Direct Link : Atomic Battle Dragons
Publisher : Isotope244

Price : $19.95

Graphics : 9 Out of 10
Sound : 8.5 out of 10
Gameplay : 8 Out of 10
Longevity : 8.5 Out of 10
Overall : 8.5 Out of 10

Based on the old Atari arcade game Joust, this takes the basic gameplay and builds a story upon it, adding a whole new dimension to the game. If you haven’t guessed already, the basic idea behind the game is to fly your dragon and joust other dragons. You have to make sure your jousting pole is higher than your opponents to inflict damage, or it’s you on the end of a sharp stick. Once you have defeated a dragon, the rider will make his way to a regeneration pod. If you hit him before he reaches it, he will be defeated. Once all the dragons are defeated, you progress to the next level. There are 4 different zones to progress through, each comprising of 40 levels, so this is going to be no walk in the park.

What makes this game shine, is the story that unfolds during the game. This not only provides light relief, which is sometimes sorely needed after some levels, but it also makes you really feel involved in the game. Yes at times the dialog is a bit on the cheesy side, but it fits right in with the animation/graphics style, so is easily forgiven.

I have to admit, although I never played the original game in the arcades, I did play one of the many home computer versions, that surfaced in the mid 80’s. The one I remember most was for my beloved ZX Spectrum, from Rabbit Software. I actually remember this games exceptionally well, as a friend and I disassembled the code, to find out how it works and I’m still a huge geek, many moons later.

The big proviso of this games is the machine you are running it on, specifically the method for which you interact with the game. There are two modes. One has you using your devices D-Pad, or what ever equivalent you may have. On my Dell Axmin X50V, this isn’t the most ideal of control system, especially with a game like this, where the action can get a bit frantic. Fortunately the other method utilities a mix of control pad and screen taps. You basically use the screen to flap your wings and the control pad to direct either left and right. This latter method is the one that I found myself using most and becomes pretty intuitive pretty quickly.

Conclusion : This is a game that starts of pretty slowly, but even then you are going to struggle until you are used to controlling your character. The difficulty escalates pretty quickly, but not at a rate that becomes overwhelming. I love the graphics, which are slick and smooth and the sound, whilst fairly minimal, compliments the game nicely.