Player 1 Start

Retro-Review: Rise of the Dragon [Sega CD]

Developer: Game Arts
Publisher: Dynamix
Rated: MA-17
Released: 1993
Completed: January 24, 2020

I've made no bones about my love for all things Sierra On-line over the years, and that includes games developed and released under the Dynamix subsidiary.  In fact, one could argue that Dynamix was responsible for some of the best games Sierra published on the PC, including the iconic flight simulator Red Baron, the groundbreaking RPG Betrayal at Krondor, and unique, mature adventures like Heart of China and Rise of the Dragon.

The latter was always a particular favorite of mine, in no small part due to its obviously Blade-Runner-inspired cyberpunk sci-fi world.  This was years before Westwood released their excellent Blade Runner licensed adventure, so at the time Rise of the Dragon was about as close as you got.  Your character was even named William "Blade" Hunter, and he wears a brown trenchcoat, for Pete's sake. 

Rise of the Dragon made its way over to the Sega CD courtesy of Game Arts, in a pretty cracking port that improves upon the original DOS version in some ways.  No matter which platform you play it on, Rise of the Dragon is far from perfect, but the Sega CD iteration is arguably the best way to play it if you're so inclined.

Rise of the Dragon is a fairly standard point-and-click adventure game, though unlike many of Sierra's own titles, it's mostly played from a first person perspective.  You'll click around static screens, collecting items, solving puzzles, and engaging in conversations while you try to solve the mystery of a dangerous new drug that not only kills the user, but mutates them in the process.  Like a lot of adventure games, it's very easy to slip up and die, so the old Sierra adage of "save early, save often" is definitely applicable here, but I don't believe you can encounter any of the infamous unwinnable situations that plagued early Sierra adventures like King's Quest. 

The game switches to third-person for two side-scrolling action sequences late in the adventure, which are stiff and clunky but also short and pretty easy with the right equipment.  There's also a single point-and-shoot arcade sequence, not unlike the arcade lightgun hit Lethal Enforcers.  None of these sequences are particularly hard or exciting, but I guess they're an interesting addition to an otherwise by the numbers point-and-click adventure.

What sets the Sega CD version apart from its DOS counterpart is the addition of full voice acting and a CD audio soundtrack.  None other than Leonardo himself, Cam Clarke, provides the voice of Blade Hunter.  I was unable to confirm this, but I'm 99.9% certain that Peter Renaday, the voice of Splinter in the original TMNT cartoon, also provides several voices.  Incidentally, Renaday also appeared in another Sega CD game - Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.

For its age, the voice acting is not half bad.  This was well before games were pulling in A-list actors like Patrick Stewart (well, sort of... Patrick Stewart was one of the first major actors to lend his talents to video games in the 90s with games like Lands of Lore), Gary Oldman, and Kevin Spacey (yes, I know, but at the time, he was a major star).  It's not going to win any awards or anything, but it's far better than a lot of games released over the course of the 32-bit generation, including legendary titles like Resident Evil.

The soundtrack is also excellent.  The tracks are basically the same as the original diskette version, but they're more fleshed out.  They really enhance the mood of certain environments, particularly Blade's apartment, where you'll spend a significant amount of time, and the Em-Way terminals - the game's method of transportation.

The other major difference is the visuals.  Due to its limited color palette, the Sega CD version only displays 64 colors on screen at a time - a far cry from the DOS version's 256-color VGA mode.  This means the game is noticeably more drab and grainy with an obvious heavy green tint that, honestly, I think suits it better.  Comparing the DOS version side-by-side, the former often looks too bright and colorful.  The Sega CD version's technical limitations made the game appear more bleak and dystopian, which is a good thing for this type of game.

Like so many adventure games, Rise of the Dragon's biggest pitfall is its lack of replayability.  The first time you play the game will likely take you several hours, as you try different things, die, and reload your last save over and over.  After that, it can be beaten in just a shade over an hour - and some of that time is due to listening to the dialogue.  Unless, like me, you just want to experience the story again, there's really no reason to come back to it.

It's worth pointing out that the Sega CD version also omits an implied sex scene that is present in the DOS version, and does not allow you to skip the arcade sequences after multiple unsuccessful attempts.  All but the worst of players will have no trouble with them anyway, but it was a nice option in the PC original because they're very clunky and unresponsive, not to mention really ugly in an otherwise beautifully drawn game.

Comparisons to the Sega CD's other big cyberpunk adventure, Snatcher, are practically inevitable.  Make no mistake, Snatcher is the better game, but Rise of the Dragon is still a fun little romp through dystopian Los Angeles.  What makes it worthwhile is the excellent story, that manages to incorporate mature thematic elements without resorting to a barrage of swear words.  It's also significantly cheaper than Snatcher (by several hundred dollars), so it's worth a look, even if it's not on the same level.

Rise of the Dragon was completed on a real Sega CD with no cheats.

Retro-Review: Snatcher [Sega CD]

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Rated: T for Teen
Released: 30 November 1994
Completed: 27 August 2017

It can be problematic reviewing or even playing a game with as great a reputation as Snatcher.  From the mind of the man who created Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima, Snatcher takes obvious inspiration from the film Blade Runner, telling a similar story about androids who are infiltrating society as regular humans.  Because of its pedigree and limited release towards the end of the failed Sega CD add-on, it commands high prices on the secondary market.  It is, to date, the most expensive game I've ever purchased, and likely will ever purchase, by a wide margin.

