Dragon Spirit

Dragon Spirit and R-Type led the charge for 2D shooting games back at the end of he 80's, but now everybody simply remembers R-Type. So why does nobody remember Dragon Spirit? It's not a horrible game, it's extremely original in design (more so than R Type 2, at least), and it's has plenty of levels, what's to forget.

Dragon Spirit, much like other shooters of its time, is an overhead, over long, shooter that is damn fun at first, but quickly becomes tired as the levels progress. You are a dragon, flying above the clouds, the land, the water ... but you are a dragon, and so you're pretty damn big, and a pretty easy target. Thankfully they have added upgrades, including three heads (yup, just like it sounds), homing breathe, and much more. The weapons are a bit trite, but multiple heads is something that looks good, at least.

The levels are a mixed set. At first they try to make sense, wrapped up in a world mixed with dragons and dinosaurs, but then towards the end of the game they don't seem to fit the story at all. It would have been nice to see the gradual unraveling of the Dinosaur land, or something, but instead they just seem to be there as targets. The rest of the game makes no sense either ... but Namco does add an ending that hopefully clears everything up.

The game is as fragmented as this review is, and out as clever. It's an alright game, and worth checking out for your Turbo, but only because there aren't a lot of good shooters available. If you need a shooter, get Air Zonk, R Type ... THEN Dragon Spirit.