Panzer Dragoon Orta
2002
- shooter
- action
- science fiction
- single player
The story
The fourth installment of the Panzer Dragoon series has you playing Orta, a young girl who has been imprisoned by the Empire. Under a wave of attack, the prison camp is broken through by a mysterious dragon, and Orta takes it upon herself to ride the dragon, and destroy the Empire once and for all. Along the way, she will also discover her own destiny, and the mystery surrounding her new friend. Simply put, you have limited control of the dragon for most of the game, as your trigger finger will be shooting non-stop at the enemies that fly around the area. Orta will be your main source of fire-power when you simply press the fire button, but by pressing and holding, the aim cursor will change, allowing you to fire a burst of power from the dragon at whatever the cursor aims at. The dragon itself can change into three forms at a press of a button. Each form has a different style of attack and power ability. A port of the original Panzer Dragoon is included.
What it’s like
Hard-edged, sun-bleached desert and sky rendered in the Xbox era's painterly-meets-polygonal style, with saturated ochre canyons, blue-violet haze, and sudden bursts of white and orange where the dragon's energy blooms. The camera rides a fixed track behind the dragon, so the frame is always moving forward through vast, open air, with airships, ruined temples and crumbling industrial ridges drifting past at a steady, unhurried pace. The score is a swelling orchestral-ambient mix with choral lift and long sustained chords, broken by crisp shot-and-explosion punctuation. The vibe is wistful, epic and quietly lonely: a long-haul flight, a late-evening session with the sound up, or a lazy weekend of shooting from the sky. Violence is constant but bloodless, with enemies dissolving into fireballs and debris; the tension is in the fast crosshair work and boss patterns rather than dread or gore. Its rhythm is brisk and arcade-like, with occasional calm moments that let the wide landscape breathe. It suits players who want a stylish, slightly melancholy rail shooter with a young heroine, a sense of ancient mystery, and nostalgia for the classic Panzer Dragoon lineage.
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