Crimson Dragon

Given its feel as a challenging, enjoyable homage to gaming's past, we relished Crimson Dragon for serving hard-earned silver linings to those wiling to stick with it.

You have to have kind of an addictive personality to really get into it. A lot of the game is propelled forward by its grindy levels and progression system, and if this isn’t your thing, then you’ll likely get incredibly frustrated and just turn the game off to play more Killer Instinct.

Crimson Dragon is an impressive game that falls short of Panzer Dragoon‘s lofty heights.

Its pretty world and detailed monsters are slightly offset by a lack of variety, and its free flying segments feel kind of pointless when they don't let you do anything you otherwise couldn't on-rails. But its score-based, arcade core and digestible levels will keep you coming back for more until you're sittin' pretty on top of the leaderboards.

Crimson Dragon isn't a bad game in itself, but its epic scale pales in comparison to what every Panzer Dragoon fan would have expected from it. Technically it doesn't look like a next gen game at all.

Just don't expect anything particularly "next-gen" about the game. The visuals are reminiscent of any given game from the end of the X360 or PS3's life cycle. This is an update to an old style of gameplay, but there's not a lot new here. There's a lot of old to love, though.

A solid railshooter in a fascinating fantasy world. But it can’t compete with the likes of Panzer Dragoon Orta, Rez or Child of Eden.

It needs a long period of adaptation, since the complex controls match the complex gameplay we're facing. Crimson does have its audience, but maybe it's not wide enough for a launch title.

Despite the efforts and the good intentions, Crimson Dragon betrays its origins: you can definitively tell this project was born a generation ago, and the scars of a troubled development are visible. The result, even if it's not that bad, is surely far far away from its spiritual predecessors.

Leveling up dragons and replaying for ranks and leaderboard score might be enough to garner Crimson Dragon a cult following, but for most people the bungled core mechanic is a deal-breaker. This dragon might fly, but it never truly soars.

At a cheaper price, Crimson Dragon would be a little more acceptable; although it’s enjoyable at its core, there are few redeeming features.

Crimson Dragon isn't bad, and there's plenty to do if you simply must unlock and evolve every dragon, but it runs out of ideas long before it runs out of missions.

It's a thin and troubled tribute to the original Panzer Dragoons, slim on the ambition, vision and art that made its predecessors what they were - and some way short of the invention and execution in the games they inspired.

Crimson Dragon is a good game. Funny, sometimes engaging, but it isn't Panzer Dragoon and although sometimes it really gets close, it fails to reach the heights of its predecessor.

Crimson Dragon entertains most when it's the power fantasy it wants to be - when you're mopping up streams of curious beasts from an early level, with credits and items flying into your backpack as you 100% a level. When you're beset, besieged, and bullied by streams of incoming missiles, you feel cheated rather than challenged, and the beckoning gem shop makes the process feel dirty.

Though Crimson Dragon has a slight next gen aesthetic, the controls are unintuitive and sluggish – proving that you can’t change the recipe after you’ve started cooking.

There’s some nostalgic value, too, but its weak graphics and frustrating free-flight boss fights make it tough to enjoy the stroll down memory lane.

Could have been a great time-sink, but Crimson Dragon disappoints. [Jan 2014, p.63]

As long as you go in not expecting a life changing experience, there’s an afternoon or two of enjoyment to be had here.

Crimson Dragon will probably hit its public among the fans of Panzer Dragoon, who will enjoy the old-school gameplay and atmosphere. On the other hand, gamers who just bought an Xbox One to experience new things or at least awesome graphics are in for a big disappointment: Crimson Dragon could have been an Xbox 360 game. That was the initial plan before it was delayed to the next gen system. In spite of a good artistic lead, the graphics are quite poor, the levels are very short and the railed cam is coming from another era. Happily, for 20€, the RRP of this digital exclusive stays quite reasonable.

This is, by all means, an Xbox360 game. And it could have been good, if the control scheme wasn't messed up and the scene so full and hard to read.

It’s a title that feels devoid of passion, and not even the great soundtrack can save the game’s flying 18 wheelers from utter mediocrity.

Despite some quality visual design, Crimson Dragon is a rough-shod, clumsy experience that yields little gameplay depth or variety and frequently threatens to nickel-and-dime players.

There's a solid game somewhere in here, but it's one that continually trips over itself and the big name game of old it's filling in for. All in all, it's a bitter reunion for Panzer Dragoon fans.

Crimson Dragon is flawed with awfully-implemented controls and a boring gameplay experience.

Limited core gameplay, broken systems, poor controls, a terribly told story and underwhelming visuals make Crimson Dragon Xbox One’s worst launch game by far.

It’s during its harder moments that Crimson Dragon pushes you away. A combination of heavy handling and poor communication make you feel hoodwinked rather than outmatched, and the ability to buy continues with Gems you’ve purchased with real money sullies the challenge. It’s a good job that the Zen gardens of those easier levels are always there to return to.

Crimson Dragon frustrates more than it entertains. Flying your dragon can feel good, but it's only when the game takes a rare breath and slows down that it feels right. The ability to raise dragons is mildly intriguing, but they take forever to evolve into slightly more effective warriors, making the process more of a distraction than a rewarding challenge.

Not nearly next-gen in any aspect and not even all that fun to play.

With fire breathing dragons and breathtaking views Crimson Dragon could be an intense and unique experience. But it isn’t. Instead it’s a dull and ugly adventure that doesn’t take advantage of the premises of the genre nor the dragons.

Simply a bit boring. [Issue#142, p.92]

With its attractively designed dragons, its music and its targeting system, Crimson Dragon had potential. Unfortunately, this spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon fails in terms of gameplay and graphics, as if everything was stuck in the past... and sometimes nostalgia can't transcend reality.

Bad controls, absolutely no atmosphere and an old gen graphics make Crimson Dragon the worst game for the Xbox one line up.

Spiritual or not this is a poor sequel to the Panzer Dragoon games, and its tame and repetitive action will certainly not win the series any new fans.

Panzer Dragoon always was a showcase of Saturn and Xbox hardware, but this spiritual sequel fails to take advantage of Xbox One hardware, and doesn't capture the flow of the originals, resulting in a game that doesn't touch its legacy.

I could forgive all of these missteps, the weird microtransactions, the underwhelming graphics, the off-kilter systems, if, on a very basic level, it was fun. It's not. Crimson Dragon manages to take riding on a sweet flying dragon and make it a bland, frustrating slog. In my book, that's about as unforgivable as sins come.

Crimson Dragon is clumsy, frustrating and often downright hideous. I realize that the Xbox One's launch lineup was pretty underwhelming, but even those new owners desperate for software to play on it should keep Crimson Dragon low on their lists.