About the developer
The developer of Fight the Dragon is a small company called 3 Sprockets who are based in Melbourne. 3 Sprockets lean more to making Games and Apps for Web and Mobile platforms two of these projects being Cubemen and Cubemen 2.
Gameplay
Fight the dragon is a tile based dungeon crawling that focuses around playing randomised quests created by other players, and defeating a dragon to get awesome dragon loot.
The player chooses from 4 different classes all with varying skills, using the numbers along the keyboard to perform these skills. The character will use basic attacks in the direction of the mouse, which feels nice and fluent when using some weapons such as the sword, but other weapons that arenβt swung horizontally like the mace donβt feel as natural and always feel that they miss the mark, this could be due to my unfamiliarity with the genre but it has caused my death a number of times. A controller can also be used to control the player.
Adventure mode
The main attraction to the game is the adventure mode and the unique take on its raid boss βThe Dragonβ. Adventurers start the game by choosing 1 of 4 classes that all have different spells and statistics, but at the start there is no real difference in play style as the classes havenβt unlocked any of their special abilities. When you go on an adventure you choose a tile next to your house, which then gets a random or gallery selected adventure, all of the adventures are user created with the exception of some stock adventures created by 3 Sprockets. I really like the Adventure map as itβs a good way to create a personal and random series of adventures that bring back little memories about that adventure as you move on to the next adventure. It should be noted that you can return to the older adventures if you enjoyed them.
Dragon Arena
Fight The Dragon has a Raid Boss called the dragon, whom you fight for loot. Adventurers will not kill the dragon in one sitting because the Dragon has 1,000,000 health. Adventurers gain access to the Dragon Arena via Dragon Scrolls which are obtained after finishing a regular quest. The dragon arena is set up so that your objective is to kill the dragon and any damage you do to the dragon will be permanent. There are milestones that reward you with loot when you have done a set amount of damage to the dragon. Dragon loot usually gives a huge bonus to stats and will only be usable for a set amount of time, after which the loot becomes inactive.
When I first fought the dragon I barely got near him, but after a couple of levels and some stats under your belt I was soon able to get close enough to him to wallop him on his chin. Under the chin I found out was the best place to get to as he stops using his huge health dropping attacks and starts pawing at you like a clumsy kitten. The dragon itself is an extremely good idea but I feel conflicted about my views when it came to attacking the dragon, because it seems to me that the dragon will just obliterate anyone who isnβt the right level as he comes close, but then any immediate threat is just shrugged off as soon as you get close to him. It really feels as though instead of an invisible wall that stops you overextending into the βExtremeβ zone has been replaced by a fire wall.
Creation mode
Fight the Dragon also contains a creator mode that allows you to easily create adventures that can be published so that other players can play your adventure. The creator is very easy to utilise and allows you to easily make maps that follow a certain theme and look visually appealing.
You can insert Monsters, Mini – Bosses and NPCβs to challenge the player and create a story for the adventure. There is a tutorial that can be used to get up to speed with the creator.
Graphics
The graphics of Fight the Dragon are what make and break the deal as they are brilliant graphics for the environment and texture wise everything in the game is visually appealing. The game is based on a tile floor and to follow the theme the player models are also very βsquare-likeβ, which in my opinion is not a good idea as they character models do look very obscene, especially the faces β¦ the are some of the creepiest smiles Iβve seen in years.
The dragon also follows a very rigid model but fits in a tiny bit better because some dragons are meant to look rugged.
Sound
Iβve played through a multitude of different biomes in my adventures and so far Iβm impressed with the ambient sounds, and spell and sword sounds donβt sound misplaced. When you start an adventure the initial background music is very sombre and helps to immerse you into the adventure.
Conclusion
All in all Fight the Dragon is an enjoyable dungeon crawler that has easy access to a dungeon creator for those of us who are creatively minded. The adventure makes the game feel personal and overall the gameplay is pretty slick once you get used to it. The only thing I feel thatβs missing is a skybox for under the map in the adventure creator, as you donβt get to make it look like your dungeon is above the clouds for the cloud temple lovers.
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