Crimson Dragon Reviews
While the premise of riding, growing, bonding and battling with a dragon is a cool concept, it's not fleshed out here. The game also recycles levels too much.
Crimson Dragon is a total misfire
Crimson Dragon was a pleasant surprise. As a massive fan of the Panzer series, I was worried that this wouldn't quite honor it, but there's plenty here for gamers who have been longing for an entry since 2003's Orta. There are some mechanical problems, but any old-school rail shooter fan will be able to handle them.
While Crimson Dragon may lack a certain level of polish or depth, it's certainly above average.
Crimson Dragon is a competent arcade shooter, but its heavy grinding and weak presentation drag down the pace.
Crimson Dragon attempts to bring on-rails shooters into the modern era, but fails to recreate the genre's classic straightforward action in the process.
If Crimson Dragon had been released for iOS or Android devices at a cheaper price, it would be one of the year's more interesting releases. Instead, the final product is a rushed, homogenized mess of a game that fails to live up to its loosely associated pedigree.
Limited core gameplay, broken systems, poor controls, a terribly told story and underwhelming visuals make Crimson Dragon Xbox One's worst launch game by far.
The spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon offers a compelling on-rails experience, even if it feels a bit lacking in some areas. With multiple dragons to own and level up, as well as and addictive scoring system complete with leaderboards, there are a few good reasons to plop down $20.
Spiritual or not this is a poor sequel to the Panzer Dragoon games, and its tame and repetitive action will certainly not win the series any new fans.
Crimson Dragon might offer fans a few cheap thrills of rail shooters, but the repetitive gameplay grows old quickly
Crimson Dragon looks and feels like an Xbox 360 game that's been spit-shined to fatten up the Xbox One's launch lineup of games.
Crimson Dragon's got other, bigger problems, though, and like the wave of games it was announced alongside - Diabolical Pitch, Steel Battalion, Haunt and Rise of Nightmares - it's a disappointment, even if it's one that was postponed to the new generation of consoles. It's a thin and troubled tribute to the original Panzer Dragoons, slim on the ambition, vision and art that made its predecessors what they were - and some way short of the invention and execution in the games they inspired.
Leveling up dragons and replaying for ranks and leaderboard score might be enough to garner Crimson Dragon a cult following, but for most people the bungled core mechanic is a deal-breaker. This dragon might fly, but it never truly soars.
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.
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.
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.
Crimson Dragon is an impressive game that falls short of Panzer Dragoon's lofty heights. Visually, it looks better in every way but playable character design.
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.
Crimson Dragon doesn't live up to its Panzer Dragon ancestry. If we were to compare it to the rest of the console titles of the series, Crimson would most rank towards the latter end of the franchise. Its final levels are pretty, but everything up until then is repetitive, difficult and annoying to the point where Crimson Dragon feels more like a chore than it is any actual fun.