Review of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons - Dragons' Reawakening

The first Double Dragon game debuted in 1987, and the franchise has a journey spanning over 36 years. The year 2023 marks a new milestone for this series with the release of the reboot titled Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons. It is a game tastefully redesigned to suit the modern era.

Story returns to the beginning

The storyline of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons takes players back to the time when the Lee brothers entered the martial arts world. The backdrop is set after a nuclear war, and humanity is facing difficulties in the aftermath of widespread destruction. New York City is dealing with rampant crime and severe chaos, with gangs emerging to occupy territories as their bases, constantly recruiting new members. The newly elected mayor witnessed this helplessly, inadvertently rescuing police officer Marian from the clutches of thugs and bringing her to the Sosetsuken dojo for healing.

Here, he proposes seeking the renowned martial artist Lee to eradicate the criminals and restore order to the city. However, the martial arts master has passed away, and Uncle Matin refuses the offer to protect the young talents, Billy Lee and Jimmy Lee, successors to the dojo, from the harsh reality. However, the two brothers decide to help the mayor, as the spirit of martial justice is their guiding principle.

Unique changes in gameplay

At the beginning, you have 4 characters available, and you can choose 2 to form a team for the levels. This pair can be switched, with one character active while the other rests. If one is knocked out, you must control the remaining character to proceed through the level and revive the other one.

Each character has 2 ground special moves, one aerial special move, and a fast movement skill for attacking or dodging. The special moves of each character reflect their unique traits. For example, the Lee brothers use martial arts like punches and combos. Marian, being a police officer, uses guns, bombs, and even a bazooka. Uncle Matin employs heavy moves, such as using a shield for crowd control and ground smashing.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons introduces a currency system using dollars ($). You collect them in levels through various means like picking up money bags dropped by enemies or breaking objects. You can also knock coins out of enemies when finishing them with a special move. This money is used to purchase upgrades between levels or exchange for tokens used to buy additional game content or revive when defeated.

You will be pleasantly surprised by the rogue-like operation of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons. The levels are dynamically arranged, and each defeat leading to a game over requires starting from scratch. However, the money accumulated in your current level is converted into tokens to buy new content. The exchange rate depends on the difficulty you choose when starting the team; the higher the difficulty, the more favorable the exchange rate.

Flexible level arrangement

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons allows you to freely choose levels as territories of the four crime bosses in the city. Each time you defeat a boss, you receive notices that other bosses have heard the news and started reinforcing their territory defenses. This means that the remaining territories become harder - a clever way to increase difficulty for subsequent levels.

The levels are designed with multiple flexible stages. If you choose the first level as a specific territory, you only need to complete the first stage to face the boss. But if you go to the second level after opponents have increased defenses, you will have to pass the second stage before encountering the boss, and the first stage will involve a substitute lieutenant.

Moreover, the fortified levels introduce tougher enemies. These formidable foes are more challenging to deal with, especially as they have annoying evasive maneuvers that make it difficult to land hits. The bosses are no different; as you progress, they become tougher and notably do not stagger when hit, making control exceptionally challenging.

Combat is both novel and frustrating

When you first start playing the initial level of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons, you will undoubtedly feel that the characters are sluggish due to the lack of upgrades. However, this is the key for later upgrades. Characters perform moves more slowly, take longer breaks between moves, but as soon as you invest in upgrades, they will gradually become more agile.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons introduces an intriguing mechanism with rewards for special move combos. If you defeat a single enemy with a special move, they drop only money. However, if you defeat 3 or more enemies simultaneously with a special move, a health recovery item will drop. This item will automatically convert to money if your character is already at full health. This mechanism helps you actively seek ways to recover health when unfortunately taking too many hits. Just deliberately gather enemies, then unleash a combo move to reap the rewards.

Other notable highlights

Firstly, we can see that the graphics of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons, while still using 2D pixel art, are more vibrant with well-coordinated colors and animations, creating a livelier feel than classic game versions. The images are more intricately drawn with many details, suitable for the high resolution of 2023.

The mechanism of using Tokens is excellent, as you can use them to buy a variety of other characters, such as lieutenants and bosses of various gangs. You can use them to form a team instead of the initial 4 characters or unlock in-depth advice to control the characters better. These pieces of advice are diverse, ranging from how to exploit combo breakpoints, avoid unfavorable situations, to fighting strategies for maximizing earnings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons is a fun remake of a classic scrolling game. You can play in 2-player mode with friends, grind levels to accumulate tokens and unlock new characters. However, the initial feeling is that the characters are sluggish due to the lack of upgrades. But if you are familiar with the operation, this will be a quality relaxation game. And one final note, using a gamepad is more comfortable than using a keyboard and mouse.

You can purchase and download the game here:

• Steam
• PlayStation
• Xbox