After all, levels are autoscrollers, and needing to restart one means you just wasted quite a bit of time.
With that said, I think I'll check out the later PD games- Initially I planned to just play Saga, and only checked out PD as an appetizer, but I am quite curious what Zwei is like now.
Enough reminiscing. Panzer Dragoon is commonly considered to be a "style over substance" game, and I would generally be led to agree, though I find nothing wrong with that concept myself. At its basic level, you aim and you shoot, with the greatest mechanics being the ability to look around yourself to face foes surrounding you (which must have been pretty mindblowing back in '95), and the capacity for a charged homing shot, which I think this game introduced? I'm far from an expert on the genre. My main issue in regards to the gameplay is that your drago(o?)n is quite sluggish to move. It's clear that this isn't meant to be a super snappy game, but even then avoiding some attacks feels pretty impossible at times. Full disclosure, while I am marking this game as beaten, I actually could not reach the end without usage of the level select cheat code, mostly due to level 5 being quite a lot more challenging than the ones before and after. This might speak less about the game's difficulty and more my lack of patience or skill, and I have no doubt that others will find no issue with the level of challenge, but it is something that held the experience back just a hint for me. After all, levels are autoscrollers, and needing to restart one means you just wasted quite a bit of time.
With that said, I think I'll check out the later PD games- Initially I planned to just play Saga, and only checked out PD as an appetizer, but I am quite curious what Zwei is like now.