Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox Demo) impressions

[duffer]

I just played through the Panzer Dragoon Orta demo in this month's Official Xbox Magazine DVD.

I was impressed. PDO has come a long way since E3. Then it was just sort of boring. Now it's very pretty and smooth. (But still too easy, although maybe it's just the demo.)

I could tell this was made by the same Sega subsidiary (Smilebit) that made GunValkyre. The terrain shapes were similar, as were the HUD and menu graphics. (I love the flurry of squares that come up when you "Pause" the game.)

The visuals were quite nice. And the cut scenes hinted at some pretty impressive levels in the full game. (How about those giant "Pan Pizza" flying islands with the active volcanoes.)

I've never played any of the earlier Panzer Dragoon games, nor have I ever played any other rail shooter. I didn't think that I would enjoy a rail shooter, but you know what? I really liked this game. I enjoyed repeating the demo several times.

Some of the landscapes were so interesting that I wished PDO was an RPG, where I could land and explore.

I'm puzzled as to why they delayed this game until after Christmas. I guess maybe they haven't finished all the content yet. Which may mean that the game will be on the short side when it finally is released.

[Dural]

Even if it is short it's been rumored that they will include the original, so that could give it some more replay value. It would be really cool of them to include PD, PDZ, and PDS. Hopefully after they are done with PDO they will start a sequel to PDS, then we will be able to explore the beautiful landscapes.

[Ozymandis]

I have had the demo since Monday I think. Actually I'm a little disappointed in some of the presentation elements there:

-The FMVs that belong in the level have been taken out.
-There is no progressive scan option, only interlaced (480i).
-The music and sound balance is horribly wrong. The music in the first level also just plain isn't that good.
-The Dragonmares don't really IMO meld well with the rest of the art. They're bump-mapped, but they look too shiny compared to the player dragon. Then again, this might be a thoughtful and sensible choice by Smilebit, emphasizing the difference between the "true" and the "fake" dragon using the superior technology.

I've seen clips from a more recent build, and all of these things have been addressed but the last. So no worries...


Then again, I really liked the gameplay even in the demo. It's absolutely fantastic; true to the earlier shooters but faster and smoother. Perhaps a little too quick, perhaps perfect, hard to say. I can see the game being quite difficult as it progresses though :D

It's also just a first level. Not that impressive compared to some of the clips I've seen from Japanese sites. Still, the graphics and artwork are top-notch. It obviously (I think) uses the same graphics engine as GUNVALKYRIE, and it seems to run very smoothly. Perhaps 60, perhaps 30 fps, but smooth.

[V3]

nor have I ever played any other rail shooter.

Never play Space Harrier ?

[duffer]

Never play Space Harrier ?

Nope. I was in to home computer games when that came out.

But now that I think about it, I remember that I used to play the original Atari Star Wars arcade machine, which is basicly a rail shooter. And I've played the side-scrolling shooters (like Zaxxon, Xevious, and so on), which are pretty much 2D rail shooters.

I guess what I ment to say is that I haven't played any of the modern console rail shooters, such as the earlier Panzer Dragoon games, or the first two Star Fox games.