From 2010 to 2014 Richard Cobbett (opens in new tab) wrote Crapshoot, a column about rolling the cube to deliver random video games again into the sunshine. As we speak, a flight simulator that dared inform an epic story of swords and sorcery, dungeons and dragons, and males with ridiculous moustaches.
DragonStrike. No, not the notorious video board recreation (opens in new tab), as humorous as that will be, however one of many earliest video games from an organization referred to as “Westwood Associates,” higher generally known as Westwood Studios, creators of Dune 2, Lands of Lore, Legend of Kyrandia 2, additionally a few garbage ones, and one thing referred to as Blade Runner. It payments itself as, I quote, ‘the primary ever dragon fight simulator’, and I feel this begs two questions. First, how good does an organization’s future output must be {that a} Dungeons & Dragons recreation about aerial dragon fight from the period of Gold Field RPGs will get completely forgotten? Second: ‘dragon fight simulator’. Is it too late for this to… y’know… be a factor?
OK, so it is not going to win any prizes for graphics and playability now, however for 1990 this was spectacular stuff. It is laborious to recollect simply how far graphics shot ahead in that decade, however contemplate its rivals, issues like Thunder Strike (opens in new tab), and it begins to look fairly good. The state-of-the-art at this level was Falcon 3.0 (opens in new tab), and that wasn’t even launched but. Flight simulators have been system killers. It might be a few years earlier than Comanche would supply organic-looking landscapes. The likes of Flight Limitless and Strike Commander melted PCs like they’d aimed a flamethrower on the CPU.
In what would finally turn out to be a Westwood custom, it was additionally actually good at wrapping its motion in cool particulars, just like the pre-mission slides to set a degree of drama that the graphics weren’t as much as conveying, and loads of story. It isn’t a very gripping story, not least as a result of it refers back to the two sides because the ‘good military’ and the ‘evil military’ in a manner that hints somebody wasn’t being paid sufficient for this shit, nevertheless it does hold serving up cool particulars like with the ability to be part of numerous dragon-fighting orders if you happen to’re keen to tackle insane missions that actually beg the query of simply what these morons truly do.
Severely, you are meant to be the best knights of the realm, and also you’re that bothered that somebody stole a trinket? Saddle up, and go retrieve it as a substitute of ready for some gullible neophyte to wish to be part of your band of bone-idle brothers. What makes it worse is that they do not simply insist on a suicide mission, however so that you can additionally hand over some gadgets to show your worthiness. Toerags! Wastrels! Arseholes!
What’s cool about DragonStrike although is that it would not merely do common flight simulation and say “However you are completely on a dragon!” It truly does attempt to simulate the implications. It is a D&D dragon, so it has a breath assault, however simply as a lot time is spent on jousting. Few of your enemies have a lot well being, so bumping into an enemy dragon with out touchdown successful nearly ensures taking deadly harm. A stable smack to the stomach although is a stable takedown.
This does imply having to steadiness about 1,000,000 keys directly to steer the dragon and goal the lance, however that truly works in its favour. It offers the sense that you just’re accountable for the dragon fairly than simply piloting it, and each are contributing to the victory or lack of it. The dearth is fairly doubtless, as a result of DragonStrike would not fiddle. Even the loss of life message on the primary mission—and it is one thing completely different for every one—is contemptuous of failure.
However then, it is hardly the one recreation about dragons to love rubbing it in. Right here, for example, was the 1989 RPG Drakkhen’s manner of explaining simply how catastrophically you’d managed to screw the whole lot up.
Previous video games may very well be actual dicks.
Supplied that you just truly survive to see them, there are some nice touches in DragonStrike. It is doable to be knocked off your dragon, falling helplessly to the bottom and hoping your mount catches you. Flying low to the bottom in harmful terrain produces a storm of arrows from beneath, generally even rising from the ocean, however what are you going to do? Swooping down produces a speedy pace increase to issue within the transfer and gravity, whereas pulling up is way slower, affecting one of the best ways to method some targets. Additionally, being on a dragon means you may land safely any time you want, which is not usually that helpful, however does no less than give the dragon time for a snack.
This start an early Nineties 3D motion recreation, there’s not an enormous quantity extra to say about it. DragonStrike an attention-grabbing slice of Westwood’s historical past although, not least for firmly establishing most of the traits that will see it accomplish that properly within the subsequent few years. There was no purpose for them to go to this a lot effort to create a simulator fairly than simply an motion recreation, nor to wrap it up so properly with know-how, a ton of unique paintings, a branching marketing campaign and intelligent particulars. Even widespread AD&D video games of the time weren’t precisely recognized for exhibiting off (opens in new tab).
However then, this was Westwood—the corporate that with its subsequent RPGs, the Eye of the Beholder sequence, would get away with being one of many solely non-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games to justify a sewer degree and, much more dramatically, predict Goatse years earlier than the web considered it.
OK, so technically Eye of the Beholder 3 was developed by SSI as a substitute, however there was no manner I used to be going to let that chance move. At any price, there is not any arguing that Westwood was was a particular firm, whose highs have been wonderful and failures no less than attention-grabbing, except for Earth and Past, which was duller than a food plan of gray nutrient paste washed down with distilled water.
DragonStrike is among the extra forgotten bits of its historical past, however actually, deserves to be higher recognized. So, now you realize about it—and as a clever toy advert as soon as mentioned, understanding is half the battle.
Severely, dragon fight simulators. It is undoubtedly not too late. I am simply saying.
