Super good and influential rail shooter that's lock on mechanic is still being copied to this day. Its a lot slower than some of Sega's other rail shooters but it makes up for it in pure vibes and novel mechanics. From the very first level the open water and ruined architecture, accompanied by an outstanding orchestral piece of unusually high production of the time (CD audio in games was not new, but tended to be mainly synthesizer music or rock music that sounded like it was recorded in someone's garage) set the mood and tone of the game. Even the synthesizer tracks tend to be huge stand outs filled with intense tribal drums that fit the action and mood well. The design of the world is undeniably inspired by Moebius's Arzach (Moebius even drew the Japanese cover of the game) and Miyazaki's Nausicaa. Its a testament to how good Team Andromeda's art team was that the influence isn't lost in the finished game through the Sega Saturn's primitive 3D rendering.
The rail you follow also feels very dynamic in how you move through the environment which gives moving through the world a more natural and cinematic feeling. As side effect of this decision is that it can be a bit hard to avoid and dodge enemies and obstacles in some sections since you aren't always moving straight and its can be hard to judge the depth of a scene while the camera moves and sways. It isn't too big of an issue and I think the tradeoff is completely worth it, it really helps add to the intensity of the game. The game's lock on targeting has been copied to death, but its nice to play it and see how well the game balances it with the traditional shot. Most projectiles can't be locked on to causing you to juggle between the regular and lock on shots, and if a boss or enemy only has one vulnerable area it is often much more efficient to hammer the fire button than pelt it with lock on shots over and over again. Sometimes though it feels like some shots cant really be avoided or shot down reasonably which can hurt the game feel a bit. Dying sends you back to the start of the level which feels a bit too harsh. Not even from a difficulty standpoint but it really hurts the flow of the game, especially because most the stages tend to have a surprising amount of dead time in them which you will have to sit through again every time you die. The game could have benefitted from having a checkpoint in the middle of the level or at the boss and made up for that by cranking the damage up slightly to make up for it and it would make the game flow and feel a lot better to play through over and over again. It also wouldn't be quite as much as a problem if the mechanics had a bit more going on, its hard to say exactly what it needs but it feels like it is missing something to really take it to the next level.
Panzer Dragoon is still a pretty darn good playthrough and a strong early Saturn game worth playing, definitely look forward to making my way through its sequels at some point this year.
The rail you follow also feels very dynamic in how you move through the environment which gives moving through the world a more natural and cinematic feeling. As side effect of this decision is that it can be a bit hard to avoid and dodge enemies and obstacles in some sections since you aren't always moving straight and its can be hard to judge the depth of a scene while the camera moves and sways. It isn't too big of an issue and I think the tradeoff is completely worth it, it really helps add to the intensity of the game. The game's lock on targeting has been copied to death, but its nice to play it and see how well the game balances it with the traditional shot. Most projectiles can't be locked on to causing you to juggle between the regular and lock on shots, and if a boss or enemy only has one vulnerable area it is often much more efficient to hammer the fire button than pelt it with lock on shots over and over again. Sometimes though it feels like some shots cant really be avoided or shot down reasonably which can hurt the game feel a bit. Dying sends you back to the start of the level which feels a bit too harsh. Not even from a difficulty standpoint but it really hurts the flow of the game, especially because most the stages tend to have a surprising amount of dead time in them which you will have to sit through again every time you die. The game could have benefitted from having a checkpoint in the middle of the level or at the boss and made up for that by cranking the damage up slightly to make up for it and it would make the game flow and feel a lot better to play through over and over again. It also wouldn't be quite as much as a problem if the mechanics had a bit more going on, its hard to say exactly what it needs but it feels like it is missing something to really take it to the next level.
Panzer Dragoon is still a pretty darn good playthrough and a strong early Saturn game worth playing, definitely look forward to making my way through its sequels at some point this year.