PAX 07 hands-on: Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire

by JC Fletcher { Aug 25th 2007 at 9:00PM }

D3's Dragon Blade makes a very good attempt at representative motion for a sword-based Wii game. It's not 1-to-1, of course, but at least the canned attack animations are mapped to reasonable motions. For example, swinging the Wiimote to the right slashes to the right, instead of executing some spin attack or opening the menu. Having a logical basis for the control scheme makes it very simple to know what's going on when you get into a frantic battle against some, I don't know, evil dogs or whatever they were. The attacks themselves form rhythmic three-attack combos, exactly like those found in Phantasy Star Online.

The Wii graphics were nice, but nothing special, with the exception of the dragon-power effects. The hero gains abilities as he finds pieces of the Dragon Blade, and is able to activate those abilities with the D-pad, controlling them with the Wiimote. These effects fill the screen with huge flaming hands (or whatever the part may be), and they are stylistically very nice. The dragon hands allow you to attack with two giant fire hands, each controlled by one of the Wii controllers. I actually really wished I could have done this the whole time. It's nice-- and surprising-- to see an original action game for the Wii, and, based on my time with it, Dragon Blade could be something of a sleeper when it releases this September.

Tags: action, d3, dragonblade, PAX, pax07

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bluebrake @ Aug 25th 2007 9:18PM

This fairly generic looking action game is actually one of the most exciting things coming to Wii right now. That annoys me.

tamanchama @ Aug 25th 2007 10:43PM

uhh yea, cause metroid doesn't count i guess huh? .. dumbass lol

AwesomeMachine @ Aug 25th 2007 11:21PM

tamanchama, stop defending Nintendo. We're all aware of Metroid. I'm tired of hearing "what about Metroid and Mario Galaxy?" That's it? Two games? Two franchises that are over 15 years old? Too many fanboys are settling with the neglect that their receiving. Where's all the original content that was supposed to make the Wii exciting?

samfish @ Aug 26th 2007 12:04AM

What does it matter how old the franchises are when the have undergone fundamental changes with almost every outing (especially in regards to Mario)?

X_Arre @ Aug 26th 2007 1:55PM

@ AwesomeMachine

Uh, Brawl??

Fester @ Aug 25th 2007 9:18PM

God that looks like shit, and that's coming from a gamecube owner and fan.

DonWii @ Aug 25th 2007 9:39PM

While the graphics are not impressive, it is good to hear that the controls work. It still has my attention.

I saw the developer walkthrough and the gameplay video over at IGN, and the game looks much better than the screen, but nothing special regardless.

ThornedVenom @ Aug 25th 2007 10:10PM

I think this might illustrate the wii game developing paradox (not applicable to all games): basically, the more you focus on gameplay, the more you detach from original artistic direction.

That's just a hunch yet to be proven wrong. Flame away! (no pun intended considering this is a game with a fire swordish whip thing)

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 25th 2007 10:20PM

PK FIRE!

Whenever eye use pawns eye make it a punt two fully intend them. Theirs nothing wurst then punning something and then the Shifit Guy grows and sales it wright behind my back to sum pore sole.

Nintendo said gameplay is most important in gaming not that graphics don't matter. They said they are good enough and don't need to go into a technological horsepower arms race.

ThornedVenom @ Aug 26th 2007 9:28AM

I've never said the opposite, but I'm sort of stating that many Wii games are suffering from the lack of artistic direction with muddled results concerning gameplay.

hegemonyhog @ Aug 25th 2007 10:31PM

I'm actually really excited for God of Wii.

What really frustrates me about Wii graphical development is that it's very much possible to have great artistic direction on a technically inferior platform - just look at the end of the SNES/Genesis era, where you have games that still stand up stylistically despite vast technological improvements.

It's obvious that companies are very slowing turning around their buses to go down the Wii road, but development for the past couple of decades at least has focused so heavily on more standing in for better.

samfish @ Aug 26th 2007 12:09AM

Damn right. The Donkey Kong Country is still one of the best looking games I've ever played.
I remember being really surprised by how well it held up when I DL'd it onto the VC a few months ago.

ThornedVenom @ Aug 26th 2007 9:30AM

I have to agree with you Sonic-avatared pal: there's still a lot of room for improvement concerning artistic direction on that platform. =)

Mighty Shockwave @ Aug 25th 2007 10:48PM

Hmm... The graphics don't really seem too impressive. However, I will support this game because: 1) It's not a minigame collection, 2) It looks somewhat deep, 3) It's third-party, and 4) It actually utilizes the Wiimote properly. I mean, there are very few games which truly take advantage of the Wiimote+Nunchuck configuration, and another game would be appreciated. We may not see 1-1 control until late in the Wii's lifespan (perhaps not even until Wii 2), at least this game tries. Besides, I'm a nut for dragon-slaying.

Mighty Shockwave @ Aug 25th 2007 10:49PM

Hmm... The graphics don't really seem too impressive. However, I will support this game because: 1) It's not a minigame collection, 2) It looks somewhat deep, 3) It's third-party, and 4) It actually utilizes the Wiimote properly. I mean, there are very few games which truly take advantage of the Wiimote+Nunchuck configuration, and another game would be appreciated. We may not see 1-1 control until late in the Wii's lifespan (perhaps not even until Wii 2), but at least this game tries. Besides, I'm a nut for dragon-slaying.