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Review
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Developer.....Team Andromeda
Publisher.....Sega Price.........£19.99 Panzer Dragoon Zwei is the (almost) immediate follow-up to Panzer Dragoon. So, what's changed? And what's going on this time? Scenario PDZ is set a little before PD, maybe a decade. You control Lundi, a young lad who breaks his village's code and allows a mutant Khourieat (note: Coolia in PDS; the pronunciation is the same) to live. He wanted to prove that 'Lagi' could be useful so that the villagers would stop their current practice of shooting these animals when they are born, on the sole rule that anything born with a green glow in their throats must die. Besides, to Lundi, Lagi is everything that embodies a dragon, mythical creatures that are rumoured to be sent by the gods. One day, as Lundi just manages to get Lagi to fly as they are out running, a blinding light fills the sky. A huge airship has decimated the village. Suddenly, Lagi opens his mouth, and several luminescent 'arrows' fly towards the airship. Though no apparent damage has been done, the pair decide to chase down and destroy that ship, no matter what cost. But it ends up being much deeper than that. The quest will last Lagi's entire life, and Lundi must help him achieve his aim - destroying that ship. Graphics and Sound Boot up the game and you get the FMV intro, which is kind-of an overview of the game. It is pretty smart, and in 30 fps (NTSC), but the PAL version has a stretched version of the Japanese version, which is odd. I would have expected it to be from the original computer version rather than the Saturn. The use of Cinepak has allowed for the extra smoothness, but has compromised the colour a bit. All the movies are like this, but they are great to watch and pretty quick to load. The language spoken is an indigenous language for the frontier, but just in case anyone was thinking that it was made up, let me just say that this language remains constant for all of the games in the series. Sure, in PDS it is mainly Japanese, but the introductory language is the same frontier language. Besides which, the language is very limited and proper conversation is impossible. The main graphics move at double the frame rate of the first game, and the textures are higher-resolution. There are fewer glitches too, and the polygon warping isn't too bad. Also, the game takes even more out of the Saturn with the astounding effects that have been thrown in, with the inclusion of berserker powers (not as extensive as in PDS but that is an RPG). There's also an amazing pseudo-reflective transparent waterscape in Episode 4. The backgrounds are just as good as in the first game. Some people may bemoan the lack of the close-up and far-away dragon views, but they were never really that useful anyway in PD. The sound is very good. They have opted to use chip-generated sound instead and the atmosphere is boosted by it, to tell you the truth. The effects are different and are also used on PDS, and are very clear, much clearer than in PD. They also feature the CyberSound echo effect, which really enhances the atmosphere. Like its predecessor, a lot of the music has been made to go in time to the level. As there are different routes, there are different tunes that take over, making the game seem less linear than its predecessor. Gameplay Like its predecessor, it is a shooting game. The smoother graphics aid the playability, and this time there's the alternative routes, dragon-morphing features, berserker powers, and land-air combat. The get-every-enemy-on-each-level incentive is back, but there really is a good reason to do this - Pandra's Box. This opens up when you complete the game and more secrets are revealed as you play more, get higher ratings and find different routes. And, if you have a save position from PDS, it will open all of the options for you automatically! In my opinion, the game is the same difficulty as the first, so it should take a little while to clock, but the enhanced frame rate facilitates matters somewhat. However, the replay value is so much higher, not only because of Pandra's Box, but because of the excellent atmosphere. Verdict This is a fantastic sequel to PD and definitely worth the sub-£20 price. Hell, I bought it for a tenner so there's no reason why anyone else can't. Everyone should own this game, even if they do have either of the other two games. Graphics: 92% Audio: 93% Originality: 60% Lastability: 93% Gameplay: 93% Overall: 93% For some cheats, check the links to the left (Word 97 format). Alternatively, click here to see Frequently-Asked Questions about the game. |
