Dragon Skulle

Preliminary: Hm, I haven't been a big fan of these early Rare/Ultimate Play the Game isometric action-adventures that most people rave about, but I found dull and repetitive. This one is infamously repetitive too, and a lot of faults like the fact there's jump but you can't actually jump over the petty, pervasive obstacles around. But I already got the Shovel and seems like I might be committed smh lol, I like the way the action buttons work instead of being convoluted (just press any key to switch between action buttons); I like that you can throw infinite Rocks (it seems infinite so far, at least); and I like the setting so far. Let's hope it doesn't get as repetitive as the other early Rare action-adventures where you had to tediously go back and forth delivering pieces of something... I see several longplays under 20 mins so this may finally be the one for me! Ironically it's the last of the series haha.

(Edit: See my reviews of Staff of Karnath and Entombed for further perspective on me trying to control myself from the inevitable repetitive nature to the early Rare action-adventures, tho this one wound up being the best of the series. Both of those games I dropped once I realized it was going to be the same basic thing over and over again, like the Staff of Karnath I did 8 of the items before being proud of myself for having the self-control to stop playing for the other 8 items and same process down into the basement thing.... Apparently I lost that self-control cuz I finished this game... or maybe this one really was a bit better and less tedious... maybe it was just shorter lol)

Look: 7/10 Funny people compare the main character to Freddie Mercury... I can't deny I see it. I realize it's the same sprite as in the last one that I barely engaged with, but I guess it's pretty cool! I really like the UI in this one, the lives and the score and the action buttons etc

Sound: -/- (would be a 6/10 tho) Annoying.

Play: 7/10 In so many ways this felt like a text adventure brought to life. So different from the other games in the series, odd they changed it up so much for the final one but I love it. I see retrospective reviews on Lemon64 are largely positive, while contemporary reviews saw it as worse than its predecessors in the series. Interesting.. Maybe they liked how much the other ones tried to force innovation, and looked past the repetitive tedium. This one felt like an adventure through a dungeon, doing a lot of things text adventures would have you do but in action-adventure form. As mentioned, the UI and action button system actually worked and avoided the convoluted nature of so many computer games. The "battles" were a bit clunky, but not more so than the other games in this series. Like, I wasn't in love with how hard it is to dodge bouncing eyeballs much like Entombed etc., but instead of that game's endless line of rooms berating you with those bouncing eyeballs, this one was manageable. And changed it up with the battle system like with the Green Dragon. Not that I loved that battle, it felt tedious and sloppy but that's largely due to my aversion to isometric perspective (like, just let me throw straight up, not at some odd angle)... maybe isometric will grow on me with this project. Especially as I get into the 90s DOS era and PS1 era.

Pro-tip: Speaking of how difficult it was for me to deal with the isometric perspective in battles, as long as you see your Score go up, you hit the Dragon. It's hard to tell sometimes. And, indeed, you need to hit the Dragon 10 times with your rocks, so don't fret if it feels pointless. (Oh, but I lovvvve that they included that you can hit away the Dragons' projectiles and projectiles in general with your rocks. I always say how much I love that feature in shooters and action games, super glad to see that in an early action-adventure too! Makes close calls much more fun cuz you can have last second escapes, rather than inevitable death heh)

Well okay the 10 Green Monsters screen to get past the magical barrier... that really dragged things down. Why was Ultimate Play the Game so obsessed with repetitive tedium??? Just let me kill a couple and move on. I eventually had to resort to Infinite Energy cheat, but I was trying to stay committed. (Mind you, it was fun learning to perfectly time hitting the bouncing skull and the bee going up and down on my side, since unlike entombed with that weak whip I actually could manage with these rocks, but the Green Monsters across the river just like the Green Dragon battle literally the screen right before.... cmon. Don't torture us with repetition) (As it turns out, like the other early Rare action-adventures, this one very much so relied on the same damn structure for the 4 sections of the game.... if it weren't for the Feel/drive pushing me through, this would have been dropped due to the same basic gameplay rehashed 4 times until the unique and interesting final boss that reminded me of Castlevania bosses... and no not just cuz it was a skull :-p I can't decide if this is a 6 or a 7, but I will let that Feel and well-done action buttons boost this to a 7 what difference does it make heh..)

Feel: 7/10 Yesss, digging with the Shovel outside reminding me of Zelda and many other later action-adventures. Hell, even OldSchool Runescape :-p (which by the way I'm setting up for 98 Runecrafting right now... insane). Lol you would think the flashing spinning evil looking Skull would be as bad as all these stalactites and whatnot falling on you and constantly berating you, but nah, just go ahead and walk right past that :-p The Magic Drops (some good, some bad... go for the bright, flashing ones not the black and red ones of course) reminded me of the Tears of Guthix minigame in OSRS :-p Oh, in this game it's how you recharge your Cloak, which is critical. It was the Look and the way the game felt that got me to push through the eventually-lackluster and repetitive gameplay. This could be an 8, but the aforementioned repetitiveness drags down an potential love feeling and leaves it all at a basic 3-star playable game that I finished rather than dropped.

Attachment: 7/10 Uggggh, what is with Rare/Ultimate Play the Game and why are their early action-adventures so coveted??? They were obsessedddddd with repetitive tedium. Imagine my surprise as I'm finishing up the second section of the game and tada, it's a dragon but Red this time. And tada there were [cool looking tbh] red monsters on the next screen. And guess what? Instead of enjoying repetitively killing 10 of them this time you get to kill 15!!! Haha, at least I had gotten more used to the isometric shooting and this room went a lot better and faster. And I watched a video to see I wouldn't have to do another screen like that--it was already almost done!

Omg nooooo that was a lieeeeee. Another dragon and now 20 of the same monster in a row. What a lame mechanic. What is wrong with Rare/Ultimate Play the Game. And what is wrong with me for playing through this anyway lol. Anyway, that final boss really wasn't bad, it's nice it gives you a life each successful hit (it reminds me of the Silent Hill 1 final boss where it just hits super hard, but isn't actually a difficult boss itself), and by then you're really used to aiming those isometric rock projectiles lol, so all it's trickery moving quickly back and forth ain't a match to your timed throws! :-p At last... While I know I wont be replaying this all the way through, it is endearing, and the best of the early Rare/Ultimate Play the Game action-adventures I had read so many good things about.

Completion: 100%, Score 71,090 (you can grind for points by repeatedly killing dragons... no thanks) Playtime: ~1 hour