reviews

Name: Dragon's Lair
Genre: Interactive Movie
System: HD-DVD

Many gamers forget there is a difference between the “first” game to do something and the first game to do something well. In many cases they are two different things entirely, but in some they remain the same. Dragon’s Lair is the first of some things and the best of many more. For its time it was the first game to actually bring well animated cut scenes into the world of video games. It was also one of the first to do what is now seeing a renascence: cinematic with the players involved. In fact, that is the entire game. Odds are your play through Resident Evil 4 or God of War would not have been the same without an arcade game from the early 1980’s.

However, gamers do not appreciate classics like we should. We are so soon to replace games in our lives with shallow, heartless remakes of the same games. Every so often we must look back and see our roots to learn how to grow – and it is easier when our roots are in amazing high definition. Dragons Lair has made the jump to HD-DVD and it looks fantastic in every way. The grand adventure of the immensely awesome Dirk the Daring looks just like anyone who has ever played the game would hope (I know as a writer I should be able to think of a better term than “immensely awesome,” but there is no other way to describe Dirk).

Many of you probably had pacifiers when the game was released so here is the rundown: the extremely perky Princess Daphne has been kidnapped by an evil wizard and held in the Dragon’s Lair. Dirk the Daring has rushed into the castle to save her and brave any horrors or traps that might be thrown at him. The gameplay is just like the button matching sequences from hits like Resident Evil 4, Shenmue, and God of War I and II except for one small detail: the button isn’t displayed. As a player you must tell Dirk to either attack or go in any of four directions. This may sound like a cake walk, but more times then not you will be seeing Dirk die a horrible death and be treated to a wonderful clip of him popping back into existence.

I ran in to some minor problems with the controls on the HD-DVD player I was using, but it is impossible for me to tell if they were game controlled or not. Some other problems that came up involved the game skipping random scenes but, again, I can not know what caused it.

The game does also suffer the test of time, as its game play is not as intuitive as a current adventure would be. Some of the appeal is also lost in any version that isn't coin operated - it may sound crazy but knowing you need to feed more quarters if you lose adds to the game more than it detracts.

There is plenty to do on the HD-DVD and it is well worth the price of admission. There are trailers for other interactive games from the time, documentaries and even creator commentary of the entire thing. If you are a fan of classic games or anything related to them I highly recommend picking up Dragon’s Lair. The picture quality is too good to pass up and is a worthy addition to any HD-DVD owner’s library.

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