- E FOR EVERYONE.
- VIBRATION FUNCTION.
- MEMORY CARD 1 BLK.
- 3D GAME.
Product description
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Game is Complete in Box (Game, Manual & Cover Art)
.com
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ro is a cute purple dragon in a bit of a pickle. Each of
ro's dragon friends has fallen victim to the nefarious Gnasty
Gnorc, who has turned them into crystals. Accompanied by Sparx
the dragonfly, ro sets out to free his buddies, while
collecting gems and dragon eggs. Sparx also serves as ro's
-o-meter, glowing gold when ro is y and turning
dusky green as he tires. To boost his energy, Spryo can blast
docile creatures with fire, turning them into butterflies, which
Sparx transforms into much-needed fuel.
This title has bright graphics in six well-developed worlds,
each with several subworlds, including bogs, deserts, and ice
worlds. Unlike some action games, in ro the Dragon the enemies
are more fun than frightening. In the Peace Keepers world, for
example, ro must burn down the monster soldiers' tent, sending
one of the minions running out, quaking with fear or, if you're
lucky, dropping his drawers and shooting a moon.
ro's movements (fire breathing, gliding, jumping, and
climbing) require entry-level gaming skills. For this reason,
ro the Dragon is an excellent title for youngsters or less
experienced players, who want to play without having to master
complex movement combinations. --Kasty Thomas
Pros:
* Large worlds provide hours of game playing
* Variety of scenarios
* Engaging graphics
Cons:* Low game skill requirements may prove less challenging for
expert players
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Review
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Yes, it's taken some time, but there's finally a proficient,
fully 3D platform game for the PlayStation. It's impossible to
escape not mentioning the last attempt at this, SISA's Blasto, so
let's get that out of the way right here in the beginning:
Insomniac's ro the Dragon excels over Blasto in every way
imaginable. It has better graphics, a far more useable camera
setup, tighter control, it isn't incredibly difficult, and is
much, much more fun.
ro lives in a brightly hued realm of magic much like that of a
Disney cartoon, except without the severe toothaches that would
provide. It appears that the dragons had been talking t about
the evil Gnasty Gnorc on TV, so, in retaliation, he casts a spell
that imprisons them all in crystal. As the one dragon that must
have come up under the spell's height/weight requirement, you
travel the six worlds - which, incidentally, have six levels each
- freeing the dragons and cling stolen treasure and dragon
eggs as you go.
The gameplay in most levels of ro the Dragon is much like that
of any other 3D platform game you've ever played, but this time
you get a few extra moves beyond the standard. As a dragon, you
can breathe fire, charge enemies using your horns, and glide with
your short, stubby little wings. There are several flying levels
too, which are similar to the arcade game Prop Cycle, save for
having to pedal. In them, ro must collect a number of
different items before the time limit expires, with each of the
items providing him with an extra few seconds to grab all the
rest with. Each of the worlds has a balloonist who will take
ro to the next once a requirement has been met, such as
freeing five dragons, collecting 2000 gems, and so on. Once to a
new stage, the balloonist will always be willing to take you
back.
There's a lot to like about this game. The soundtrack, done by
The 's Stewart Copeland, is wonderfully atmospheric. The
graphics are fantastic, with their dynamic lighting effects, a
near-complete lack of pop-up, and well-designed great-looking
characters. The level design is also exceptional, providing nice
big worlds for you to roam around in and get enveloped into. This
is really the first title to ever successfully pull off the whole
video game adaptation of a cartoon world, and we all know there's
been plenty of tries.
On the play side, the level of control is excellent. It's
supersmooth even without the analog pad, and a dream with it,
especially when charging or gliding. ro also has the best
camera setup since Rare's Banjo-Kazooie on the Nintendo 64. It
begins with an intelligent chase perspective (which can be set to
either passive or active modes) - the R2 and L2 buttons move your
overall view left or right, and the triangle button is a tight
behind-the-back look control. With all of these working in
conjunction, the camera problems found in most 3D games are
almost entirely gone in ro.
Unlike Banjo-Kazooie, it's easy to tell how many items you're
missing, both within a given level and all the worlds, through
the use of the inventory screen. This is especially useful
because accessing the game's bonus level requires that you free
every single dragon and recl every bit of stolen treasure and
egg, and it'd just be impossible without it.
The only things that take away from the gameplay experience are
that the levels begin to feel a little formulaic towards the end
and that the game is really quite easy. The first time you will
probably feel your skills have really been pushed in the game is
when you confront the final boss (the sub-bosses are about as
tough as the first boss in Super Mario 64). The extra level
beyond the boss requires a lot of work to get to, but the main
brunt of ro feels like it was ed at a younger or broader
audience, as there are so many free lives to be gotten in the
game that it's rare that your number will drop below eight.
Still, it's an extremely well-made game that offers a lot of fun
to the player, but these few factors cause it to score right
outside the class of Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, so it only
gets very, very high marks, instead of outrageously high marks.
-- Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
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