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Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon
by Hector Cortez
Friday, March 15 2002
Lacking in many areas, it's a shame this is the mediocre game based on the "Dragon's" legacy.
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Title:
Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon
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Platform:
Xbox
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Publisher:
Universal Interactive |
Developer:
Ronin Entertainment |
#
of Players: 1 |
Genre:
Adventure
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
Spring 2002 |
Grapevine:
A few words to Universal, "Why in the hell did you publish this?!" |
Why? That's the question one must ask. Why did the developers do this to Bruce Lee's name. This game had true potential but in the end fell extremely short of even being considered a rental. You would think that a Bruce Lee game would be cool, I mean come on, its Bruce Lee! Well, the developers did the opposite and put together a rushed game with no value.
The story in Quest of the Dragon is simple. As Lee, you’re called out of retirement to investigate your father’s disappearance and the “Black Lotus” criminal organization.
Just your luck, you uncover international weapons smuggling and “super-steroid” research, which will force you to confront the “Dragon Lady” Chi-Wan, who is the head of “Black Lotus” To add to the drama, her father was killed by Lee on his last mission. Now Lee only fights when it is absolutely necessary. So you must save your father and stop the "Black Lotus" ... all in 30 levels.
The gameplay in Quest of the Dragon is simple. Just press the face buttons to kick your opponents' behinds. You travel from level to level, in a predefined area, with no control of the camera (a real bummer) as groups of ninjas or thugs attack you. That is pretty much the whole game. Start a level, fight with groups of bad guys, finish level, start again... for 30 levels. Boring and repetitive. Another bummer is that the save point areas are far apart so if you die you might be forced to pass an entire area again in other to make it to the save point.
The game's main event is the fighting, which turns out to be a kick & punch show instead of true martial arts combat. You can punch, kick, and block along with using a special attack assigned to a button. You cannot jump, however, which doesn't make any sense at all. Easy enough to pick up in a few minutes but will become frustrating as you attemp to dish out combos only to get more kicks & punches.
Visually, Quest of the Dragon looks like a DreamCast game. No attempt was made to tap into the power of the Xbox which is a real shame. Characters are detailed to the minimum along with the stale backgrounds. Along with the mediocre graphics, the game will stutter at the beginning of levels. The levels do vary in style and look but they don't make sense in the way they were ordered. One level you are in a jungle, the next, you are in a small town on top of a mountain.
Now for the sound. Ah, the horrible sound. I know it is not hard to imitate Mr. Lee's voice but atleast try to do a good job at it. The voice overs are just plain ugly and the background music annoying. Same screams and music throughout the entire 30 levels, thats if you decide to sit through the whole game.
Overall, Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon ends up being another game that had potential but was rushed and ended up with boring gameplay, graphics, and sound. Definitely not worth the purchase and not even a rental. Keep your money and buy/rent something better, which is not hard at all, considering this game is pretty bad. A few words to Universal, "Why in the hell did you publish this?!"
--- Hector Cortez
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