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Blue Dragon Plus
March 3, 2009 | 10:28 AM PST
by: Matt Furtado
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Blue Dragon Plus acts as a minor sequel to the Xbox 360 original. Taking place after the events of the 360 game, Shu and company are back at it. Over a year has passed since Shu and pals were able to defeat the evil Nene. Since the defeat of Nene, the world has split into two and the emergence of a great evil has come forth. The Shadow of Balaur, a three-headed sinister dragon, has appeared and is ready to cause massive waves of destruction. It's once again up to Shu and friends to stop the Shadow of Balaur and Nene. Do our heroes have what it takes?
What's Hot
It may be Blue Dragon, but this isn't the same Blue Dragon you played on the Xbox 360. While featuring the same cast of characters, everything else is quite different. Of course, this is a DS game and not a home console game, so some slight modifications had to be made. Thankfully, these changes don't have any negative affects on the formula of the series, and, instead, showcases a winning portable formula for the series on the DS. Gone are the traditional RPG battle menus and battle system. Much like Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Blue Dragon Plus is played more like a real-time strategy game in some regards. During battle, players will choose whichever individual character they desire and send them off into battle by pointing at a location close to the enemy. Once there, your character will automatically attack with the basic slash attack. However, you can select from a series of attacks that will summon your blue dragon and inflict more damage. While is strays far away from the usual RPG battle scene, the real-time battle setting works remarkable well in this case. This mainly comes down the speed and level design. Overall, the enemies and your characters move at slow speeds. This, of course, allows you to maintain and watch over them easier once a battle begins and you begin to strategize a battle plan. The screens sport a miniature map where you can see the locations of enemies and your own characters.
While the game bares a striking resemblance to Revenant Wings in several ways, the battle system is very reminiscent to Lost Magic as well. In order to select a numerous characters at once, you must circle them and then send them off as a group. While it's disappointing not to see a quicker way to execute this or even a party system in place, it works well for the most part. IF you found yourself enjoying Revenant Wings or Lost Magic, then you'll like the battle system set in Blue Dragon Plus.
Everything else plays you like you would expect from a traditional RPG. You buy new weapons, shop around, level up, and get stronger. You'll encounter numerous boss battles and gradually learn more about the horrific events that are unfolding. Aside from the main story, you'll be able to take on a number of side adventures. These are very nice distractions and add to the length of the game. Of course, they are perfect for leveling up your characters.
Amazingly, Blue Dragon Plus features all the wonderful FMV scenes you would expect to find on a home console. While not as high-res as the 360 FMV scenes, the DS does a great job at showcasing these beautiful scenes. This also goes for the music. Nobuo Uematsu is back in action and has produced some great musical bits for Blue Dragon Plus. While the music is in midi form, it still sounds great coming from the tiny DS speakers.
What's Not
There's a lot of good stuff going for Blue Dragon Plus but it does have some problems in its formula. The main problems arise in the battle system. Keep in mind, the battle system is very solid overall; it just has a few soft spots that keep it from being rock solid. The main problems come from the setup. There's no party system or character icons on the main screen for easy transitional move to another character quickly in the heat of battle. I know the screen is small and you need to see as much as possible while playing, but even a small character face would make things much more accessible.
There is also no option for panning out for a more distant view of things. Sure, the graphics are sprites and this causes limitations, but it's hard to get a great feel of everything going on around you when you have such a minor viewing space placed in front of you.
Final Word
Blue Dragon Plus is a solid DS RPG that really lives up to its 360 predecessor. With an intriguing storyline and real-time strategy meets traditional RPG battle system, Blue Dragon Plus really changes the way you view portable RPG titles. This is one of the best RPGs on the DS and it's a treat for Blue Dragon fans to enjoy on the go.
What the Game's About
Blue Dragon Plus acts as a minor sequel to the Xbox 360 original. Taking place after the events of the 360 game, Shu and company are back at it. Over a year has passed since Shu and pals were able to defeat the evil Nene. Since the defeat of Nene, the world has split into two and the emergence of a great evil has come forth. The Shadow of Balaur, a three-headed sinister dragon, has appeared and is ready to cause massive waves of destruction. It's once again up to Shu and friends to stop the Shadow of Balaur and Nene. Do our heroes have what it takes?
What's Hot
It may be Blue Dragon, but this isn't the same Blue Dragon you played on the Xbox 360. While featuring the same cast of characters, everything else is quite different. Of course, this is a DS game and not a home console game, so some slight modifications had to be made. Thankfully, these changes don't have any negative affects on the formula of the series, and, instead, showcases a winning portable formula for the series on the DS. Gone are the traditional RPG battle menus and battle system. Much like Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Blue Dragon Plus is played more like a real-time strategy game in some regards. During battle, players will choose whichever individual character they desire and send them off into battle by pointing at a location close to the enemy. Once there, your character will automatically attack with the basic slash attack. However, you can select from a series of attacks that will summon your blue dragon and inflict more damage. While is strays far away from the usual RPG battle scene, the real-time battle setting works remarkable well in this case. This mainly comes down the speed and level design. Overall, the enemies and your characters move at slow speeds. This, of course, allows you to maintain and watch over them easier once a battle begins and you begin to strategize a battle plan. The screens sport a miniature map where you can see the locations of enemies and your own characters.
While the game bares a striking resemblance to Revenant Wings in several ways, the battle system is very reminiscent to Lost Magic as well. In order to select a numerous characters at once, you must circle them and then send them off as a group. While it's disappointing not to see a quicker way to execute this or even a party system in place, it works well for the most part. IF you found yourself enjoying Revenant Wings or Lost Magic, then you'll like the battle system set in Blue Dragon Plus.
Everything else plays you like you would expect from a traditional RPG. You buy new weapons, shop around, level up, and get stronger. You'll encounter numerous boss battles and gradually learn more about the horrific events that are unfolding. Aside from the main story, you'll be able to take on a number of side adventures. These are very nice distractions and add to the length of the game. Of course, they are perfect for leveling up your characters.
Amazingly, Blue Dragon Plus features all the wonderful FMV scenes you would expect to find on a home console. While not as high-res as the 360 FMV scenes, the DS does a great job at showcasing these beautiful scenes. This also goes for the music. Nobuo Uematsu is back in action and has produced some great musical bits for Blue Dragon Plus. While the music is in midi form, it still sounds great coming from the tiny DS speakers.
What's Not
There's a lot of good stuff going for Blue Dragon Plus but it does have some problems in its formula. The main problems arise in the battle system. Keep in mind, the battle system is very solid overall; it just has a few soft spots that keep it from being rock solid. The main problems come from the setup. There's no party system or character icons on the main screen for easy transitional move to another character quickly in the heat of battle. I know the screen is small and you need to see as much as possible while playing, but even a small character face would make things much more accessible.
There is also no option for panning out for a more distant view of things. Sure, the graphics are sprites and this causes limitations, but it's hard to get a great feel of everything going on around you when you have such a minor viewing space placed in front of you.
Final Word
Blue Dragon Plus is a solid DS RPG that really lives up to its 360 predecessor. With an intriguing storyline and real-time strategy meets traditional RPG battle system, Blue Dragon Plus really changes the way you view portable RPG titles. This is one of the best RPGs on the DS and it's a treat for Blue Dragon fans to enjoy on the go.
February 8, 2010
