Platform: Xbox

Genre: Action

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Smilebit

ETA: Fall 2002

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Panzer Dragoon Orta

While the Sega Saturn wasn’t exactly scooped up by the masses (selling a console for considerably more than the competition tends to do that), it had its fair share of franchises that have become nothing short of legendary.  Nights, Burning Rangers, Radiant Silvergun, the list goes on and on, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with these titles is Panzer Dragoon.  It’s third person shoot 'em up stylings made a lot of people standup and take notice.  Sure there were arcade-like flight sims that sort of did this sort of thing, but very few of them had the accessibility or the reasonably entertaining narrative that Panzer Dragoon did.  Now Sega is suiting up to do it again with Panzer Dragoon Orta (PDO) on the XBox, shoving in plenty of gameplay tweaks, not to mention taking advantage of the graphical oomph of the big black box.

The plot is pure fantasy again, but then again the game does center around dragons, so it’s not exactly an Earth shattering surprise.  Sadly, what is known of the story isn’t much of a surprise either.  The world was once a wonderful, prosperous, affluent place where everyone was happy, and living the good life.  But now that’s a thing of the distant past as war has ravaged the land, leaving only a few scattered pockets of humanity trying to scrape together some sort of an existence, all while living a harsh life under iron-fisted Imperial 

rule.  Here is where the player comes in, taking control of a mysterious dragon rider, whose duty it is to take on this Empire and bring freedom to the world.  Typical fantasy fair so far, but it seems a safe bet that Sega will put some meat on its bones, so the story stands out from other narratives in the genre.

But if there’s one thing Sega knows, it’s gameplay, and this is where PDO is expected to shine.  Firstly, there is a certain degree of non-linearity being incorporated into the game.  Unlike many shooters, which present players with a single path that they simply must take, 

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PDO will provide some options.  Whether this means having the choice of different routes to take in a world in mid play, sort of like what players were allowed to do in G. Darius, or if players choose which world to go to next in between levels is up in the air at this point, but some selection will be there.  The dragon you use in the game doesn’t necessarily need to be the same throughout either, as players can morph and customize their winged friends as the game progresses, which will result in the dragons performing differently as well as changes happening to the plot.  PDO won’t be nothing but soaring about blasting whatever comes at you either, there will be a number of chase scenes as players fly at high speeds, trying to stay on the tail, sometimes literally, of the enemy as they gracefully swoop around obstacles.  There will be plenty of attacks and dragon powers to choose from, making for a formidable arsenal capped off with Berserk Mode special attacks for laying waste to the enemy.  And if you want to take a gander at the story from the Empire’s point of view, you can by unlocking sub-quests that makes this possible.  

A new Panzer Dragoon is something Sega fans have been wanting for a good, long time, and now they don’t have to wait too much longer.  If PDO manages to pull off all the gameplay features, keep the visuals as stunning as they’ve looked thus far, and can round it out with a decent story, this new installment in the franchise may well prove to have been worth the wait.

- Mr. Nash

(July 23, 2002)