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Review  Reign Of Fire
- By Lander Clinton
[Editor In Chief]
Reign of Fire for Game Boy Advance is a shooter based on the Spyglass film released last year. I make note that this is a shooter, not an adventure, because the game tends to discourage exploration. Even the boxes and barrels you're supposed to collect for added replay value are mostly on the main path. Now that I've given you a good first impression...
Gameplay:
Reign of Fire started with a lot of potential, but by the end of the game it felt like the developers just stopped caring about it.
Every level starts with you controlling a small band of humans (or a dragon- more on that later) who remind themselves of what they want to do so you find a point in all of it.
At first the missions are varied and entertaining- harvest your crops, get in the fire truck to stop your crops from burning, etc. Not only does it bring back memories of Harvest Moon, but jumping between vehicles makes the missions more strategic, especially when some of them have no weapons and at best run over the baby dragons (yes, you kill babies in this game).
Too bad that the end of the human missions (and you have to play them ALL before playing ANY dragon ones) have you living out a Rare-hater's worst nightmare over and over. The last few levels are "collect 10 of X" and for some reason you have to go on foot the whole time.
This wouldn't be a problem if the radar was of any use, but it only points in a straight line to the next goal. The developers seem to revel in letting you run most of the way to the 6th dragon egg you need to kill, only to find some mountain or river blocking you. Now you have to circle its borders looking for a place to cross. This usually involves holding down one direction on the D-pad for a long time which kills your hand. This is the first game I've ever played where I actually reversed my hands on the controls because one hand was so tired after playing one level.
I have no idea why you get no vehicles in the last few levels. I didn't see the movie, so I don't know if the dragons wound up destroying every car half way through it. Maybe since it's England your characters finally agreed over tea that driving on the left side of the road was wrong and refused to drive even when being chased by dragons.
Once you put up 10 sand bags around a nuclear bomb (most likely developed and dropped out in the open by evil dragons), you save the city's rubble from turning into finer dust which somehow saves all of humanity. This is when you get to play the few dragon missions.
The dragon missions are a breath of minty napalm air after the human ones, since flying is a lot faster than running. Although you still can't pass mountains, finding a way around is much faster. Unfortunately the dragon missions are pretty easy and can all be done in one sitting, but whoever wrote their dialog should be commended.
Here's the style it's in: Hey, those pesky humans are a bunch of meanies. Let's go destroy their machines.
I seriously hope the dragons talked like that in the movie. I'm sure it would be way better than Sean Connery's Dragonheart.
Aesthetics:
Unimpressive muddy colors dominate this game. Now, keep in mind that the game does take place in Great Britain, so all the rain and mundane land may have been intentional... Hey, I kid. I kid 'cause I love.
During the long way around a river it's very easy to get lost because everything looks the same. The only way you know you're going the wrong way is when there are no dragons to fight. At this point you have to turn around and go back, killing your hand even more, with nothing to do for a few minutes while you're running. There are no secret caves to explore, no warp zones to a better game, and no one even has the courtesy to tell you you're outside the mission area.
Sorry, I guess the gameplay section spilled over a little into this one.
Back on topic, the game is played from a top-down view, and the humans are quite small on the screen. This isn't a problem when guiding a vehicle to the next target, but when you're running slowly on foot for a long time it makes the game pretty boring to look at.
Control:
The control is exactly what you think it'd be, except for the arthritis-inducing levels.
Multiplayer:
No multiplayer. It could have had co-op modes or even humans vs. dragons games, but again it felt like the developers stopped caring about this game half way through. Maybe it was when they got to see the movie...
Sound:
The music in the game is upbeat. Not very militaristic, but upbeat. It's good quality and varies enough to keep it interesting.
The only sound effects that stand out as being over-used are the dragon screeches. Every time you kill a dragon it yells. When playing as a dragon, every time you get hit you yell. Can't they just go quietly?
OVERALL:
I've read the Reign of Fire movie had a crappy ending, and in that way the GBA game lives up to it. The dragon missions were fun but short, and the human missions degraded into "Banjo-Tenie: The Search for Banjos Threeie Through Niney, Plus A Bunch Of Other Stuff."
The Lowdown on  Reign Of Fire
| Aesthetics: Below Average |
Control: Below Average |
| Gameplay: Average |
Multiplayer: |
| Sound: Very Good |
Innovation: 3/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 3/6 |
Rating Explanation |
Overall: Below Average!
"Has Some Detrimental Problems"
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This game is:
Below Average
AHH-CHOO!
How much longer is this river?
GBA SP needed for this brightness
Why did we plant these so far from base?
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IN A
NUTSHELL: |
| Wasted Potential |
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