Crimson Dragon Reviews
Given how poorly designed some parts of the game are, its hard to recommend it to anyone. And yet, like I said, I had some good fun with it, despite everything else. As long as you go in not expecting a life changing experience, there's an afternoon or two of enjoyment to be had here.
I had fun with Crimson Dragon, but I'm not entirely sure everyone will. You have to have kind of an addictive personality to really get into it. A lot of the game is propelled forward by its grindy levels and progression system, and if this isn't your thing, then you'll likely get incredibly frustrated and just turn the game off to play more Killer Instinct. However, if you are the kind of person who could spend hours raising their perfect dragon, getting S ranks on every stage, and simply appreciating some fantastic graphics, then you will probably have a lot of fun with Crimson Dragon. It's not the AAA blockbuster that we all thought it was going to be--heck, I won't even go as far as to say that it's better than Panzer Dragoon--but it is a solid title that you can pick up for a budget price. As far as Xbox One launch titles go, you can do far worse.
Crimson Dragon had the potential to be a AAA digital title for the Xbox One. Instead, it fails to deliver solid gameplay and it's also riddled with technical issues that drag the experience further down.
It's nice to have some variety in the Xbox One launch lineup, but Crimson Dragon doesn't offer anything groundbreaking nor takes advantage of the new platform's capabilities.
In 'Crimson Dragon' it seems, there aren't dragons, just an incredibly unwieldy turkey. We have a turkey with a fat ass, magically given the power of flight, asked to navigate through a veritable waterfall of chunky gravy without getting wet. If you do make it through, you're asked to do it again, but this time with extra salt and sugar pouring along the gravy. Finally, after retries, augmentations to the turkey – it's ass is ever-so-slightly less fat – acquired by capturing that salt and sugar, you're finally given free reign of a stage. Only the turkey never learned to fly anywhere but straight, so the boss at the center of the stage is literally doing circles around you while you barrel roll into turkey oblivion.
Another magnificent Saori Kobayashi soundtrack and some visually arresting scenery can't save Crimson Dragon from the mean-spirited cynical sickness at its core. What could have been a gorgeous and uncomplicated shooter has been hacked into tiny chunks in the name of microtransactions, butchered almost beyond recognition until you push through several miserable hours. Microsoft And Grounding broke their own game. Willingly.