Video Games : Panzer Dragoon Orta

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from: Sega Of America, Inc.

: Panzer Dragoon Orta

Price: $25.74
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: Video Game
EAN: 0010086640236
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Label: Sega Of America, Inc.
Manufacturer: Sega Of America, Inc.
Platform: Xbox
Publisher: Sega Of America, Inc.
Sales Rank: 9783
Studio: Sega Of America, Inc.



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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Panzer Dragoon: Orta is a quintessential action game with deceptively simple gameplay. You ride on the back of a flying dragon, blasting enemies and incoming missiles while your scaly friend soars along a predetermined path through gorgeous fantasy landscapes. Floating power-ups serve as tasty rewards to players who are particularly apt at dishing out carnage. Gigantic boss monsters make regular appearances, each one challenging the player to decipher the particular boss's attack pattern and weak points.

While its core gameplay is the very definition of old school, Panzer Dragon: Orta is much more than a shooter on rails. The dragon that Orta rides can shift into three forms: light, medium, and heavy. Success depends on a player's ability to quickly shift between forms in order to take advantage of the particular abilities of each. The medium form is useful in most situations. The light form is fast and maneuverable, ideal for quickly shooting down swarms of projectiles or attaining a favorable tactical position. The heavy form presents a slow, big target, but sports the most damaging weapons in the game. The shape-shifting aspect adds depth to the game, especially considering that each form can be upgraded with power-ups and enables a unique special ability.

Clever shifting strategy and a sharpshooter's eye earn a player much more than victory and power-ups. Skilled players are rewarded with extras such as passages of Panzer Dragoon fiction, concept sketches, additional playable characters, extra missions, and even the original Panzer Dragoon game from 1995. The goodies celebrate the rich history of the Panzer Dragoon series, and fill in the background of the game's unfolding story.

The story is worthy of praise. The game tells the tale of Orta, a young woman who is freed from lifelong imprisonment at the beginning of the game by a wondrous shape-shifting drag

Amazon.com Review:
Panzer Dragoon: Orta is a quintessential action game with deceptively simple gameplay. You ride on the back of a flying dragon, blasting enemies and incoming missiles while your scaly friend soars along a predetermined path through gorgeous fantasy landscapes. Floating power-ups serve as tasty rewards to players who are particularly apt at dishing out carnage. Gigantic boss monsters make regular appearances, each one challenging the player to decipher the particular boss's attack pattern and weak points.

While its core gameplay is the very definition of old school, Panzer Dragon: Orta is much more than a shooter on rails. The dragon that Orta rides can shift into three forms: light, medium, and heavy. Success depends on a player's ability to quickly shift between forms in order to take advantage of the particular abilities of each. The medium form is useful in most situations. The light form is fast and maneuverable, ideal for quickly shooting down swarms of projectiles or attaining a favorable tactical position. The heavy form presents a slow, big target, but sports the most damaging weapons in the game. The shape-shifting aspect adds depth to the game, especially considering that each form can be upgraded with power-ups and enables a unique special ability.

Clever shifting strategy and a sharpshooter's eye earn a player much more than victory and power-ups. Skilled players are rewarded with extras such as passages of Panzer Dragoon fiction, concept sketches, additional playable characters, extra missions, and even the original Panzer Dragoon game from 1995. The goodies celebrate the rich history of the Panzer Dragoon series, and fill in the background of the game's unfolding story.

The story is worthy of praise. The game tells the tale of Orta, a young woman who is freed from lifelong imprisonment at the beginning of the game by a wondrous shape-shifting dragon. You play as Orta as she and her dragon blast their way through an oppressive empire's legions of soldiers and bioengineered monsters, all the while seeking the truth behind Orta's imprisonment and destiny.

