''Rise of the Dragon'' is a
graphic adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
released in 1990 for
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
and
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
, and later remade for the
Sega CD
The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan ...
(1993) as well as the
Amiga. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by
Dynamix, a company that was better known as an action and flight simulator game developer. The game is set in a dark future
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...
version of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
Gameplay
Gameplay in ''Rise of the Dragon'' is similar to that of Dynamix's other 1990s adventure games, ''
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
''The Adventures of Willy Beamish'' is a graphic adventure game developed by Dynamix and published in 1991 by Sierra On-Line. The player takes on the role of nine-year-old Willy Beamish in a game that somewhat parodies the adventure genre. The g ...
'' and ''
Heart of China
''Heart of China'' is a 1991 adventure game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line. The game follows the exploits of pilot Jake "Lucky" Masters as he tries to rescue nurse Kate Lomax from a ruthless Chinese warlord.
Plot
In 1930s Ho ...
''. The screen shows the current room roughly from the protagonist Blade's perspective. Movement occurs with the cursor, which becomes an arrow to proceed to another room or a magnifying glass to get closer to a part of the current scene.
The game has a time meter that reflects the passage of time in the game. Each of Blade's actions takes up a certain amount of time. Some game events will only occur at particular times. The player must find a way to delay the plans of the game's villains, or the game will end after only three days and Blade will not have time to save the day. Travelling between locations can take up a lot of in-game time, so players must plan their moves strategically.
Several puzzles in ''Rise of the Dragon'' have multiple possible solutions. Blade's activities can influence the plot of the game later on. Game characters remember his earlier behavior, and if he says the wrong thing to key characters they will refuse to help him with his work, which can render the game unwinnable.
''Rise of the Dragon'' features two action scenes and an aim-and-shoot scene. It is possible to beat the game without playing through all of these scenes. If the player tries and fails to complete the action scenes several times, the game will offer the chance to automatically win the sequence and move on to the next scene.
Plot
In 2053, William 'Blade' Hunter is a former
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
officer turned private detective. When the mayor's rebellious daughter Chandra is found dead and horribly mutated after experimenting with a new designer drug called MTZ, Blade is called upon to track down those responsible. Blade makes contact with a streetwise friend of Chandra nicknamed "the Jake", who indicates Chen Lu as the dealer who had been supplying Chandra with the lethal drug. Blade goes to Chen Lu's apartment only to find Lu assassinated with an overdose of MTZ, as a punishment for attracting public attention by causing the death of a powerful man's daughter.
As Blade tries to reconcile with his girlfriend Karyn, who works at the Crime Records Bureau, he enlists her help to track down Lu's accomplices and discover the
mutagenic nature of the MTZ drug. It is revealed that the MTZ business is part of an underground Chinese Mafia operation led by Deng Hwang, a megalomaniacal drug kingpin intent on world domination. Blade also meets an old fortune teller, who tells him the present year coincides with that of the foretold coming of
Chinese dragon
The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish, but are most ...
Bahumat.
Blade disrupts the MTZ production schedule by blowing up the local drug plant, but in doing so he is spotted by Hwang's men. Hwang has the Jake captured in an attempt to lure Blade into a trap, but Blade manages to rescue the Jake and later sabotages the Triad's plans to poison the
Hollywood reservoir with MTZ and exterminate the population of Los Angeles. In retaliation, Hwang has Karyn kidnapped and strapped to a chair, threatening to inject MTZ into her system.
Blade infiltrates Hwang's headquarters and, depending on the player's actions, either manages or fails to rescue Karyn. He eventually comes face-to-face with Hwang himself, who suddenly transforms into the dragon Bahumat. In a climactic final battle, Bahumat is defeated by Blade. Outside the headquarters, Blade is greeted by the mayor but angrily punches him for using Blade as a pawn in his crackdown operation and endangering his life and Karyn's. Blade then walks away either with Karyn, if she has survived, or alone.
Ports
Developed by
Game Arts
is a Japan, Japanese video game developer, developer and video game publisher, publisher of video games located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Originally established in 1985 as a computer software company, it expanded into producing for a nu ...
