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Panzer Dragoon Orta Preview
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
A classic Sega title receives a make-over for the Xbox, we take an extended look at the one to make the hardcore smile.
Panzer Dragoon fans the long wait is nearly over, and thankfully it looks like Smilebit have taken up the helm from the now defunct Team Andromeda wonderfully.
From the brief information released so far, the story tells of years ago, when a legacy was born that ruled the skies. As time passed and memory grew dim, distant times progressed from History into Legend. Now, the era of human prosperity has come to a grinding halt, with all but a few pockets of civilization destroyed by years of devastating battles. The population clings precariously to the brink of extinction, scattered across the desolate land, living in the darkest age in history. A new Empire rules with an iron grip, and a band of rebels begins a revolt in an attempt to become masters of their destiny once again. As the world is engulfed in the flames of war, an unlikely and unwilling Hero must become mankind's only hope.
Soon, the Dragon will rise again...
First things first, and you can guarantee this will seriously piss of the hard-core (I know I was), the main protagonist is now the titular female known as Orta, whether or not Azel will play a part is unknown at this point, however weād certainly like to see it tie-in with the previous titles.
Elsewhere the links to the Saturn classics are more evident, once again the same mixture of dark fantasy and post-apocalyptic sci-fi provides the inspiration to the 10 different levels that youāll find yourself flying through. The actual combat is even more intense then the Saturn classics, Panzer Dragoon and its sequel, Panzer Dragoon Zwei. Utilising a similar control system to both titles, players have to navigate through varying levels destroying everything that comes at them via your characters bow-gun, the dragonās ability to lock-on to targets or the special bezerker attack. Using the shoulder triggers to navigate through 360 degrees of motion is wonderfully implemented, far more intuitive then the stilted buttons found on the Saturn pad, and so thankfully the control system can keep up with the manic onscreen action.
By shooting the enemy youāll build up the ability to ability to morph your dragon on the fly, - a key feature in the Panzer Dragoon series ā“ unfortunately we didnāt get the opportunity to try this out to much, suffice to say different dragons offer different abilities and bezerker attacks. These bezerker attacks are the dragonās special attacks, and destroy everything on-screen when activated. OK not a great deal you may be thinking, every shooter has a special weapon, however youāll find very few carried out with such style and panache. Certain attacks will see the whole screen melt into a wash of white light, as explosions go off everywhere on-screen all without a hint of slowdown. To say Panzer Dragoon Orta is visually amazing would be doing it a great injustice, itās safe to say Smilebit have become one of the premier development teams in the Xbox infancy. Thereās so much action occurring onscreen that it will melt your eyes, if youāre a fan of the little Xbox effects youāll love this game, the hard rain effect actually sends a chill through you, explosions light up the dark sky, all the time moving at a ludicrous speed and keeping up a smooth 60FPS, this is without doubt one of the best looking titles Iāve ever seen.
Perhaps the biggest draw to the original was the amount of attention paid to the lavish details, at the time Panzer Dragoon became the most expensive game in development, featuring massive amounts of beautiful FMV, a stunning orchestra score and excellent dialogue and scripting, for a shooter this had ludicrously high production values more akin to a movie then a videogame. Thankfully this same level of attention to the presentation looks to be carried across to Panzer Dragoon Orta, weāve only seen a few of the CG scenes and listened to three levels worth of music, but from these weāre assuming that itās safe to say the remainder of the game will be the same if not better.
