Finally!
HIGH The Amazon's jumping animation.
LOW The incredibly finicky "shield" sidequest in the Wizard's Tower.
WTF None of the playable male characters show an inch of skin. (And the Dwarf's chest hidden underneath all that beard doesn't count!)
Vanillaware is a developer renowned for its outstanding visuals, but their gameplay has never equaled the lofty standard of the artwork. I've tried every title that's been released domestically, and this has been true with GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere, and Muramasa. They all look fantastic, but I'd rather play anything else.
Until now.
Although I was expecting Dragon's Crown
The core formula here will be familiar to anyone who's been playing games for any length of time—choose a character from one of several fantasy archetypes and then walk from left to right while pummeling the holy hell out of everything that appears.
Dragon's Crown is not reinventing the genre here, but what makes the game stand out (apart from the artwork) is the incredible amount of care that's gone into the details. Plenty of developers can manage the basics, but the days when bare-bones brawlers could captivate have long since passed. Vanillaware recognizes this, and by rolling their sleeves up and genuinely updating every aspect for current sensibilities, what could have been another yawn-worthy looker instead becomes a knockout punch.
Wisely, the game starts off by nailing the linchpin of the entire experience: the combat. While the animation is smooth and attractive, it never hinders the crisp, responsive feeling of control needed to satisfy. Commands are easy to input, and the control scheme makes sense. Each character also feels different from the others, and has a diverse range of skills which can be leveled up, letting the player mold their combatant to a certain degree.
My chosen warrior was the Amazon. Although she started as a typical axe-swinging character, the richness of her design became evident after a few upgrades when I found I could start with a running dash, bash an enemy with a flying knee, slide kick another enemy into the air, follow them up with a slicing spin, air dash to the other side of the field, double-jump while still airborne and then come crashing down with a bone-shattering ground pound.
This vicious attack string all happens in the blink of an eye, yet every strike is measured and intentional. Amazingly, the other characters each feel just as developed, yet they're all so different from each other that learning the nuances of each is a game unto itself. The quality of this combat is a commendable to be sure, but every other aspect of Dragon's Crown is just as polished.
Take the environments, for example. Rather than simple hallways filled with thugs, each level looks different than the last, and they all feature their own unique spin or twist. One section contains ghosts, requiring a magic user or a torch in order to dispatch them. Another has the player rescuing prisoners and keeping them safe until the boss is defeated. Another will offer giant beasts to ride in a clear homage to the genre classic Golden Axe, and yet another has the player fighting to control a magic lamp and the devastating genie held within. It's all fresh and intriguing.
Gameplay is further enhanced play by shockingly generous amounts of loot, secrets and side-quests. Any level can be revisited an infinite amount times for those who want to grind, but there are also specific tasks for players who need a little more purpose. Whether collecting spider webs for a cloak, finding a hidden room behind a painting, or locating a lost item while not waking the sleeping enemies that guard it, these little adds greatly enhance both longevity (in a good way!) and entertainment value.
Dragon's Crown is just as deep in other respects. Weapons and equipment can be mixed and matched in any combination the player likes. There's a surprising amount of story sequences which are concisely told, yet keep the game moving forward. A magical "rune" system rewards players for carefully scanning the backgrounds for hidden sigils, and multiple elements in every area can be interacted with—shields can be knocked down from a wall and held, shadowed doors can be unlocked, and little bits of treasure can be found wherever there's a sparkle.
The list of niceties just goes on and on with additions that show me Vanillaware is respectful of real life. As someone who loathes unnecessary repetition, I love that I can exit a level after clearing an objective and retain all of the experience and items gained, even if the entire area wasn't completed. There's also a system to pick and choose AI characters for backup when friends aren't around, and it's a treat to see them jump in halfway through a level, as if they've just dropped a quarter into an arcade machine. Little things like this aren't typically found in brawlers of this type, but the thought in care that's gone into making sure Dragon's Crown is playable for gamers of every sort pays off in spades.
As a critic who's not afraid to point a finger when necessary, I honestly find myself at a loss when trying to come up with places where Dragon's Crown falls short, because… it doesn't. Of course, some people may mention to the hyper-exaggerated and obviously sexual art style as a possible concern, but I find no fault in it.
