Review Westane 3/5 · Mar 30, 2015
Review / Playthrough
History:
I actually don't have a lot of history with Double Dragon as a kid per se, but I was always keenly aware of their existence. I read about the games in various strategy guides, saw them in Nintendo Power and saw that really terrible movie... twice. Recently I've been spending more time with the Lee brothers, having thrown …
History:
I actually don't have a lot of history with Double Dragon as a kid per se, but I was always keenly aware of their existence. I read about the games in various strategy guides, saw them in Nintendo Power and saw that really terrible movie... twice. Recently I've been spending more time with the Lee brothers, having thrown this cartridge in a few times prior to starting this project. I think I made it to Stage 3 or so...
Expectations:
Just a couple hours of some awesome Shadow Clan (Right?) ass kickin'! I'm hoping between Super C and Ninja Turtles I'll have the skills necessary to take this one down.
Night 1:
Yep, this game is as hard as I remember! I made it to the helicopter in the few minutes I played tonight, and remember making it further. Should be an interesting ride.
Night 2:
Angle of the picture as a result of me slipping off the ottoman mid shot...
So I'm not really diggin' this beat 'em up so much. As a whole it's not really my genre to begin with. It has it's moments, but I think my biggest complaint with this game is its difficulty. I don't have a problem with games that are difficult and demand skill and focus (Super C) but in this case I feel like I'm fighting against the game itself more than the enemies in it.
The timing of the special attacks, which almost feel mandatory for progression, is nearly impossible to get down. You characters are slow and clunky while the enemies will stand over your body and cheese you all day long. Never mind if you should get knocked down with an enemy on either side of you! After a while it just starts to feel cheap, and not very fun.
I've played through the game four times tonight and so far Stage 5 seems to be my stopping point. I'll give it another night and if I'm still not making progress I think it's time to move on.
Night 3:
I don't know what it is about that screenshot but the unbridled broness of it all makes me laugh every time.
G-R-A-S-P
Anyway, yeah, gave it another few goes and every time I landed at the same spot. I'm done playing this one.
Liked:
For an '89 game the graphics actually looked pretty great, and I loved just how '80s the whole atmosphere was. I want to go play FarCry Blood Dragon again! The game tried to give you a lot of variety in attacks which, for an old beat 'em up, was pretty cool. Co-op was fun.
Disliked:
While the game tried to give you a lot of options I found myself just trying to hammer the controller prying for a knee, uppercut or spinkick. Trying to actually get the timings down was just not happening. Situations I should have been able to handle reasonably just turned into exercises in frustration. The game just generally controller poorly, at least to me. Your characters moved slowly, and the enemies felt cheap. I would have also liked a couple continues rather than being sent back to the title screen after three deaths.
Personal Score:
Fun : 12 Relevance : 15 Replayability : 10 Survivability : 9 Total : 46