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Panzer Dragoon Orta Preview
Chris Leyton
09/01/2003
We take a hands-on look at the latest title in Sega's revered series.
Sega fans will always have a fond place in their hearts for the Panzer Dragoon series, arguably few other games capture that Sega essence so well; intense action, flashy visuals, strong storyline and a reward system that ensures youāll keep coming back to the game months after youāve finished it.
After three different games on the Saturn, Sega fans were eagerly awaiting a successor on the powerful Dreamcast; unfortunately everything went quiet as rumours suggested that Team Andromeda was no more. This happened to be the case and many believed that Panzer Dragoon Saga would be the last, however thankfully the silence was broken last year when Sega announced a new game in the series; although itās a hard pill to swallow seeing the series move over to another format and a different developer taking on the reigns, itās good news for those of us who never thought weād see dragons again.
Having built up a strong understanding of the Xbox hardware with Jet Set Radio Future and Gun Valkyrie, development duties fell to the more then capable guys at Smilebit; itās been claimed that some of the original Team Andromeda members were enlisted to work on the project, however weāre pleasantly surprised to see that the new title retains everything that made the series stick out.
Panzer Dragoon Orta goes back to the gameplay offered in the first and second titles; for those that might have missed out on those; the game is essentially an on-rails shooter moulded in a typical vein to Space Harrier and more recently REZ. Previous games in the series along with the third title, Panzer Dragoon Saga ā“ a highly sought after RPG - have created a rich universe and heritage that fans became soaked upon; my major concern was that this might have been lost because of the change in development teams. Fortunately it appears that Smilebit members were either Panzer Dragoon fans or theyāve done their homework, as the story behind the latest chapter sits perfectly with the other games in the series.
However itās not just the underlying content, within five minutes of playing youāll realise itās all pleasantly familiar territory mixed in with a range of welcome new additions. Wisely realising that an on-rails shooter wouldnāt cut it in todayās fickle market, Panzer Dragoon Orta places heavy emphasis on tactics; first introduced in Panzer Dragoon Zwei, your dragon has the ability to morph freely between three different forms by pressing the Y button.
Your dragon has two primary attacks dependant on which form heās currently in, a standard laser attack is initiated by tapping the A button, whilst holding onto it allows you to lock-on to a certain number of enemies. Elsewhere, the shoulder buttons are used to rotate the view around your character, giving you 360° of shooting action. Finally the X and Y buttons are used to accelerate and slow down also known as Gliding, this requires the use of one Glide bar, which builds up over time.
The Base Wing form is the standard formation, which has average statistics in all attributes. In this form your dragon can lock onto the maximum amount of opponents, whilst he has two Glide bars to use and a Berserker attack which causes considerable damage.
The Glide Wing doesnāt have a lock-on attack; instead his wider targeting reticule automatically locks on to targets, making this perfect for when hundreds of bullets/lasers are heading your way. The berserker attack of the Glide Wing allows you to regain some energy from that of nearby foes, whilst he also has three Glide bars, making this the dragon of choice for when youāre having to manoeuvre all over the place.
Finally the Heavy Wing is geared up to combat; in this form you cannot lock-on to many targets and it doesnāt have any Glide bars, so you cannot accelerate or slow down. To compensate the laser attack is extremely powerful, whilst his berserker attack is off the level, making him ideal for boss confrontations.
In addition power-up scatter the environment; collecting these allows you to level up your dragon in whichever form heās currently in, granting you more powerful attacks and faster speeds.
The Panzer Dragoon games have always had their designs rooted in old-school shooters, and in this respect Orta is no different; having progressed through the level youāll encounter huge bosses at the end of each level. In this day and age gamers have got it easy, very few games put bosses in these days, whilst those that do provide no real challenge or memorable moments with the odd exception. Panzer Dragoon Orta is that exception; from the first moment you hear the rumbling of something approaching the sense of fear and trepidation sadly missing in games today instantly comes flooding back, those who like a challenge are guaranteed to find it here.
Whilst long-term Sega fans are going to fall over themselves with the instinctive gameplay, itās likely that Ortaās fantastic visuals will draw in a new crowd. Panzer Dragoon Orta features some of the most luscious visuals weāve seen on the Xbox, for starters the action is intense, there is just so much going on without any slowdown that those with weak hearts would be advised to stick away. Itās the artistic style that grabbed us however, Smilebit have taken the inspirational designs from the original and admirably brought it into the next generation ā“ the beautifully organic dragon and morphing system, the stunning water effects and THAT berserker attack just looking simply sublime. Fortunately the trademark cinematics are up to scratch, progressing the story and sucking the player perfectly into the world of Panzer Dragoon.
In keeping with tradition Panzer Dragoon Orta recreates the brilliant Pandoraās Box from Zwei; this rewards playing the game again and again with a vast range of unlockable content. Everything from movies to text on virtually everything in the game can be unlocked, whilst PD fans will squeal with delight when they realise the original Panzer Dragoon is here in its entirety to unlock and play; weāve yet to open up all areas, but weāll bring you more information in our extensive review due later in the month.
