Blazing Dragons
| a game by | Crystal Dynamics, Inc. |
| Genre: | Adventure/RPG |
| Platforms: | Playstation, PSX |
| Editor Rating: | 8/10, based on 2 reviews, 3 reviews are shown |
| User Rating: | 8.0/10 - 4 votes |
| Rate this game: | |
| See also: | Point-and-Click Quests |
DownloadsOverview
From Terry Jones, one of the Monty Python Troupe members, comes Blazing Dragons. This adventure takes you back in time to the days of dragons, knights and princesses. Tricky puzzles, over 40 characters and arcade competitions make up this hilarious title.
Blazing Dragons is an adventure game that stars Flicker, a young, aspiring, inventor dragon of sorts. Well, I wouldn't call him an actual inventor, but he is good at putting things together to help solve puzzles. Most of his ideas are used in situations other than our hero intended, but they always seem to get the job done.
Flicker is one of the lowliest dragons in all of Camelhot, the center of dragondom. Flicker has taken quite a liking to the king's daughter, Flame, and wants to marry her at all costs. Unfortunately, the king has other thoughts about who will marry his daughter. He is holding a tournament, and the winner will be chosen as the most worthy to wed his daughter. So, Flicker should just enter the tournament, win it, and he will have the hand of the princess, right? Not quite. To enter the tournament, you must be a knight. To become a knight, you must first serve under a knight as a squire. Since Flicker is not even a squire, he has some work ahead of him convincing a knight to take him on as his squire.
Meanwhile, Evil Sir George of the Humans announces his entry in the race. Not only does the winner receive Flame's hand but will also replace the king as the ruler of Camelhot. Since the tournament is only open to dragons, Sir George enters a mysterious Black Dragon. The king hears of this and sends his Dragon Knights to investigate this Black Dragon. He sends you, Flicker, to the kitchen to do the dishes. This is where the game begins.
Gameplay
Blazing Dragons is your traditional point-and-click adventure game with a few twists nestled in between. You play as our hero, Flicker, and it is your job to guide him through all of the challenges and puzzles that stand in your way. Nothing can stop you from wedding Flame now, except for the dishes.
Flicker carries only a bag with him. This bag is used to collect various items on your quest. Pick up anything and everything. If you are able to pick something up, you will need it at one point or another. One of the first items you will encounter and place in the bag is Flicker's invention book. This book is crucial to the completion of the game. Study all of the components for inventions well. Remember, sometimes you will have to make do with the materials available.
Flicker has some default actions that he can try in every situation. These actions also give tiny clues if something or someone is worth your attention. For example, the first action is the eye. Move the eye to the object you wish to look at. The eye is normally droopy, but when there is something worth looking at, the eye awakens. This helps you determine what is valuable and what is just a waste of time. The next action available comes in the form of a shoe. The shoe will go into a walking motion when you are on an available path, but is still when you are not able to walk to the area you are attempting. Thirdly, we are able to talk with the various individuals we encounter along the way. For this, we have the jaw icon. This icon is a motor mouth when near someone worth talking to, but otherwise is silent. Finally, you have the claw. This enables you to pick up items along the way. When near an available object, the hand will turn to a grasp. Otherwise, it is just an extended hand. Use this often. You never know what you will need down the road.
The object of Blazing Dragons is plain and simple -- become a knight and marry the princess. Since you are not even a squire, a knight in training, you have a lot of work ahead. The king has sent his four best knights out to find the Black Dragon of Sir George's. You get stuck in the castle doing dishes. The king will not let you leave until the dishes are done. Unfortunately, there are days worth of dishes if you were to do them by hand. Remember, you are an inventor.
After passing the first challenge, the king finds that all four of his knights are trapped in some predicament in four separate locations. With nobody left, his only choice is to let you leave the castle, and attempt to rescue his knights. After you decipher all of the puzzles and free the knights, the last knight agrees to take you in as his squire (he needs his laundry done). The game continues on in this fashion until you become a knight, win the tournament and marry the princess.
In a complete departure from the rest of the game, there are "Arcade Sequences" located in various parts of your quest. The arcade sequences vary depending on your location. The first you will encounter is called Cat-A-Pult. It is exactly as the name implies. Your mission is to fling a cat at the 10 knightly mugs trying to penetrate into a replica of the king's castle. This game takes good aim and a feel for your Cat-A-Pult. It should only take 2 or 3 tries before you get the feel of it and win. The next sequence you will encounter is the dance contest. You are challenged to a contest to see who is a better dancer. To win the contest, a graphic of the Playstation controller is on the screen. Buttons will light up and you must push them (sort of like that old Simon game). This is the easiest of them all. It should only take 1 or 2 tries to win this. The third arcade sequence is the Rabid Rabbits. This is a game of "which hat is the rabbit under?" Just keep your eye on the rabbit that does not have rabies and you will win. The only problem is that your eyes get watery and you must blink or you can't see. Timing is everything on this one. The last arcade sequence is the thumb wrestling. This is the final contest in the tournament. Win at this and you will have Flame!
