Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire
Encyclopedia
Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire is a game for the Wii
from publisher D3 Publisher
http://www.cubed3.com/news/7196/, which was released on September 25, 2007. Dragon Blade follows a young adventurer named Dal who seeks six legendary pieces of the "Dragon Blade," each infused with the soul of different guardian dragons. In an attempt to build the ultimate weapon and vanquish evil, the young protagonist embarks on a quest to find and seal away each of the six dragons, taking their souls and abilities in the process.http://wii.ign.com/articles/798/798118p1.html
, writer of Dragonlance
novels. On a side note , the plot is similar to Christopher Paolini
's Inheritance Cycle
, Richard Wagner
's cycle of operas Ring of the Nibelung (Specifically its third part
) and Lloyd Alexander
's
Chronicles of Prydain series.
Dal is plagued by repeated dreams of himself wielding a fiery sword and being instructed by a voice on how to use it (serving as the game's tutorial). Once all the breakable objects have been incinerated, he awakens to find his fiance. He tells her of his dream, and when he finishes, the village falls under attack from the monsters that serve the evil dragons. After instructing her to run and hide, he is drawn to a large stone by a disembodied voice. He is teleported to a hidden cavity deep underground, where the handle and hilt to the fiery blade from his dreams is located. He takes the blade, and the disembodied voice reveals itself as Valthorian, the fire dragon that took favor with mankind during a time of war and gave them the extra fighting strength to sway the victory to one side.
Angered by his actions, the other five dragons plotted against him, eventually corrupting the six people Valthorian trusted most. Believing Valthorian would eventually destroy them, the people launch an attack. Unable to hurt the people he once loved and trusted, Valthorian is slain and his soul sealed into different orbs, pieces of the Dragon Blade. One of the six men, however, regretted his assistance in the deed, and took away his piece and hid it. For generations, the family guarded the treasure, which was the handle and hilt, until it led to Dal, his last descendant.
After learning of this, Dal returns to the village, finding it burning. Angered and empowered, he approaches the monsters and proceeds to kill them. Eventually, he finds his dying fiance, who shares her last words with him. Saddened by her death, he wanders into the area where the main leaders of the attack are residing. As it turns out, they had been searching for the Dragon Blade, which Dal now wields. Dal kills them, spends the rest of the day burying the dead. With everyone from his village gone, he sets out with the Dragon Blade, the piece containing Valthorian's mind, to slay the ones that destroyed his home and his love.
Passing through several lands, Dal regains portions of Valthorian's soul, which is won by slaying the five remaining corrupted men that Valthorian trusted. The arms, tail, a head of Valthorian are recovered, as Dal slays each of the dragons. Upon reaching Vormanax, a great fight occurs, and in the end, Valthorian is revived and slays Vormanax, trapping his soul in the Dragon Blade to replace his own. After thanking Dal, Valthorian realizes that a darker, more sinister plot was intended all along, and that a force greater than Vormanax was responsible, ending the story on a cliffhanger that is likely to never be resolved, since the likelihood of a sequel is low.
The six dragons, in order of appearance, are
The game is a Hack and slash
game , mixed with Beat 'em up
and RPG
aspects, similar to God of War
and Devil May Cry
.
In the game, the Wii Remote is used as the weapon held by the main character. At first, it is a sword that can only slash and defend, but as you advance in the game, you gain more weapon transformations. Confirmed usable weapon modes are a dragon fist, two dragon fists, a dragon head, dragon wings and a dragon tail. There are twenty levels in the game, and five worlds(four levels per world). To fight, players can lock on to enemies and either shoot fire with the dragon head or do various close combat techniques depending on which weapon is being used.
gave the game a 4.0 "Poor" rating http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/dragonbladewrathoffire/review.html?sid=6180344, and IGN
gave it a 5.6 "Mediocre" score. http://wii.ign.com/articles/824/824748p1.html Both cited repetitive gameplay, outdated graphics, control issues, bland levels and a bad plot as the game's weakpoints. IGN in particular went so far as to call it "a budget title without the budget price". GameSpy
gave it two and a half stars out of five, complaining of the aforementioned problems as well. http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/dragon-blade-wrath-of-fire/824317p1.html Their readers seem to be more favorable, rating it in the 7.5-8.5 range. X-play
gave it a 2 out of 5.
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
from publisher D3 Publisher
D3 Publisher
D3Publisher is a Japanese video game publisher founded on February 5, 1992. Current CEO and president is Yuji Ito, and It is known for its Simple series of low-priced console games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2,...
http://www.cubed3.com/news/7196/, which was released on September 25, 2007. Dragon Blade follows a young adventurer named Dal who seeks six legendary pieces of the "Dragon Blade," each infused with the soul of different guardian dragons. In an attempt to build the ultimate weapon and vanquish evil, the young protagonist embarks on a quest to find and seal away each of the six dragons, taking their souls and abilities in the process.http://wii.ign.com/articles/798/798118p1.html
Plot
The plot revolves around Dal and his quest to recover the six pieces of the Dragon Blade and vanquish the evil dragons that pillage the land. He is accompanied by a mysterious red dragon named Valthorian whose soul is the source of the Dragon Blade's powers. The plot was written by Richard A. KnaakRichard A. Knaak
Richard A. Knaak is the author of Dragonlance novels, Dragonrealm, six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and nine works in the Warcraft universe...
