Dragon’s Lair – experience the Retro Arcade game on Android phones & tablets

by Paul Wilks Feb 16, 2012 12:00 PM – 1 Comment

Install

Dragon’s Lair is not so much a game as it is an interactive cartoon. Resurrected from the arcades of the early 1980′s, the title puts you in the role of Dirk The Daring, a knight who is trying to rescue a princess from under the nose of a dragon. To reach the dragon, and the princess, Dirk has to navigate a huge and daunting castle chock full of death opportunities. Very, very retro and incredibly frantic gameplay make for a unique experience that needs to be played to be grasped properly…

Price: $4.99

Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone

AndroidTapp.com Android Game Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Well animated graphics!
Fast and engrossing gameplay!
Detailed sound!

Cons

Repeating levels.
Expensive.

Features:

My first thoughts about Dragon’s Lair were that it was a cartoon from the 80′s. So it was intriguing to learn that it was actually a fully animated arcade game. You are Dirk the Daring, a slightly stupid looking but incredibly brave knight. In order to rescue the princess he needs to work his way through a castle that’s so ridden with booby-traps, monsters, snakes and fire that you’ll most often see Dirk die in a variety of quite horrifying ways as you progress.

You control our plucky nobleman with on-screen controls (although it’s Xperia Play optimised if you have one of those devices)- left, right, up and down, plus a sword button. These buttons have to be pressed just at the right time to save Dirk from certain death so timing is crucial here. The buttons light up on screen at the moment you have to press then- any delay and it’s all over for Dirk (at least until he re-spawns).

There are two modes: Home: where you work through until completion, or Arcade: where if you die you simply go to the next section (which is very forgiving). You also have infinite lives on Home Mode, but you can up the ante and reduce this to make the game harder.

Dragon’s Lair is quite fun, although I found myself focusing on the lighting buttons rather than the animated action. Dirk really can die in such a variety of ways; from falling into molten lava to electrocution, suffocation or being eaten. In that way the cartoon is often quite grisly, but the game quickly takes you to the next ‘bit’ so there’s no time to dwell on his demise.

The sucky element of the gameplay is the way many levels are repeated, or reversed. It means you play quite a few sections over and over again, and it feels overly familiar and a little repetitive. It’s decidedly challenging though and you really need to be quick witted to progress through the game on Home Mode. There is also a slew of options in the game’s menu which include things like high scores and links to buy Dragon’s Lair merchandise.

I think I must have been too young to notice this when it was such an arcade hit, but I’m sure there will be retro-gaming fans out there who will probably love this. Will it engage with a 21st century audience though? I’m not quite as convinced.

Watch on Mobile

: Dragon’s Lair – Gameplay 1

: Dragon’s Lair – Gameplay 2

: Dragon’s Lair – Gameplay 3

: Dragon’s Lair – Gameplay 4

: Dragon’s Lair – Intro trailer

: Dragon’s Lair – Cut screen

: Dragon’s Lair – The princess

: Dragon’s Lair – Lots of exciting opportunities to die

: Dragon’s Lair – Instructions 1

: Dragon’s Lair – Instructions 2

: Dragon’s Lair – Instructions 3

: Dragon’s Lair – Various scenery and settings

: Dragon’s Lair – Lots of resources to download

: Dragon’s Lair – Front page

: Dragon’s Lair – Main menu

: Dragon’s Lair – Settings

Fun Factor:

Dragon’s Lair will be a sure-fire pull to those who remember the original arcade adventure. Gameplay is fun mostly, although this depreciates when levels are repeated which is sadly often. The pace of the game is frantic and you don’t really get much time to pause and collect your thoughts. Some people I’m sure will revel in the trickiness of the gameplay, while others might be put off by it.

Addictive:

After a while the competitive streak does come out in you and it can get quite engrossing. However, I think you need to be quite persistent for this to kick in. If the thought of rescuing a relatively scantily clad princess (although, being locked up in a castle for a long time seems to have sent her a little weird) moves you, this might also do the trick.

Graphics:

The graphics are superb, richly animated and detailed. The game is animated by Don Bluth, who was a Disney animator, so it’s pretty slick. If you think that in the early 1980′s you had games like Space Invaders and Tron, this would have blown people away with the detail. The game is essentially an interactive cartoon and, as you progress, you see mini cut screens of action. Graphics are massively important to the game and were the driving force behind its popularity.

Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:

The sound is pretty spot on an faithful to the original game. Exactly what you would expect from an action cartoon. For the record my favourite of the time was He-Man.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapp.com Rating! (3.9 out of 5)

Should you Download Dragon’s Lair? Dragon’s Lair is quite fun and a top retro game that is sure to excite retro gamers everywhere. The thing that might dissuade players going for it, however, is the price. Over $5 is expensive for any game, especially for one whose gameplay is relatively timing-based taps, repetition and frenetic progress. Animation and sound is utterly brilliant however and highly immersive. It takes you back (if you go that far) to early 1980′s cartoons of your youth and is very nostalgic. My recommendation is to give the game a go, but only if you either love retro gaming or remember the original with fondness.

Developer: Digital Leisure Inc.

Tags: Android App, Android Apps, Android Game, Android Tablet Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, Dragon's Lair, retro, Retro Gaming

Categorised in: Arcade & Action

1 Comment

By hypatia on February 17, 2012 at 1:54 pm:

I played this game in the arcade and could regularly beat it. It was a laserdisk game. It worked on the “choose your own adventure” principle. Based on your choices it would skip to a different part of the disk. The trick to beating the arcade game was memorizing which direction to jump and exactly when to go. Timing was the most important thing. The game would regularly draw a crowd of spectators. It was actually a fun game way back when.

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