Review:
Ever felt the change to move away from
space ships and aliens and instead wanted to take form of a Dragon and
fly over fantasy terrain on a dangerous task?
One of Namco's early PC Engine/Turbografx (PCE) games (released in Japan
1989 and followed later in the USA) an adaption of a vertical scrolling
"shoot em up" coin op originally released in 1987. Dragon Spirit has
appeared over the years on quite a few systems such as Amiga, NES and
in one of Namco's Playstation and Gamecube compilations.
A serpent demon named Zawell (sometimes spelled as Zowel) kidnaps
Alicia princess to the kingdom of Mitguilt. A young soldier Amul(or
Amur) comes fourth to rescue the princess and destroy Zawell. Amul
lifts his sword and prays to the gods for strength and is transformed
into a dragon hence the spirit of the dragon!!!
Game play: 7/10
One of the things I like about the PC
engine version is game play. I have played this back in 1989 and it's
the only version I've ever played but recently I managed to obtain the
coin op version and noticed a few differences. The PCE version has been
altered for example in the coin op, when power ups appeared they
quickly fly of the screen meaning you have to make a mad rush to get
them before they disappear so you'd lose a life if you got hit by enemy
fire. In the PC Engine iteration the power ups move at a leisurely pace
and seem more like gliding off the screen rather than fall off but that
still don't mean the game isn't hectic. Actually Dragon Spirit on the
PC Engine/Turbografx appears to be toned down a lot!! The coin op is
pretty unforgiving in its relentless wave of enemy fire and this
version there are less monsters and enemy fire on screen but Dragon
Spirit is still quite a difficult game but at least you won't die a
million deaths.
There is quite a varied assortment of power ups to collect throughout
the game mostly by breaking the coloured eggs scattered throughout or
shooting down flashing creatures and collecting their own eggs, the
basic power ups are red orbs for powering up fire power to blue orbs
for extra heads, with only the skull which is one you need to avoid as
collecting this will make you power down!!!
Graphics:
8/10
Graphics for its time was very good on the PC engine they are colourful
and move smoothly and provide decent eye candy. At that time most
people were only used to seeing 2D graphics on the Master System and
NES and only Commodore Amiga and Atari ST provided high end graphics.
Graphically this conversion is quite close to the coin op although in a
lower resolution and missing intro. Don't expect any 2D transparencies
or 3D models in this game. Its good old 2D the way it used to be
done!!!
Sound:
8/10
Special mention should go to the music score which was composed and
produced by Shinji Hosoe (who has also been making music for Namco
games right up to Ridge Racer). Personally I really appreciate the
music score and its one of the great things people talk about in the
"dragon" series is the music. Only the sound effects are a bit weak.
Summary:
Overall Dragon Spirit is a great timeless classic that is still
compelling to play today as it was back then with a fantastic musical
score. Dragon Spirit was a sure hit cause it spawned a 2nd in the
"Dragon" games, Dragon Saber and
another shoot em up in similar vein called Phelios. Cool retro chic!
