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Rise of the Dragon Slayers vs. HarlockHero
Rise of the Dragon Slayers
Stargames Software
Download: 394 KB
V.S.
HarlockHero
Review # 2 for HarlockHero
Them's Fightin' Words
    Rise of the Dragon Slayers is a game that you can't really say too many good things about.... While it sports a good setting that could have really been something nice, and above average graphics (albeit poor animation), it also has one of the worst stories in RPG history. Well... I wouldn't use the term "story" so loosely.... This game pretends to have a story like other RPGs. But let that fool you not! It is an attack on your rationality. It seeks to destroy your logical thought processes with its nonsensical utterings, and delude you into being blind to the reality that there is no story there.... I can honestly say before everyone who reads this that, from now, the moment of its indoctrination into time, until the end of all worlds as we know them, that this game will stand the test of time as having one of the absolute poorest quality pretenses of a story ever conceived. If one were to abandon all ideas of logic and coherency, then, it may become partially feasible that the events you witness while viewing this game *might* make sense. Yet even then, you would be lying to yourself. Before I go any further, I should mention just why its so horrible.

When the game opens, we are told of the Seven Dragons who each have the ability to bind themselves to an element that live alongside humans. For several millenia, this was the way things went, and the Humans and Dragons lived together in peace... Then one day, out of the blue, the humans decide to kill the Dragons. Do not be so naive as to expect some type of 'explanation'. The first dragon to fall against the humans is the Dragon of Light, and with his death the sun is turned black for all eternity. One would think that by this time, the humans would have sobered up and realized that they have no reason for slaughtering the Dragons, but alafery329 !8qfj!4rv u9ih43yt! eufh43! iuth984 tyh...! Ack! Sorry, I'm still recovering from the effects of this game. After their land is thrown into perpetual night, the humans seek to kill the rest of the dragons, so that they can destroy all instances of fire, water, air, earth, shadow, and whatever the sixth element is as well! What an ingenious plan!

Into the midst of this ludicrous backdrop, you are thrown into the minds of Caya and Reinos: children who must collect fireflies for their granfather, for the reason of the cliche of starting a game with an unimportant task. One can assume from the maptiles that fireflies are used as a light source in the eternally dark world, but this is never confirmed nor denied... and even if this were the case, the grandfather asks for fireflies that are worth a specific monetary amount... Does he plan to sell them, or do fireflies that are worth more money cast better light? And if he was going to sell them, who would buy? There's an abundant field of them just north of the village. One of the many flaws in this production...

Following this inane fetch quest, you're treated to an incomprehensible cutscene wherein a band of thieves walk by and mention something about seeking out a dragon to strike down for monetary gain, and I assume this is where the real plot was supposed to begin, because Raynio pipes up "Let's follow them!", to which your grandfather instantly grants permission. One interesting thing to note here is that the kids ask among themselves "Is the legend of the Dragons true?"... well... one would think that the absence of the sun would be enough proof of that. At any rate, I'll leave the rest of the plot (or lack thereof) for you to discover.

Concerning graphics, this game has better than average graphics, but they're not the best. Mostly what's holding them back is that while some tiles are good, they're too repetitiously used to even come close to creating a world thats interesting to look at. More variety is needed here. Also, 10% of the tiles are so horribly crafted that the eye is immediately drawn to them like the mangled bodies strewn about the side of a highway after a 15-car pileup. These tiles detract from the whole in an embarrassing way and act as festering sores upon what otherwise might be a good tileset. Character graphics are all drawn well, but when it came to animating them, the walking animations were obviously created by simply mirroring the walkabouts. This is pure lethargy, folks. The result is the absolute worst walking animation that I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. For what its worth, the tiles *did* manage to accurately convey the idea of perpetual night, and that in itself, is an achievement I suppose. Unfortunately, it is one of the only good things about this game.

When it comes to music, Rise of the Dragon Slayers ranks among the worst. While not all of it appears to be ripped, that which is not is composed of a cacophanous blend of throbbing percussions and high pitched whining. Turn the volume all the way down before playing this.

As for gameplay, there's just not much to mention, I'm afraid. You won't find much here besides the typical hold-down-the-spacebar style battles, and absolutely nothing in the way of puzzles or other interesting diversions. There is nothing good here, so I'll refrain from further commenting in this area.
Final Scores
Graphics: 4/10.0
The graphics in this game were moderate to inferior in quality, except for the maptiles, which were slightly above average. The inexcusably poor animation techniques hurt this game severely.
Storyline: 1/10.0
The storyline of Rise of the Dragon Slayers is of unacceptably poor quality. Only Magnus can rival this game in the field of incoherency. Personally, I feel that this story has been damaged too badly to be recovered; starting from scratch is very likely the only way that it could be improved. It is the epitome of bad plots, and I will go so far as to say that it is the worst game available for the OHR, in this aspect.
Gameplay: 1/10.0
Non-existant. The creators are either devoid of talent or monstrously lazy.
Music: 1/10.0
Among the worst that is available for the OHR. You would be hard pressed to find worse than this melange of arythmic annoyance.
Overall Grade: F-
Final Thoughts
    One of the worst games available for any platform, anywhere. The sole intent of every single element of this game's story, combined with its mind-numbing music is to irreversibly cloud your mind. Only play it if you wish to test your resolve to live. I barely made it through myself because of my ability to see the eye of the fish. Only those true to their wa can come through unscathed.  



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