Hands On: Legend of the Dragon

 

Thanks to the magic elves that govern the inner workings of postal services the world over, we finally got our preview copy of the PSP version of The Game Factory and Neko Entertainment‘s Legend of the Dragon. Yeah, it was a few weeks later than we expected but hey, a new game’s a new game.

Legend of the Dragon is a new fighting game for the Sony PSP (it’s also slated for release on the Sony PS2 and the Nintendo Wii). The game is based on the Bohbot Kids Network (BKN) animated series of the same name and features 18 characters from the show.

Get the lowdown right after the jump!

 

Thanks to the magic elves that govern the inner workings of postal services the world over, we finally got our preview copy of the PSP version of The Game Factory and Neko Entertainment‘s Legend of the Dragon. Yeah, it was a few weeks later than we expected but hey, a new game’s a new game.

Legend of the Dragon is a new fighting game for the Sony PSP (it’s also slated for release on the Sony PS2 and the Nintendo Wii). The game is based on the Bohbot Kids Network (BKN) animated series of the same name and features 18 characters from the show.

Players can choose to go through the usual Quick Fight, Time Attack and Survival modes or jump straight into the more time-consuming Quest Mode. There’s no arcade mode in the single-player mode of Legend of the Dragon, but in Quest Mode, players can choose to play as almost all of the characters available by choosing to help them defend their respective temples.

In Quest Mode, players can choose to play as either Ang or Ling. You then have to navigate your way across a map of the LotD world, fulfilling the conditions set forth by the other Zodiac guardians you come across (some of them can’t be beaten unless you use combos, special attacks, etc.). Sometimes you can also get into random battles against disposable lackeys. Defeating guardians and lackeys can net you some gems and scrolls that can help increase your stats.

Fighting is pretty easy. The Square button is used for punches, Triangle for kicks, Circle for throws, and X for blocking. Each of the characters also have their own guardian forms. Transforming is executed by simultaneously pressing the L and R shoulder buttons.

As for special attacks, you won’t find any of the traditional half-circle + punch moves here. When in guardian form, all of the playable characters can unleash their special attacks by holding down both the L and R buttons and pressing either square, Circle, or Triangle. This is what The Game Factory refers to as the game’s spellcasting system.

Once you trigger your special attack, you will either have to input a random series of button presses or do some button mashing depending on what kind of attack you chose to go with. For example, holding down the L and R buttons and pressing Square will result in an energy wave attack where you and your opponent will have to mash the Square and X buttons respectively. This is one is especially fun when you’re playing against a friend in multiplayer versus.

The graphics aren’t anything to write home about, but the characters’ looks do stay true to the cartoon. Fans of the cartoon will also appreciate the unlockable katas and videos, the latter especially so. One of the unlockable videos we came across was “Chow Chow”, the ninth episode of the cartoon. As for non-fans, Legend of the Dragon still looks to be a pretty promising game, if only for the multiplayer appeal of the special attacks.