Disappointingly, the genuinely interesting story is told through subtitles instead of spoken English. Subtitles would be fine for slow sections or noninteractive cutscenes, but Orta's text is displayed during pitched battles. The frantic pace and constant action demand the player's full attention, making it difficult to read text when you're desperately gunning down 20 incoming missiles while dodging around a cliff wall and trying to draw a bead on a flying battleship's weak point. In other words: the game is so good, you shouldn't be forced to take your eyes off the action for even a second.

Challenging, rewarding, and beautiful, Panzer Dragoon: Orta stands with Halo as one of the must-have Xbox games. --Mike Fehlauer

Pros:

Cons:

Amazon.com Product Description:
After years of war, Earth's civilizations have been all but destroyed. Power has been consolidated within a single, dark empire. The rebellion's only hope is a mysterious young hero riding a dragon. In aerial-combat action game Panzer Dragoon Orta, you are that hero, and you'll employ multiple weapons and dragon powers against a variety of enemies. The game features unlockable subquests, that allow you to play the game from the enemy's perspective, and a branching story line with unique encounters.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - ONE OF THE BEST FANTASY ADVENTURES ON THE XBOX YOU NEVER PLAYED 9.5 OUT OF 10
I really don't understand why Sega only really ever does re-releases for Genesis titles, yet completely ignores the plethora of classic Saturn and Dreamcast titles which are waiting patiently to be resurrected. The Panzer Dragoon series was born on the Saturn, and did not resurface again until Orta was released on the Xbox, where the franchise, along with many others would die. This game did not sell very well, mostly over the fact it was hardcore, and did not reach out to a broader Xbox audience. And let's be honest, this game is bust-your-balls hard.
WHAT THE GAME IS: The follow-up to the classic Saturn franchise comes to life on the Xbox as a gorgeous on-rails shooter (Think Starfox, if you don't know what I mean by that term), with an amazing fantasy backdrop that no Xbox game can compare to. You play as a girl named Orta who was kept imprisoned because she is basically a war machine that the empire is trying to capture. When the village she is imprisoned at is attacked, a mysterious dragon rescues her, and from then on it serves as your form of transportation and your war machine. So you fly to different locations and try to discover the secrets of your past.
GRAPHICS: Old, and dated, but they really milk Xbox for all its got with its vast environments, plethora of enemies on-screen, many explosions, and more. It was real eye-candy when it released those six years ago.
MUSIC: It fits, and it's nice, but I expected a little more from a fantasy title.
SOUND: Explosions, decent voice-acting, even with the made-up language in the game. That's right, the game has its own language.
GAMEPLAY: The game is very difficult, do not make the mistake I did and put it even on normal because there are ten missions in the game and they're pretty damn hard (Hope you played a lot of Starfox at least). The controls work great, and are what you'd probably expect. It can be a little difficult to avoid obstacles sometimes, but the bosses are the things you want to worry about. Also worth mentioning, if you play up to five hours or beat the game you unlock the original Panzer Dragoon game because there is a crapload of stuff to unlock.
OVERALL: An amazing game that you never played, shame on you. But maybe it was because of the punishing difficulty and unfair save system (be warned) or perhaps you owned a PS2 instead of an Xbox and this game is an Xbox exclusive.
THE GOOD: An amazing on-rails shooter set in a wonderful fantasy backdrop, good controls, challenging gameplay, decent graphics.
THE BAD: Punishing difficulty, unfair save system (WHY?!).
PANZER DRAGOON (SATURN, PC, ARCADE) SCORE: 9 OUT OF 10
One nice feature hidden in Panzer Dragoon Orta is you can unlock the original classic if you beat the game or have five hours of recorded gameplay data. The original game is quite beautiful and mesmerizing and I was amazed by it.
WHAT THE GAME IS: A space shooter similar to Starfox, though not quite as good. A mysterious blue armored dragon is being chased by another dragon, and when the rider is shot, he flies down towards a guy who was just so happened to witness what happened and gives him the duty to ride the dragon to a specific location before he dies in front of you. So you ride the dragon, shoot things, and accomplish you goals.
GRAPHICS: This game came from an old 32-bit system and relatively looks bad, even compared to the original Playstation which was also a 32-bit system. But when I played the game my eyes lit up and I loved the graphics and environments no matter how ugly they were. Cutscene graphics were impressive however.
MUSIC: Feels a little cheesy, and out of place, but relatively good.
SOUNDS: Shooting, explosions, characters speaking the bizarre language featured in the game.
GAMEPLAY: Playing this port of the game, the controls are a little confusing and difficult at first but easy most of the time. This game is surprisingly easy in comparison to Panzer Dragoon Orta and I was able to defeat bosses pretty quickly.
OVERALL: Impressive, even by today's standards. Now I definitely want a Saturn, but the question is; Do I buy the Saturn or the PS2 first? Saturn for the Panzer Dragoon games? Or do I buy the PS2 for RPG Maker and Resident Evil 4? Someone help me decide.
THE GOOD: Good shooting gameplay, and it still feels like a classic.
THE BAD: Ugly graphics, confusing controls.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Check your bargain bin.
Let me start out by saying I got this game used for $6.99 so even though I wouldn't say its an amazing game, its still not a bad purchase. The graphics were amazing when the game came out, and I'd say they still hold up, although the clean Ninja Gaiden style graphics do have trouble keeping up with some of the texture focused games around today. The action is pretty different from what most would be used to. I liked it at first but it got pretty old pretty fast. The game gets pretty hard, making it very frustrating at times. The music was fine, nothing super memorable. The story line is the same case as the music, fine, but nothing spectacular. To tell you the truth I was really looking forward to this game because of all the great reviews and opinions focused around it, but it kind of let me down. If you like dragons I'd say there's no harm in giving this game a try.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - A classic onrails shooter that now works with the XBox 360...
...what more could you want!