Graphics
The graphics in Blazing Dragons are comical, cartoony, and perfect for this game. Since this is a thinker's game, the action is not jumping out at you at 60 frames per second, but it is not supposed to. The designers did an excellent job, making the graphics humorous and clear enough to locate the items you are seeking. In the ending sequence, one of the characters that you encounter a couple of times is on his cellular telephone talking to his agent. He is complaining about his part in the game, how he should be the star and how in the sequel, they need someone who graduated high school to do the graphics. I don't know if the graphics designer graduated high school or not, but he did an excellent job with this game.
Audio
The audio is really one of the highlights of the game. The audio I am referring to is not music but dialog. All of your conversations are spoken in an English accent and are hysterical. The voice-overs were done by Cheech Marin, Harry Shearer and Terry Jones (Monty Python fame). As you would expect, almost nobody gives a straight answer and the voices fit the characters perfectly.
Bottom Line
If you like the point-and-click adventure, Blazing Dragons is at the top of the list in this category. I usually don't have the patience to finish one of these games, but I finished this one. The puzzles are difficult but obvious. The humor is ever-present and the laughter is non-stop. My only complaint is that the game was a bit short. Also, don't read the hints in the back of the booklet until you are completely stuck, because they are a bit too revealing. On the whole, this is good fun for the whole family. We enjoyed putting our minds together to find the solutions to the puzzles. We all know that the days of gathering around the fire have been replaced with gathering around the Playstation, and this game is worth the gather.
Download Blazing Dragons
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Game Reviews
People say:
Blazing Dragons is a colorful and amusing graphic adventure set in a medieval period. Personally, I'm not a fan of point-and-click games where you have to move your cursors around the screen to look for "hot spots," but that's because I do not have the patience for them. The puzzles in Blazing Dragons are a little challenging, but that's mainly due to them being obscure. Some things you have to piece together just do not make sense to me! This game helps by having the main character think out loud some hints that help you just enough to keep it interesting and not frustrating. This one was very funny to watch. The scripts are a tickle!
Point-and-click adventures have never been my forte, but I do enjoy them. Blazing Dragons was very interesting. Every other medieval story I've heard has always had kings, knights and peasants that were human. This game has dragons as the characters. There are humans in the game, but they're generally bad. You have to love the English accents and this game is full of them. No lame voices either! There's plenty to do, and since the main charader you control is an inventor, you're always putting something together. In other words, the puzzles are good for your brain. There is a slight problem with load time every time you enter a new room or scene.
In my opinion, Discworld, even to date, has been the best and most entertaining point-and-click adventure ever to surface on the PlayStation. This decision was abruptly ended, however, when I fell into the side-splitting humor in Blazing Dragons. The title has everything you need to grab your attention and keep you there for hours on end. I like the game speed and minimal loading time that causes action to always advance at a steady pace. Grab your thinking cap and exercise your problem-solving ability and fell into the life of a dragon with a quest. This one is a perfect back-up when the thrill of DW has left, be prepared to laugh.
On the same slant as Discworld, but a lot easier, this is a very colorful and fun adventure game. This type of game Is probably more familiar to computer game players in the category of games by Sierra. True to this style, there are some great dialogues and neat puzzles to solve. Overall the game is pretty intuitive with a built-in hint feature (the Information Booth). This game seems to be geared toward all skill levels due to its wit and hints. I'm a big fan of these types from way back, and I like the twist of dragons as the central characters and the whole Camelot pun. The access time is its only drawback but it isn't a real problem. A great time for adventurers.
If you're a PlayStation owner who enjoyed Discworld, then you need serious psychiatric help. Seriously, this type of game is highly amusing and has enjoyed success and popularity on the PC, and now on the PSX.
After the dreadfully campy voice acting in Resident Evil, you'll really appreciate the excellent voice talents displayed here, which include Cheech Marin, Harry Shearer (a highly underrated comedian), and Terry Jones. Blazing Dragons packs in a lot more than (Discworld, but still suffers from non-replayability factor, although it does give you the option of being able to skip voice sequences you might've heard already. Blazing Dragons is great fun, but you should probably rent it first.
Snapshots and Media
Playstation Screenshots
