Was it better before (on SEGA Saturn)? – THM Magazine

Panzer Dragoon Remake tested on Nintendo Switch!

A few days ago, Nintendo proposed, to the surprise, one of its Direct meetings to its fans. The key is the immediate availability of Panzer Dragoon Remake on Nintendo Switch, in addition to other announcements of course. In fact, we learned last year that the famous dragon-back hit of the SEGA Saturn was also going to be offered in a “Remake” version. Available (for now) only via the eShop, it is high time to start testing this 2020 version of Panzer Dragoon.

At the time, the developers promised to find a Panzer Dragoon with ” graphics and controls adapted to modern standards“. The players were therefore (legitimately) entitled to expect a visually advanced remake, while retaining the playability so unique to this atypical rail-shooter. Recall that the latest installment is a certain Panzer Dragoon Orta (on Xbox), playable by the way on Xbox One X, in a version ” Enhanced ” beautiful.

The remake (identical) of the 1995 SEGA Saturn game

Launched in 1995 on SEGA Saturn, Panzer Dragoon is therefore back in 2020, with a temporary exclusivity on Nintendo Switch. Priced at 24.99 euros (anyway …) the game is a remake 100% true to the original work. Unlike a Resident Evil 2 Remake (to name a few), no question here of transforming the slightest portion of the original game. So it’s again a question of visiting a total of seven (well, actually six) levels, on dragon’s back, and trying to lock (and destroy) all the enemies on the screen, including the bosses of end of internship.

A “shoot up” rail shooter “(Like Starwing on Super Nintendo finally), in which one can direct a sight on the screen, which will allow to lock the enemies. To a lesser extent, you can also move the dragon to avoid projectiles, and rotate the camera to aim sideways and backwards, in addition to the front. A small radar on the screen allows you to see where the enemies are.

In terms of lifespan, this Panzer Dragoon therefore offers a total of seven stages, which require approximately ten minutes of play each, or even less. No need to have ” sup math To understand that the game ends in an hour … cold shower included.

So yes, but no …

Indeed, if the intention to “remake” the Panzer Dragoon of the SEGA Saturn is an initiative which could not be more commendable, difficult to deny from the first moments of the game real weaknesses here, both in terms of graphics and handling . On the audio side, however, this remake is a real pleasure for the esgourdes, with the original music of Panzer Dragoon which is well in the game. Phew!

So, technically, the game is (fortunately) more pleasing to the eye than in 1995, but we have to admit that we expected much better at this level … The different levels are relatively unequal in terms of graphics, and we oscillate between the just correct and the very ugly.

Overall, we are very (very) far from a remake of Zelda’s temper: Link’s Awakening eh… and even a Panzer Dragoon Orta, which was launched 18 years ago on the first Xbox. Too bad the original opus (that of the SEGA Saturn so) is not included as a bonus here, it would have been clearly appreciated.

Ditto on the side of the gameplay, which lacks singularly flexibility and precision. So certainly, we move the viewfinder with the left stick, we attack with the B button, and we rotate the camera with the L and R buttons (via the gameplay ” Classic“), But the whole thing is not very precise. We can opt for a ” Modern“, For a new two-stick game, but not necessarily very practical.

Same observation on the side of the “sight”, with which it is sometimes very difficult to lock enemies as we would like. The change of camera (via the L and R keys) also lacks liveliness, and we hope that all these small approximations of gameplay will be quickly corrected via an update.

Of course, it is obvious that this Panzer Dragoon Remake did not benefit from a budget equivalent to that of Resident Evil 2 or Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the goal was to “modernize” the original game, by itself leaving (we imagine) a real side ” old school“. This will not prevent some players from being clearly disappointed with their purchase (which we guess compulsive), and if we sometimes appreciate the big faults of the games of yesteryear, it will be necessary to be very conciliatory here to forgive the same worries , in particular a very uneven (but overall very weak) achievement, but also very approximate gameplay… So, so…