Reviewed: January 3, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Konami
Developer
Konami
Released: Dcember 8, 2005
Genre: Racing
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
3
4
5
3
3.7
Supported Features:
Konami must have really been grasping at straws when they decided to snag the license and make Dragon Booster for the NDS. The game is based on a short-lived CG animated series (so short that I never saw it, and I watch a lot of cartoons), so unless you are one of the small cult following you’ll probably have no interest in this game, and even if you do, hopefully this review will spare you some coin and anguish.
Dragon Booster is a combat racing game only instead of cars or buggies or planes you are riding…you guessed it…dragons. Sounds great when I type it and probably pretty good when you read it, but let me assure you the end result is nothing more than a haphazard mix of poor controls, uninspired gameplay, and barely passable graphics and sound.
Perhaps the worst part of Dragon Booster is its very core, the controls. It appears the developers couldn’t decide on how they wanted you to play so they let you do it all, and none of it very well. Using an awkward mix of D-pad, touch screen, and face buttons you are supposed to try and control your dragon and fight all at the same time, a feat only possible if you are gifted with a third hand or can hold the stylus in your mouth.
Normally, this is where I would tell you to overcome your phobia about fingerprints and actually touch the touch screen, but the accuracy required to be effective in combat is insanely difficult and precise. Even with the fine point of a stylus you will have trouble actually hitting anything in this game or jumping for that matter. You might tap correctly one in four times which means a lot of needless and rapid-fire tapping on the screen just to be sure.
Oddly enough, Dragon Booster plays on the bottom screen while stats are presented up top. This is obviously a requirement since you actually attack and jump with the touch screen. So while you are trying to move your dragon with the D-pad, accelerate, attack, and jump with the touch screen and fire off your special weapons using the face buttons, you will be required to take your eyes off the racing below to check the status above.
The racing itself isn’t all that much fun, and despite the 3D nature of the presentation, the actual movement is so restricted it feels like you are on rails. At least with the game keeping you on the “track” you are free to deal with the inaccuracies of combat.
When you aren’t racing or trying to shoot your opponent you can engage in a shooting challenge that has you competing with the computer to see who can hit the most targets. These are color-coded to match either your color or the computer’s and there is a neutral third color target that you can both hit, so the game boils down to making sure to hit all of your own colored targets then hitting more of the green targets to break the inevitable tie.
Dragon Booster supports wireless play with a single card, which is probably a good thing since you’ll be hard pressed to find anybody else with their own copy. The multiplayer plays out pretty much like the single player game only with a human in control of the other rider, but for some reason this game slows to a jerky crawling mess when you link up. Can’t say why for sure; there is certainly nothing next-gen about the engine or graphics to explain this slowdown that pretty much ruins any chance of multiplayer fun.
The cel-shaded graphic style is getting to be a bit stale and the 3D engine is nothing that we can’t find on the more advanced GBA titles these days. Animations, special effects, dragon designs, it all just seems very rushed and very uninspired, almost like the designers cared as little for this game as I do.
The only bright spot in this production, the sound and music are actually quite good, but alas, there isn’t enough to go around. Even for a game that you will likely toss aside after an hour or two, the excellent soundtrack starts to repeat itself, and while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s the noticeable hiccup in the looping, usually in the middle of a race that makes this stand out.
Sound effects are nice and varied but by now it’s too late to save this game with mere audio.
This title might hold some value as a collectible in some fan’s Dragon Booster collection but as a game it is simply painful to play and won’t hold your interest for more than an hour. Frankly, I can’t tell you how long it would take to finish the entire game because my patience (and my stylus) wore out after about two hours.
And don’t count on the multiplayer to save the day. While the idea of racing and fighting a friend sounds good, the abysmal framerate and repetitive gameplay will instantly sap the fun from this title.
The gameplay is flawed, the controls are horrible and the on-rails racing creates a game that almost plays itself. Unless you are a huge fan of the series then you should probably avoid Dragon Booster, and even if you do pick up a copy you might find it will hold its value a bit more if you never remove the shrink-wrap. You’ll definitely have more fun imagining what this game would be like rather than finding out firsthand.
