Hidden Dragon Legend

Ultimately, Hidden Dragon: Legend is a fairly average beat-em-up/platformer, but its sky-high production values and sheer love of spectacle is sure to delight players.

Hidden Dragon Legend is not a terrible game, and it does try hard at times. Some decent art design and combat mechanics offer the potential for a bit of enjoyment. However, it doesn’t present enough variation in gameplay to stay fresh, and the combat – a major part of the game – begins to break down when things get hectic. Irritation, frustration, and maybe boredom will begin to seep in after the initial fun, making this platforming adventure less than legendary.

A middle-of-the-road effort: there are certainly a number of people out there who will be able to work through its less-than-polished mechanics long enough to enjoy the silly story, which is reminiscent of classic Chinese action cinema in the best possible ways. Then there will be folks who fall on the other side of the fence, without the patience to deal with the slightly clunky controls and dark, slightly muddied aesthetic.

In general it's a mediocre game, with a gameplay that only has some good moments. Although the combat system can hook a little, the inconsequential phases of platforms and repetitive clashes will cause you to lose patience before exceeding half of their levels.

Hidden Dragon Legend’s cover art should appear in any search engine’s results for mixed bag. The combat it offers is challenging and genuinely fun, but the traversal that comes between it is far too often broken and unfair. As you run through Imperial China, you’ll be enchanted by the mood, only to be brought right back out by stiff cutscenes and terribly compressed weapon sounds. Upon reflection, I truly believe that MegaFun Games put real passion into this project, though; even the elements that don't work are laid out in a way where they'd be very enjoyable if they did. It's just a shame that the finished project is so deeply flawed.

Hidden Dragon Legend tries to do more than it can truly do. The combat system is deep but with too many problems, many game sections are frustrating and the game has overall bad animations.

It’s the frustrating sort of hard that comes about because of poor mechanics rather than elegant design. Despite your demon powers, the rules of this particular fight club start off by declaring that they’re going to be totally different for you and your enemies.

Hidden Dragon Legend offers a feast of combat action and platforming with a beefy challenge but comes with a host of irritations too.

Hidden Dragon: Legend is an indie title that offers an initial burst of satisfying combat, but that quickly devolves into a tedious stream of identikit encounters coupled with platforming that feels like a tacked-on afterthought.

Hidden Dragon Legend is the classic example of a game trying to be bigger than it’s potential budget or development. There is a great idea here marred by too many issues for me to really recommend this to anyone except the hardcore action or indie supporters. There is fun to be had, but it comes with serious caveats.

Hidden Dragon isn’t terrible, but it’s sorely stuck not one, but two generations in the past. The sidescroller is by no means dead, yet those working in this shrinking subgenre are either emulating its most celebrated champions or pushing the boundaries with something new and inventive. Hidden Dragon does neither, nor does it have the visual oomph that can often help overlook a game’s shortcomings.