Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386 VGA 4 MB negligible
Recommended for optimum performance : 486DX, 300K/s CD-ROM, local-bus
video, 8MB
Control : Keyboard or Joystick
Sound : Sound Blaster
Noted : CD-ROM required
Reviewed on : 486DX2/66, 16MB RAM, SB compatible soundcard
In 1983, when Pac-man was still fresh in the gaming public’s memory, a unique, original, technologically revolutionary game called DRAGON’S LAIR burst upon the scene. In place of the blocky, eye-straining graphics prevalent in arcades, DRAGON’S LAIR was graphically indistinguishable from a cartoon. The technology underlying this breakthrough, the laser disc, or more generally, the digitization of video, was not yet well known to the general public at the time. CDs and CD players were still expensive, and one could still buy records at music stores. Eleven years later, piggybacking on the economies of scale produced by the music industry, CD- ROMs are not uncommon peripherals of personal computers. It is only now, with the CD-ROM, that DRAGON’S LAIR can be done justice on the PC.
For those not familiar with the original game, it follows the exploits of Dirk the Daring, a knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess Daphne who has, predictably, been kidnapped by Singe the Evil Dragon. Singe’s castle is filled with mudmen, whirlpools, rapids, mysterious giant pool balls, ghosts on horseback, and a host of other implausible foes. The player controls Dirk by the carefully timed use of Dirk’s sword, and movement in four directions. Either a joystick or the keyboard can be used. The game reacts to these movements either by advancement of the plot if correct, or by entertaining death scenes along the lines of the Roadrunner shorts, if incorrect.
The PC CD-ROM version comes in a box empty except for a jewel-box CD case, which contains the disc and, where the liner notes would be if it were a musical CD, the documentation. The installation is as simple as inserting the disk and typing DRAGON. As with most CD-ROM only games, there is no copy protection. It creates a directory on your hard disk and one file of approximately 800 bytes. There is a further option to optimize the game to your machine, which takes up to an hour, but it is not necessary to run this in order to play the game. I found no perceptible difference between the optimized and nonoptimized versions, but those with slower computers might. The box says that at least 4 megs must be configured as expanded memory, although I found that less would work, albeit with a warning message.
As mentioned above, in the original arcade game, the graphics were indistinguishable from cartoons. Although this is not the case in the PC version, they come closer by an order of magnitude than anything else I have ever seen on the PC. You have the option of running them at twelve or six frames per second. Twelve is extremely smooth while six is jumpy, although still eminently playable. It ran at twelve for me perfectly without any slowdowns, and the screen shots do not fully capture the smoothness of the graphics. Cartoonlike is simply the best description.
I had a great deal of fun playing this game, although I am sure that a certain amount of my enjoyment stems from nostalgia. The decade old animations are as fresh and entertaining as ever, burlesquing the standard adventure game plot in a manner similar to old Warner Brothers cartoons. When Dirk is chased through the halls by a gibbering lizard clad in kingly robes and crown, perpetually missing Dirk’s head as he swings his scepter, we know we are in familiar territory : Saturday morning cartoons. Although I can no longer muster my eleven year old sense of wonder from when I first played the game, I still appreciate the artistry.
Don Bluth, the lead animator of DRAGON’S LAIR, has since gone on to theatrical films including The Rat’s of N.I.M.H., An American Tail, and, currently in release, Thumbelina. Being a former Disney animator, his skills were more than ample for this game. Readysoft’s adaptation has left his creation largely intact. Three scenes are missing (The swinging fiery ropes, the windy room, and the falling platforms are all missing, despite the documentation’s advice on how to beat the latter scene) and one is cut slightly short, namely the mechanical horse. Other than that I detected no omissions. In addition to the cut and truncated scenes, there is at least one scene that I do not remember from the arcade at all, which, given that the scene involves giant purple tentacles, probably indicates that it was not present. Regarding the cut scenes, I saw it suggested on the net that perhaps the reason for these omissions is that, in the case of two of the three cut scenes, there is more than one way to beat the scene. In the case of the falling platform, one could jump off the platform at a number of stops, while in the case of fiery ropes, one could either swing across immediately, or wait until the ledge Dirk was standing on began to recede before swinging across the fiery pit. I have no way of verifying this, and, indeed, the fact that the CD contains 613 megabytes of information suggests otherwise, that their omission was caused simply by space considerations. It was suggested elsewhere that those scenes that were omitted were simply those that were the most difficult to compress. It will be interesting to see how Readysoft adapts their upcoming SPACE ACE, which contains numerous scenes that have alternate ways of being beaten.
The sound is similarly faithful to the arcade version. All of the sound is digitized and played through the Sound Blaster. It consists mostly of heroic trumpets to begin and end scenes, and various grunts and shrieks from Dirk. Furthermore, while it is not documented, if DL rather than DRAGON is typed to start up the game, the option is given to play the game in Italian, German, or French in addition to English. The few spoken scenes are all redubbed in the respective languages, although I detected one Oh No! from Daphne that was in English regardless of the initial choice. I do not know whether this redubbing was done by Readysoft, or at the time of the original game.
A flaw inherent in this type of game is the lack of replayability. Once you know how to beat the thirty-five scenes, there is no reason to go back and play again, unless it is to view all of the myriad ways in which one can be killed. But that too pales quickly, and one is left with a game useful mainly to show off to friends. While perhaps the pyrotechnic graphics make up for this, potential buyers should be aware that this is not a game they will be playing for months, or even weeks.
In fact, the issue of replayability, in most games, is directly tied to the complexity of interaction. It is hard to conceive of a simpler level of interaction than choosing one of five inputs at suitably timed intervals, therefore it is unsurprising that the level of replayability in DRAGON’S LAIR is so low. This should be compared to the ULTIMA games, where one may pick up and put down almost anything anywhere, where spinning wheels make thread out of wool, despite this being ancillary to the game, where harpsichords and pan-flutes work, where one may forge swords out of mined metal, and all in one thirtieth of the space. Alternately one could examine that paragon of replayability CIVILIZATION, where interaction is nothing less than controlling the military, diplomatic and economic decisions of an empire. In fact DRAGON’S LAIR is the ultimate example of graphics over gameplay. This is not a criticism. Rather, it is simply inherent in the nature of this type of game.
Nonetheless, speaking as one who has poured countless quarters into other mindless arcade games, I recommend DRAGON’S LAIR. Its animations are entertaining and well-done, even clever at times. Its graphics are simply in a different class than other games, to the extent that the point of reference is no longer computer games, but instead other cartoons. I would advise buying it, if for no other reason than making sure that Readysoft adapts Don Bluth’s two other arcade games, SPACE ACE and DRAGON’S LAIR II.
This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Michael Levy for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.