Rating of
3/5
I Fought the Dragon and the Dragon (Mostly) Won
Chris Kavan - wrote on 03/13/16
Fight the Dragon is an interesting mix of hack 'n slash looting (ala Diablo) combined with user-generated levels (think LittleBigPlanet). You can go alone or team up with friends to take on levels of varying degrees of difficulty (and competence) but to take on the titular dragon, I'm afraid it's only a one-man job.
Presentation: Adequate but nothing spectacular. That describes pretty much ever aspect of the game from the design to the music to the sound effects. The fully 3D game is a bit blocky. You can customize your characters (the mod community has some interesting designs) and the armor is somewhat varied (from barrels to Dragonborn-inspired helmets and wooden clogs to full plate) but even with this attempt at customization, the characters never really look that good.
The environments are about the same. Sure you can have lava, rivers, trees, mountains, buildings and so on - but all that gives you is slightly different takes on the same building blocks. Enemies are a big better - orcs, skeletons, zombies, minotaurs, necromancers, golems and goblins - there are quite a few to choose from, and, even better, can come with a wide variety of abilities that can freeze you, steal your health and so on. Still, the biggest downfall is the game just gets repetitive after a short time. Once you level up enough (or bring along a few friends) there is little challenge.
Story: None to speak of - none of the characters have any motivation and the dragon is just there. Granted, some of the user levels have their own (basic) stories to follow, but that isn't quite the same thing.
Gameplay: Like all good Hack 'n Slash games, you go around killing enemies hoping for the next great piece of armor or perfect weapon. There is a level cap (at 60) but for the most part every few levels you will be switching out for something better. If you want to succeed, having health regen is key (along with a weapon that can steal HP) though early on finding an armor with XP boost is probably even more important. Armor and weapons come in a variety of rarity - the more rare, the more it will increase your base stats (Evasion, Defense, Attack, Stamina and Luck) as well as give you more of a variety of abilities - from dealing increases damage to certain enemies to dealing fire, lightning or freeze damage and more. You must balance the effects to see which is best for you.
As you gain levels, each character also unlocks abilities. There are four main classes: Fighter, Black Rogue, Fire Lord and Ice Wizard. Each has up to eight abilities they can unlock as they level up. As the Fighter (what else) I found the best attacks were the ones that did the most damage in a short area (and, in fact, was the only one that helped take down the pesky dragon - more on that later. The fighter is excellent at crowd control and has the most health, so also function somewhat as a tank. The biggest weakness to me were to the damn archers (who drain my health quickly) and poison. Granted, having regen and health steal really makes a difference. I was mostly up close and personal with a two-handed weapon that dealt massive damage - though it took away the ability to use a shield, unfortunately.
Each level followed a somewhat predictable pattern - open chests to get potions (health and magic), get equipment or get gold. Some levels have keys you must get from certain enemies, others have puzzles to unlock doors using barrels and switches. The most annoying make you jump to avoid certain death. Jumping in this game is a nightmare and I really disliked those level designs. But this is trial and error in user-generated content. Some levels you could bypass locked doors simply by pushing through gaps. Others didn't make their walls high enough so you could simply climb and bypass all the challenges. On the other hand, pushing enemies off into an endless void or putting treasure chests in stupid spots often resulted in lost loot. Overall, the variety is appreciated but the implementation could often use a bit of work.
That brings us to the dragon itself. You must have a ticket to fight the dragon. Tickets can be earned by beating levels or using the loot shrine. The loot shrine is where you dump your unwanted gear and gold and as you dump more and more you can pray to said shrine. The upper tier gives you points to distribute across your character or the ability to increase health, stamina or forge a really good weapon or armor piece. The Dragon has a set amount of health and never recovers that health. As you fight it, you deal your damage, rinse, repeat until you have a dead dragon. But the game is a bit broken in this aspect. While the fighter is great for the levels, he is absolute garbage against the dragon. Even fully leveled with a lot of regen, I found it extremely difficult to deal over 20,000 to the dragon at any one point. I used over 100 tickets to take down the beast (finally) but I wouldn't say it was fun in any form of the word. Even the reward was a letdown.
Replayability: The game mainly has replay because of the character classes. Each class has their own abilities and weapons (with a little crossover) and checking out each class (along with their strengths and weaknesses) at least gives you some incentive to come back and play again. However, fighting the dragon itself? Not so much in my book.
Overall: The game is relatively fun - better with friends along - but does tend to get a bit repetitive. Even with the generous user-generated content, the game doesn't quite have a big enough user base to make it stand out. But if you want a brief, fun hack 'n slash, it isn't the worst choice.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 3/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5
