 When I bleed, I bleed old fashioned American justice. Rex comes to an island in order to stop a former military officer from annihilating the world. Along the way he slays dragons, saves nerds, blows stuff up, and serves up cold, hard truth with his bare knuckles. We're gonna need a montage.
1. Gameplay
I was born towards the end of the 80s, so I still managed to get some of that decade’s culture and icons when I was young. I’ve seen The Terminator, I know who Mr. Miyagi was, and I know enough about 80s video games to hold my own in a debate. So when I found out that Blood Dragon wasn’t a terrible April Fool’s joke and that I would actually get a chance to collect all the VHS tapes, I was on board.  Gloriously colorful. Blood Dragon delivered in many ways and totally flopped in others. I loved the presentation, the themes, and the setup. But I really didn’t like the voice actor. The script had some extremely cheezy action movie lines that, if delivered correctly, perfectly captured the stupidity of the scripts produced in the 80s. But the voice actor’s monotonous voice comes off less as “macho” and more of “bored”, which does not fit in this game at all.  Either I show emotion, or I deal with the radioactive crocodile. I can't do both. But that being said, this game has more than just the “nostalgia factor” going for it. This is exactly what Duke Nukem Forever should have been. A man on his own killing everything to save America because it’s America. We nuked Canada into oblivion because they were asking for it, but now we’re going to make sure that no one else gets obliterated because we decide who deserves it. It’s the kind of plot that made the first half of Team America: World Police so awesome. Putting a tough, muscular, dumb male character as the hero makes it the kind of thing that Duke Nukem wanted to be but never even came close to mimicking.  Sorry Duke. Despite its problems (and there are a few), Blood Dragon is worth playing. I liked Far Cry 3 better, but that may have been because of its ability to highlight the beauty of the island and the slow, methodical crawl from impotence to godliness. In Blood Dragon, you will start out awesome, and you will quickly advance toward your ultimate, unstoppable, invincible finality. If you enjoyed Far Cry 3, pick this up. If you lived during the 80s, pick this up. If you know about 80s pop culture and want to see it from a satirical point of view, pick this up. There’s really no way else to say it.
It took me around 8 hours to complete this game. I rushed a bit through this once since I had already experienced most of what the game had to offer in Far Cry 3. Still, I made sure to capture every garrison and complete the entire campaign. I could probably get a few more hours of gameplay if I found all of the collectibles. However, with no multiplayer modes for this game and no choices that the player can make in the campaign, the replay value is fairly minimal.
With the exception of the sniper rifle, the weapons in this game felt very weak and inaccurate compared to the weapons in Far Cry 3. This is especially true of the assault rifle, which felt very weak except when the player managed to score a few hits on the enemy’s head. Fortunately, the easiest way to get around this was to simply use “takedown” on all of the opponents, which was extremely simple to use. 2. Parental Notices
Violence in this game is milder than in Far Cry 3. Part of this is because everything looks like it was ripped straight from Tron. Instead of bullets, the player fires bright neon laser beams. Instead of blood, enemies bleed bright blue fluid. The mechanics are almost exactly the same as Far Cry 3, but the new “wrapping” makes it seem much less violent.  Imma firin mah lazors! Headshots are the only real exception. In Blood Dragon, headshots on an enemy will eventually result in the enemy’s head exploding into blue fluid. As I mentioned, the look (and the fact that the enemies seem not quite human) keeps this from feeling like a truly violent act, but what is happening is unmistakable.  Not sure why this guy's blood is green. But eventually the player will learn that shooting enemies takes a lot of time. The amount of time the player spends in unnecessary combat can be significantly reduced by exploiting some of the game’s mechanics. The player can run extremely fast and jump unnaturally high. The player can use this to “takedown” every enemy in the game. No matter how strong or how fast or how powerful, as long as the enemy is human he can be stabbed through the back, chest, or slashed in multiple other ways.  Splish splash. These attacks result in some blood but it’s quickly over. As with the other attacks, the blue neon blood makes the game feel significantly less violent than Far Cry 3.  It's almost too easy. Enemies can also be lit on fire. While the player will eventually gain access to a flamethrower, it is more likely that he will ignite enemies with Molotov cocktails. Enemies on fire will run around a bit before falling over dead. There is very little visible damage from the fire.  Same goes for explosions. When the player loots the bodies of dead enemies, he pulls their cybernetic heart out with his bare hands. This will likely be very common for the first hour of gameplay, but eventually the player gains the ability to automatically loot his enemies when he performs a takedown. This negates the need to go back and loot bodies, which also negates the need to see this animation.  My heart bleeds for you. Thump thump.