Worth it.

I'm an avid fan of Blade Runner and similarly heady science-fiction that tackles themes of humanity, memory, emotion, and the morality of certain scientific advancements.  Snatcher is right in my wheelhouse.  It's one of the rare games whose legendary reputation is genuinely deserved.

From the start, the influence is clear.  Neo-Kobe bears a strong resemblance to Blade Runner's vision of Los Angeles 2019, right down to the identical Tyrell Corporation pyramid and cylindrical police station.  The flying cars are essentially spinners.  Protagonist Gillian Seed is a JUNKER, a special police officer designated to eliminate the BioRoid (android) menace, and wears a coat and wields a gun nearly identical to Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard.  The androids themselves look suspiciously like the Terminator endoskeletons, right down to their creepy metal smiles and glowing red eyes.

On these aspects alone, Snatcher is worth a look.  As a game, it's little more than point and click visual novel, a style of gameplay that has seen something of a resurgence in recent years.  Players must collect clues and solve mysteries to advance the story, sometimes requiring careful investigation of every detail in a given scene several times.  It can certainly be tedious if it's not your type of game, but I was already well-versed in Sierra and LucasArts adventure games by the time Snatcher made it Stateside, so I felt right at home. 

Games of this type were pretty rare for consoles back in 1994.  The Sega CD also saw a port of the similarly cyberpunk point and clicker Rise of the Dragon, but it was largely a genre relegated to the PC.  Console gamers tended to want more action, not a bunch of static screens and long conversations that have become the hallmark of Kojima's games. 

To that end, Snatcher may very well be the best thing Kojima has ever written.  It's not the most original, but it's the most consistent tonally.  This was also three years before Westwood Studios released their Blade Runner adventure game on the PC, making this the closest thing to playing my favorite movie I could get.  In spite of the limited interactivity of the game, the world feels fully realized and is genuinely fun to investigate just to hear the characters muse about their surroundings.

Dialogue is an integral part of the game, but rather than a cumbersome typing parser, the game keeps track of relevant topics through a series of menus.  The menus often have several tiers within them, which can sometimes be confusing when trying to remember how to access a specific question with a certain character, but it gets the job done far better than an on-screen keyboard.  It also means it's a little harder to get stuck because you can always just exhaust every option multiple times rather than having to take notes or remember keywords, but it's a very elegant solution to playing a complex detective adventure with a controller.

Snatcher does contain a handful of action sequences.  These come in the form of shooting galleries where players have to blast incoming BioRoids or their spider-like seekers.  If you're equipped with Konami's Justifier lightgun, you can actually play these sequences that way, or stick with the on-screen reticle and mashing the controller button to fire.  Either way, these sequences can be tough and will usually require several attempts before you finally pass them due to the randomized appearance of enemies.  It's a nice idea, but these sequences are easily the weakest part of the game.

The real fun lies in the investigation itself, and the dialogue exchanged between characters or discovering the minuscule details of the world.  Not only does the game reference popular science-fiction heavily, but there are also some cheeky references to Kojima's own Metal Gear, including the humorous introduction of Metal Gear Mk II, your robotic companion, and a nightclub called Outer Heaven that's teeming with patrons dressed up as other Konami characters. 

The characters themselves are all quite memorable, especially Gillian.  He's not a 90's anti-hero or a gruff and stoic jerk.  He's actually a womanizing, sexist pig who would never pass muster in today's gaming landscape.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's certainly a shock to hear a character make such overt sexual advances, especially considering the game's original release date when that type of content was even more taboo than it is now.  If nothing else, Gillian is a unique, expressive, and flawed but goodhearted leading man in the world of video game protagonists, which gives him a very realistic and relatable quality.

Taking advantage of the CD-ROM format, all of Snatcher's characters are fully voiced, and the game also features an outstanding audio score.  The voice cast is what you'd expect from a 1994 CD-ROM game - cheesy, but charming.  It's far from the worst voice acting you'll ever hear.  It's sort of on par with early anime dubs.  The soundtrack itself is definitely faultless, though there are only a handful of songs that repeat.  They do a wonderful job of setting the mood in every scene, from creepy abandoned churches to the apartment of a suspected Replic...er, I mean "BioRoid." 

The game's graphics are certainly no slouch either.  The scenes are mostly static, with character portraits appearing on the lower third of the screen when dialogue ensues, but everything is loaded with details and there's a bold use of color.  There are occasional flourishes and small animations to bring a little life to the stills as well.

Now that I've bought and beaten Snatcher, my white whale has officially been slayed.  This was the biggest game on my wishlist for many years, and I couldn't be happier to have it in my collection.  It's not the rarity, but the fact that it's such a captivating experience is the real reason Snatcher is worthy of that spot.  For decades I've regretted not purchasing it when I used to see it at Toys R' Us or Babbages, and even now that I've paid several times its original price, I still feel it was worth every penny.  Hideo Kojima is one of gaming's true auteurs, and Snatcher is, in my opinion, his masterpiece.

Snatcher was completed on a real Sega CD with no cheats.