Hidden Dragon Legend is a 2.5D, hack and slash action game set in the mystical era
of Ancient China.
And- it's basically an old Kung Fu movie.
You've got warriors pulling off these insane jumps, over the roof tops, like they're all
wired up.
You've got bad voice acting- just like the English dubbing that used to go over the movies,
with the same low standard of talent and yet, high levels of enthusiasm and excessive hand
movements.
The story is like Resident Evil, only set in feudal China.
An evil clan known as the Trigram Organisation is using powerful elixirs, hoping to create
immortality.
However all of the human test subjects that they're working on are either dying, or perhaps
worse, turning into these soulless, heartless warriors.
And that's something the game does a great job of.
It always provides you with new enemy types, so you're always having to fight against something
new, each with their own set of moves, their own strengths and their own weaknesses.
And then there's Lu- that's you, and it's your job as the only one lucky enough to be
able to handle the power of the elixir, to get some revenge and take down the very Organisation
that ruined your life.
Is it an original plot?
Not really- but it does tell it well, always being clear and concise about why your doing
what your doing and it does have a few twists and turns along the way.
Combat is a simple mix of light and heavy attack combinations, both on the ground and
in the air.
In the air your less vulnerable, making the go to move a double jump, followed by a downward
smash onto the enemies' heads.
Then you've got this infinite supply of daggers, which come in extremely useful on some of
the boss fights.
In fact- they kind of break some of them...
Attacking's the easy part.
With a simple set of combinations and responsive controls, you always feel like Lu attacks
just how you want him to.
Dodging, on the other hand is a little bit more difficult.
You have to watch out all over the screen for whenever an enemy is telegraphing that
they're about to attack, then pull off a dodge at just the right time- because if you mess
up, it's usually not just one hit that you take, but two or three as your left in a state
of vulnerability.
My advice is to unlock the shadow strike as soon as possible, so if you do pull off a
dodge, you can counter and gain yourself some breathing room.
Every encounter is different, whether it's a different combination of enemy types , or
something more environmental based like fighting on an elevator where you can be knocked off
the sides.
Frustrating? Hell yes.
But it gives you something else to think about.
The game also features plenty of platforming sections.
And these needed a little more work.
At times you can't see where you're landing after a double jump, because the camera's
too close.
The grappling hook adds some nice variety to things, but often it's frustrating.
However, platforming does also provide one of the highlight set piece moments of the
game, when you're running through the mountains, with all the bridges falling down around you
and this army of mechanical spiders, chasing you only inches away from your body.
It's moments like this that leave you never knowing what's coming up next.
Gameplay is always throwing something new for you to do, even if you only have to
it once.
This quick time event sequence, for example, only happens twice throughout the entire game.
They didn't go overboard and make the whole game fall into a pattern of repeating the
same thing over and over again.
The backgrounds are always stunning, with incredible attention to detail and little
things that you may not notice until you really take the time to have a look back there.
The foreground animations are smooth and crisp, although the cutscenes do show the odd glitch
or sign of clipping.
The game's relatively short, taking me around 6 hours to complete, although on completion,
there are two new difficulty modes plus plenty of opportunity to go back and collect all
of the collectables and weapons that you may have missed, hidden amongst the game's levels.
The combat is satisfying, with its sparks of neon blue, to make you want to play it
again so you can become a master.
Each time you play, you get better and better, until you can clear out entire rooms of enemies
without taking a single hit, which in itself feels rewarding.
Is it the perfect game?
Hell no.
But it's worth trying out.
Thanks for watching.