Developer: Vanillaware
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: Action
Platform: PS3 and PS Vita
Released: August 6, 2013

Ratings:

Story: 7.0/10
Design: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Presentation: 10/10
Overall score: 8.7/10

If you are an old-school gamer, then surely you’ll remember the side scrolling beat ’em up action game, Golden Axe. Released in 1989, the arcade title featured simple mechanics with medieval characters who wielded melee weapons in what was an extremely entertaining cooperative title for young gamers to bond over mindless fun.

Developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, Dragon's Crown is an excellent 2D side scrolling action/RPG which evokes plenty of nostalgia for players of Golden Axe. This is not surprising, considering that developer George Kamitani's original vision was to ”advance the (Golden Axe) genre with Dragon's Crown.” Featuring stellar production values, highly addictive action, and wonderful mechanics, this game certainly achieves its developer's vision.

Dragon’s Crown is a beautiful looking game with distinct Japanese art direction that depicts a European medieval fantasy universe. Matching the visuals of the game are the pleasant sound effects, backed by excellent music which feels right at home in a high-fantasy videogame. The 2D game’s environments, characters, and fluid animations are all hand drawn, and are a feast for the eyes. Often during Dragon’s Crown, I caught myself staring at the screen, where I was simply soaking in the gorgeous colours that made the lush background environments so stunning.

This visual splendour extends from the action to the cut scenes, which seems as if a Manga comic has come to life. Interestingly enough, during these scenes, the otherwise still characters expand and contract exaggeratedly, as if breathing in and out tons of air, which adds character to the narrative.

As there are no half measures taken by the Dragon’s Crown art crew, the game often feels confusing when the action is at its chaotic height. Here, your character will occasionally feel lost amongst the hack ‘n slash animations, as the magic, swords, arrows, and acrobatic kicks colourfully engulf the screen. During such sequences I often mistook another character for mine, as I tapped away at the buttons. Thankfully, the game has no requirements on party size, so you can adventure with a smaller group if you find the action to be too frenzied.

Dragon’s Crown also goes all out with its character designs, which is both good and bad. The game features humongous warriors, stocky dwarves, and muscle bound amazons who are clearly spending hours at the gym when they are not bashing goblin skulls. Unfortunately, whereas Dragon’s Crown advances the side scrolling beat ‘em up genre on the whole, it certainly knocks back the portrayal of women in videogames; the Amazon, Sorceress, and other female characters in Dragon’s Crown are drawn with distastefully massive chests that are barely covered by any clothing. I am not a prude by any means, but it feels sleazy and has no place in the game’s art design. Honestly, there is no reason for these characters to look like porn stars other than gratuitous fan service, but it is a Japanese game after all and such things are to be expected.

Although the story is standard cookie-cutter RPG fare, Dragon’s Crown tells a decent tale for a beat ’em up title. Before the story begins, you choose one of the six classes, including Fighter, Amazon, Wizard, Elf, Dwarf, and Sorceress. Soon, you meet Rannie the Rogue, an NPC who accompanies you on all your adventures and can be used to unlock doors and treasure chests. Once you are given a taste for the game’s mechanics, you find yourself in the town of Hydeland, from where you can travel to buildings within the town, such as the castle, temple, or shops. Here you will find amusing side quests which will lead you out of the city to adventure in caves, jungles, dungeons, ruins, and the like.

Dragon’s Crown may seem like a shallow beat ’em at first sight, but it is actually a surprisingly deep RPG with an excellent experience system that regularly rewards players with new skills. These new skills open up so thick and fast that the game becomes addictive as you convince yourself to adventure once more in order to level up your character again. What’s more, the game also boasts a good loot system where you often find a variety of exciting items in treasure chests. The gear you find must be ‘identified’ in order to be used, and identifying items requires a hefty fee. So you end up only investigating the equipment which seems the most useful, and sell the others.

Each of the six classes in the game offer great range in terms of gameplay and difficulty, resulting in excellent replay value. Similarly, the game’s combat locations offer multiple paths and two boss battles, which somewhat negates the monotony of returning to complete other quests in these locations.

Ultimately though, it is the combat in the game which packs the biggest punch. The action in Dragon’s Crown can be an absolute delight, especially when you realize that each of the characters carries their own basic manoeuvres, aside from the combos. The dwarf, for example, is the only character who can hilariously pick up the enemy and use them as projectiles.

Of course, Dragon’s Crown is at its best when you are playing co-op. On the PS3 you can play locally or online, while on the Vita, you can play with a friend on the PS3 thanks to the Cross-Play feature. Once you have completed the game, you can unlock a higher difficulty level too. You also later gain access to a PvP mode, which while fun, isn't as deep as it could have been.

Unfortunately, Dragon’s Crown can sometimes hit visible slowdowns at higher levels. While these are more pronounced on the Vita, they also exist on the PS3. That being said, I’ve noticed smoother gameplay after the release of the latest patch.

These few niggles aside, Dragon’s Crown is a jewel for those who love action RPGs, and is certainly a crowning achievement for Vanillaware