Blue Dragon Plus (DS) Review

Blue Dragon Plus is the follow up to the Xbox 360's Blue Dragon, but may be a surprise for those expecting another traditional RPG.

The game features largely the same cast of characters as its predecessor, including spiky-haired Shu, pint-sized Marumaro and mercenary Zola.

The plot revolves around the re-emergence of Nene, the main bad guy in the original game who, of course, everyone thought would never return.

While Blue Dragon Plus features a fairly standard RPG-style storyline and the obligatory side-quests and levelling up, battles take the form of a real-time strategy exercise (where you control units on the battlefield through a point and click system) rather than being turn-based. This isn't a new concept in the world of modern fantasy RPGs and the execution here is far from perfect.

Each team member has the ability to wield special powers in combat through their respective Shadows, which loom up behind their owners in the form of various bizarre creatures, depending on the character.


These special powers can be elemental attacks, extra strong physical attacks or healing capabilities. Shadows are also occasionally pitched in direct battle against enemies' own Shadows, which sees you frantically 'scribbling' on the screen with your stylus to make your Shadow bigger than that of your nemesis to win.

As you might expect, each character has a particular strength, such as strong magic attacks, which tend to be tempered with a weakness, such as poor defence skills. It's up to you to use each team member to the best of their abilities, which can be tricky - particularly at the start of the game - as it's often difficult to tell which player is which due to their size on the screen and, in any case, there's so much information to remember about each character's strengths and weaknesses that battles can be a tad hit and miss at times.


The flow of battles is also severely impacted by the movement of the characters on the battlefield, as they are restricted by a grid-based environment through which they can't simply run across in a diagonal line; rather, they must walk relatively slowly in a robotic right and left fashion until they get to the enemy or treasure chest they need to get to.

Having said that, the control system is easy to get a handle on and makes good use of the D-pad to pan across the battlefield and the stylus to select characters and execute attacks. The music is also a delight and is catchy enough to stay in your head for some time.

Graphically, the game is easy on the eye, with neatly drawn sprites being the order of the day on the battlefield, in addition to impressive dual-screen full motion video cutscenes illustrating the main story in between fights.


However, the long, dull conversations between various characters about nothing in particular are likely to bore most players to tears between battles, whilst the combat itself soon gets repetitive, making completing the game something of a chore.

For this reason, it's likely that Blue Dragon Plus will only be a real draw for fans of the previous game, or those who have already worked their way through the numerous better RPGs available on the DS.

6/10

Dipika Patel