, several differences existed between the Sega CD and MS-DOS versions of ''Rise of the Dragon'', the most prominent being the addition of voice acting to the Sega CD release. The graphics of the Sega CD version use 64 on screen colors compared to the 256 for the computer, which gives it a green tint.
The Sega CD version adds voice actors to the game (including
Cam Clarke
Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...
in the main role as William 'Blade' Hunter) and was given a MA-17 rating by the
Videogame Rating Council
The Videogame Rating Council (V.R.C.) was introduced by Sega of America in 1993 to rate all video games that were released for sale in the United States and Canada on the Sega Master System, Genesis, Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, and Pico. The rating h ...
. Unlike the ESRB rating system, VRC ratings do not indicate the reasons why a game received a particular rating, but mature content in the game includes profanity, references to a fictional illicit drug,
cross-dressing, prostitution and partial female nudity. A scene with a
French kiss
A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are se ...
and implied sex was removed from the Sega CD release.
Reception
''Rise of the Dragon'' was a commercial hit; Craig Ritchie of ''
Retro Gamer
''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...
'' later called it "very successful".
''
Computer Gaming World'' stated that ''Rise of the Dragon'' more effectively depicted a cyberpunk atmosphere than other games. The magazine liked the story, non-text parser interface, audio, and the fact that completing the arcade sequences was optional, and concluded that the game "is not only an outstanding product in its own right, but points the way for the future of graphic adventures".
''
Dragon'' gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
''
The One
The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...
'' gave the Amiga version of ''Rise of the Dragon'' an overall score of 92%, noting "evident" stylistic influence from ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'', and praising the game's graphics, stating that "''Rise of the Dragon'' has probably some of the most detailed artwork yet seen in an adventure". ''The One'' calls ''Rise of the Dragon'' a "very entertaining futuristic tale, with plenty of challenge" and praises the game's plot twists, and the game's multiple endings. ''The One'' also expresses the need for
lateral thinking
Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was first u ...
in regards to the game's puzzles, stating that the player must "put a lot of thought into what
hey'redoing". ''The One'' criticises the controls and UI, calling the controls "a little limiting", and expresses that they require getting used to.
''The One's'' review of the DOS version of ''Rise of the Dragon'' echoed the opinion of the Amiga version, giving it 89%, and praising its graphics and "near-faultless" design.
In 1991, ''Rise of the Dragon'' won a Special Award for Artistic Achievement from ''Computer Gaming World''.
In 1996, the magazine ranked it as the 83rd best game of all time, stating: "So good that a rival publisher tried to steal it, this cyberpunk game used
rotoscoping, hot spot mapping, and
cinematic cuts long before they were standard",
and the 12th most innovative computer game for pioneering of "using a dynamic, hot-spotted map as the game world travel interface".
In 1991, ''
PC Format
''PC Format'' was a computer magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc, and licensed to other publishers in countries around the world. In publication between 1991 and 2015, it was part of Future plc's ''Format'' series of magazines ...
'' named ''Rise of the Dragon'' one of the 50 best computer games ever. The editors wrote: "When you do finish marvelling at the excellent on-screen graphics, you'll want to get right into the action too".
''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' deemed the Sega CD version "an almost perfect translation of the PC title". Though they criticized the absence of replay value, they approved of the gritty tone and "atmospheric" graphics, and scored it a 7.6 out of 10.
A ''
Computer Games Strategy Plus
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'' retrospective in 2000 summarized ''Rise of the Dragon'' as "an underrated classic
..way ahead of its time".
References
External links
*
''Rise of the Dragon''at Hall of Light Amiga database
*
''Rise of the Dragon'' review at Adventure Classic Gaming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rise Of The Dragon
1990 video games
Adventure games
Amiga games
Cyberpunk video games
DOS games
Classic Mac OS games
Neo-noir video games
Sega CD games
Sierra Entertainment games
Detective video games
Game Arts games
Single-player video games
Dynamix games
Video games adapted into comics
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Noriyuki Iwadare