, writer of Dragonlance
Dragonlance
Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of popular fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job application...
novels. On a side note , the plot is similar to Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance...
's Inheritance Cycle
Inheritance Cycle
The Inheritance Cycle is a series of fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini. It was previously titled the Inheritance Trilogy until Paolini's announcement on October 30, 2007 that there would be a fourth book...
, Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's cycle of operas Ring of the Nibelung (Specifically its third part
Siegfried (opera)
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
) and Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Chudley Alexander was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, mostly fantasy novels for children and adolescents, as well as several adult books...
's
Chronicles of Prydain series.
Dal is plagued by repeated dreams of himself wielding a fiery sword and being instructed by a voice on how to use it (serving as the game's tutorial). Once all the breakable objects have been incinerated, he awakens to find his fiance. He tells her of his dream, and when he finishes, the village falls under attack from the monsters that serve the evil dragons. After instructing her to run and hide, he is drawn to a large stone by a disembodied voice. He is teleported to a hidden cavity deep underground, where the handle and hilt to the fiery blade from his dreams is located. He takes the blade, and the disembodied voice reveals itself as Valthorian, the fire dragon that took favor with mankind during a time of war and gave them the extra fighting strength to sway the victory to one side.
Angered by his actions, the other five dragons plotted against him, eventually corrupting the six people Valthorian trusted most. Believing Valthorian would eventually destroy them, the people launch an attack. Unable to hurt the people he once loved and trusted, Valthorian is slain and his soul sealed into different orbs, pieces of the Dragon Blade. One of the six men, however, regretted his assistance in the deed, and took away his piece and hid it. For generations, the family guarded the treasure, which was the handle and hilt, until it led to Dal, his last descendant.
After learning of this, Dal returns to the village, finding it burning. Angered and empowered, he approaches the monsters and proceeds to kill them. Eventually, he finds his dying fiance, who shares her last words with him. Saddened by her death, he wanders into the area where the main leaders of the attack are residing. As it turns out, they had been searching for the Dragon Blade, which Dal now wields. Dal kills them, spends the rest of the day burying the dead. With everyone from his village gone, he sets out with the Dragon Blade, the piece containing Valthorian's mind, to slay the ones that destroyed his home and his love.
Passing through several lands, Dal regains portions of Valthorian's soul, which is won by slaying the five remaining corrupted men that Valthorian trusted. The arms, tail, a head of Valthorian are recovered, as Dal slays each of the dragons. Upon reaching Vormanax, a great fight occurs, and in the end, Valthorian is revived and slays Vormanax, trapping his soul in the Dragon Blade to replace his own. After thanking Dal, Valthorian realizes that a darker, more sinister plot was intended all along, and that a force greater than Vormanax was responsible, ending the story on a cliffhanger that is likely to never be resolved, since the likelihood of a sequel is low.
The six dragons, in order of appearance, are
- Valthorian - Fire Dragon
- Jagira - Water Dragon
- Skaroth - Ground Dragon
- Mobrius - Poison evil Dragon
- Norgiloth - Lightning Dragon
- Vormanax - Darkness/Shadow Dragon
Gameplay
Hack and slash
Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...
game , mixed with Beat 'em up
Beat 'em up
Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes...
and RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
aspects, similar to God of War
God of War (series)
God of War is a series of action-adventure video games based on Greek mythology.The main trilogy—God of War I, II, & III—in the series were developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division , with Ready at Dawn Studios developing the PSP and Javaground the mobile phone installment...
and Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry
is an action game developed and published by Capcom, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Although it is the first game in the series of the same name, the events in Devil May Cry are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and...
.
In the game, the Wii Remote is used as the weapon held by the main character. At first, it is a sword that can only slash and defend, but as you advance in the game, you gain more weapon transformations. Confirmed usable weapon modes are a dragon fist, two dragon fists, a dragon head, dragon wings and a dragon tail. There are twenty levels in the game, and five worlds(four levels per world). To fight, players can lock on to enemies and either shoot fire with the dragon head or do various close combat techniques depending on which weapon is being used.
Reception
GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave the game a 4.0 "Poor" rating http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/dragonbladewrathoffire/review.html?sid=6180344, and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave it a 5.6 "Mediocre" score. http://wii.ign.com/articles/824/824748p1.html Both cited repetitive gameplay, outdated graphics, control issues, bland levels and a bad plot as the game's weakpoints. IGN in particular went so far as to call it "a budget title without the budget price". GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
gave it two and a half stars out of five, complaining of the aforementioned problems as well. http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/dragon-blade-wrath-of-fire/824317p1.html Their readers seem to be more favorable, rating it in the 7.5-8.5 range. X-play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
gave it a 2 out of 5.