This is a classic and beautiful game - this is for those of you who appreciate games like Rez, Psychonauts, Beyond Good & Evil - or any criminally overlooked games.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - the best game on the xbox
panzer dragon orta was by far one of the most gorgeous video games i have ever played an my life the graphics are ahead of its time gameplay is perfect stoyline good the ony thing i heated was the subtitles and the difficulty of the game if you loved the sega saturn verison you will loved the xbox verison


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Not so much a game but a test of your frustration...
This game requires a great great great deal of patience. The environment's graphics are eye catching. You play Orta who escapes from a prison where you were kept not for crimes but as a weapon to be used in future wars. This escape leads to a chase through different lands battling the Empire trying to recapture you. The game is a rail game in that the direction of motion is already chosen like a roller coaster. Your job is to dodge and destroy the enemy with the drone at your disposal. There are 10 long levels with bosses at each levels. The frustration comes in that any mode the game is in is not easy. You can make it up to and pass the boss but if you don't finish the level you either have to start ALL over again at the beginning of the level or if your lucky at the boss. This may or may not be a good thing since you start with the life points at the level you entered with. No whole new life so if you're barely alive you might as well restart the level. The other problem I have with this game is that if you do get to the boss and have to leave to do errand or homework there's no saving AT the boss. You either have to keep the box on or start the level all over again. Changing dragon modes takes practice but my next gripe regards control response after trasforming to the desired dragon especially from Heavy wing to Glide Attack. There's a lag in that you can't glide for 3-4 seconds after tranforming and this has nothing to do with the regeneration bar. I've played video games sinces 1976. This game is way difficult and not recommended for little kids. You will get blisters on your fingers from firing and transforming. There are subtitles and the characters speak an unfamilar language. The movies can be skipped by pressing "start". There are lots of "Easter eggs" in the game. The real bad thing about this is it's replayability. I'm presently on Level 4 (Normal) and after all the levels are done I WON'T be playing this game any more. There's just no way I'lll take that trip again. It's like Boot Camp. You'll do it once and don't want to do it ever again!!!

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