In my view, everyone's entitled to their own taste and preferences, but I'll also be the last person on earth to criticize an artist for exercising their imagination. I find the visuals here to be as gorgeously attractive as they've always been with Vanillaware, although in fairness, it would've been nice if some of the playable male characters showed some skin. As a mature gamer, I think there's a time and place for content that's not meant for kids, but I'm also a believer that if a game is going to go down that route, it never hurts to offer a little something for everyone—a rippling barbarian or two for those with a taste for beefcake would have been a great gesture.
The lack of half-naked men aside, it's impossible not to see what a superior, rewarding effort Dragon's Crown
Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Vita. Approximately 18 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. (Currently working on sidequests with only the final boss remaining.) One hour of play was spent in multiplayer mode.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains blood and gore, partial nudity, suggestive themes, use of alcohol and tobacco, and violence. The most risqué thing about the game are the Amazon and Sorceress characters, and the insane amount of skin they show. There are also some pieces of unlockable art which might be a bit brow-raising. Otherwise, the violence is standard hack-and-slash stuff that's not especially graphic or worrisome.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing: You will have no problems. All spoken information is subtitled and there are no significant auditory cues. I played about 50% of the game with the sound off, and had no difficulty whatsoever.
Transformers fan. MOTU stan. Black Lives Matter, pro-LGBTQIA. Anti-fascist.
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Note to *ahem* some other sites: THIS is how you comment on potentially objectionable content in a review while also substantiating how, if at all, it informs your opinion of the game. You don’t just leave a splashy comment and then let your readers figure out how you came up with the verdict. You clearly elucidate your arguments, like our dear Brad here. 🙂 Also, I agree with the commenter who mentioned a similarity to the art style from Heavy Metal. It’s an iconic sort of sexual deformity, and some may find it striking and beautiful. But I will say… Read more »
True, I’m probably too quick to conflate American and Japanese visual culture in this discussion (although that’s what comes of comparing a Vanillaware game to Heavy Metal Magazine). I have a feeling the same discussions are happening somewhere in Japan, however (even if only in academia), and perhaps they’re fated to the same changes. Re: violence, when it comes to violence against a particular gender or minority group, I do see articles about it, although they certainly don’t reach the same mass audience as the DC art criticisms. It’s also a matter of what violence and sexuality represent. In and… Read more »
[quote=Matt K] my gut feeling is that this art “style” is not much longer for the world of video games[/quote]For American and European games, this is probably true. But Japanese games will continue as they are because they don’t have a lot of social justice warriors in Japan. Sexualized content from Japan already has a history of being censored in the United States in small ways. Usually we see it in anime where a character is given longer shorts or a skirt or something. They wanted to censor the bath scene in Totoro but Ghibli wouldn’t let them. Cultural issues… Read more »
It will definitely be viewed as an average game for people who rely on Metacritic and Gamerankings scores as the 8.5-9.5 figures from gamers and 6.5 scores from feminists get lumped together. This is definitely a game where you have to do your research and demonstrates the folly of depending on review scores.
The cure? Just read the reviews.
I have an urge to buycott the game, but it’s $50 and not my kind of genre anyway. Good luck to Atlus and the developers for sticking to their vision.
And the ogres seem to be dying in kind of suggestive poses. Or maybe that’s because they are half naked.
Anyway, the author was talking about playable characters. That knight, he could have been shirtless.
“The reason is that, even in fantasy, violence and sexuality are often analogs for what is experienced in the real world… and in the real world, women experience enough injustices that we can remain attuned to the kind of media content that either sensitizes or desensitizes us toward their treatment.”
May I ask how your theory would account for Japan, well known as lacking North American-style stigmata towards violence against women and explicit sexuality, having a fraction of the per-capita crime rate across the board (even / most importantly rape, at around 1/12th the rate) relative to North America?
Hey, nice review. I really agree with you on the art style part.
As a gay man with a deep love for sexuality, I would have liked more content targeted to my tastes. Still, I really enjoy the art style that reminds me of old Heavy Metal comics, and I think it is great to finally see some games aimed at mature, sexually enthusiastic gamers.
the dwarf is completely bare chested…how can you say none of the male characters show any skin?
If I understand your reply correctly (I’m french, so I sometimes have a bit of trouble with english), you mean to say that the tendency towards less sexualized art in video game medias is a good thing, right? On that, I do agree. Not every woman in every video game has to be a buxom sex machine. But, I do believe that there is a market for such material, and I find it really nice to have such a high quality game covering our crowd. Usually, sleaze and smut material is of bad quality because they have trouble finding publishers… Read more »