I almost thought this game would easily avoid sexual content. I was definitely wrong. Towards the end of the game, the main character engages in a pixilated sex scene with the female scientist who is helping him throughout the campaign. Despite the scene’s low resolution, it’s a pretty graphic scene. This scene is meant to satirize the sex scenes in 80s action movies, but for 8-bit graphics the visuals and the sound convey what’s going on in serious detail.  Well this is awkward. There are some mild references to sexuality made in the various “macho” comments in this game, but they’re very easy to miss.
The only substance in this game is the health syringes that the player will use when he takes enough damage. They are filled with a glowing green substance that is injected via a port into Rex’s cybernetic arm. The player will use these relatively frequently, since they are the fastest way to refill all lost health.  It was really tough to get a good screenshot of this.
Gambling is not a factor in this game. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
Religion is not a factor in this game.
Anti-law is not a factor in this game.
There is no multiplayer mode for this game.
Rex’s cybernetic body parts allow him to run inhumanly fast and leap well over ten feet into the air. The player will end up using these abilities constantly, since they allow him to run almost as fast as most vehicles and get to almost any hard-to-reach area in the game.  This could be bad. Almost every other form of extreme sport from Far Cry 3 also makes an appearance in Blood Dragon. For example, the player can use ziplines to quickly move from one location to another. However, these were hardly ever available, so I tended to travel on foot much more often.  Weeeeeeee! Hang gliders are also available to the player in specific areas. While I tended to avoid the gliders, one mission almost requires the player to use the gliders in order to get to the next objective. I believe there are ways around using the gliders, but they’re definitely the fastest and most efficient method of transportation in this mission.  I'm like a spy drone, but with more fleshy parts.
While almost everything in the game is supposed to be technologically or biologically based and therefore not magic, there is one level where magic is involved. The player enters a magical portal and is taken to a trial arena. In this arena, lightning strikes the level and zombies are automatically created from the lightning. Other than this, magic is not a factor in this game.  Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, but it can strike two places simultaneously.
Language Language is going to be a serious factor in this game. Part of Rex’s macho demeanor involves swearing all the time. It’s not so ridiculously over-the-top that it stops being believable, but that might be because the character is designed to be unbelievable. He swears about as much as the main characters in most macho 80’s action movies. I definitely wouldn’t want an 8-year-old to hear it, but the average teenager has heard far worse.  This doesn't even make sense. Human Disfigurement At least three of the characters, including the main character, are cyborgs. These characters are all half human and half mechanical. However, the disfigurement is not so bad that they can’t be recognized as human.  What's wrong with your face? Weapons of Mass Destruction At the beginning of the game, and in a few conversations afterward, the fact that America dropped nuclear bombs on Canada is discussed. The reasons behind the attack aren't explained in any real detail. Other than a brief pixilated image during the initial cutscene, weapons of mass destruction are never depicted.  Terminator 2 did this too, except it wasn't Canada.
3 Comments
Battlefield 3 player
3/15/2016 05:25:11 pm
This was rated R18+. Far Cry 3 was rated MA15+ in Australia.
PATRIOT32756
3/20/2016 09:52:02 am
In Australia this was rated R18+. Far Cry 3 was rated MA15+. They said, "High Impact." Leave a Reply. |
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