Rise of the Dragon
Encyclopedia
Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game
that was released in 1990 for DOS
and Macintosh
and later remade for the Sega CD (1993) as well as the Amiga
. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by Dynamix
, a company that was better known as an action and flight sim game developer. In some sense, this game was an experiment by Dynamix to expand its development repertoire (to other game genre) since the company was bought out by Sierra On-Line in 1990. The Sega CD version added voice actors, (including Cam Clarke
in the main role as William 'Blade' Hunter) to the game and was given a MA-17 rating by the Videogame Rating Council
, most likely for profanity
, references to a fictional illicit drug, cross-dressing
, prostitution
and partial female nudity
.
version of Los Angeles
in 2053. Rise of the Dragons seedy vision of the future is inspired by the film Blade Runner
. The main character is named William 'Blade' Hunter, an apparent tribute to the film. His clothing also resembles that worn by Harrison Ford
as Rick Deckard
in Blade Runner.
Blade Hunter is a former Los Angeles Police Department
officer turned private detective. When the mayor's rebellious daughter Chandra is found dead and horribly mutated after experimenting with a new designer drug
, Hunter is called upon to track down those responsible. This leads Hunter to discover an underground Chinese Mafia operation led by a megalomaniacal drug kingpin intent on world domination
.
During the game, Blade has to reconcile with his girlfriend Karyn, uncover the mystery behind Chandra's death and the MZT drug, and sabotage the villains' plans to poison the Hollywood reservoir.
The final battle of the game sees drug boss Deng Hwang use MZT to turn into a monstrous dragon
. The coming of the dragon is foreseen in the game by a street drunkard who raves that Bahamut
is coming.
Gameplay in Rise of the Dragon is similar to that of Dynamix
's other 1990s adventure games, Willy Beamish and Heart of China
. The screen shows the current room roughly from Blade's perspective. Movement occurs with the cursor, which becomes an arrow to proceed to another room or a magnifying glass to get closer to a part of the current scene.
The game has a time meter that reflects the passage of time in the game. Each of Blade's actions takes up a certain amount of time. Some game events will only occur at particular times. The player must find a way to delay the plans of the game's villains, or the game will end after only three days and Blade will not have time to save the day. Travelling between locations can take up a lot of in-game time, so players must plan their moves strategically.
Several puzzles in Rise of the Dragon have multiple possible solutions. Blade's activities can influence the plot of the game later on. Game characters remember his earlier behavior, and if he says the wrong thing to key characters they will refuse to help him with his work. This can render the game unwinnable.
Rise of the Dragon features two arcade-style action scenes and an aim-and-shoot scene. It is possible to beat the game without playing through all of these scenes. If the player tries and fails to complete the arcade scenes several times, the game will offer the chance to automatically win the sequence and move on to the next scene.
on the Sega CD.
The graphics of the Sega CD version had to use a more limited range of colors than the DOS version, 64 on screen colors compared to the 256 of the computer, which gave it a green tint. This tint has been compared to some of the images seen in The Matrix
movies.
Another notable difference between the two versions of the game is the removal of a scene with a French kiss
and implied sex from the Sega CD release. These changes were made even though the game was given a MA-17 label by Sega of America. This was likely due to public concern in the early 1990s about sexual and violent content in popular video games such as Night Trap
and Mortal Kombat.
Other small changes from the DOS to Sega CD version:
#170 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
In 1991, Rise of the Dragon won a Special Award for Artistic Achievement from Computer Gaming World
magazine.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
that was released in 1990 for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
and later remade for the Sega CD (1993) as well as the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by Dynamix
Dynamix
Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of computer games from 1984 to 2001, best known for their flight simulator, Red Baron, the Front Page Sports series, Betrayal at Krondor, and their online multiplayer game, Tribes.-History:...
, a company that was better known as an action and flight sim game developer. In some sense, this game was an experiment by Dynamix to expand its development repertoire (to other game genre) since the company was bought out by Sierra On-Line in 1990. The Sega CD version added voice actors, (including Cam Clarke
Cam Clarke
Cameron Arthur "Cam" Clarke is a prolific American voice actor and singer, well known for his work in animation and video games. Clarke is well known for providing the voices of Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 original English-dub of Akira. He often voices...
in the main role as William 'Blade' Hunter) to the game and was given a MA-17 rating by the Videogame Rating Council
Videogame Rating Council
The Videogame Rating Council was introduced by Sega of America in 1993 to rate all video games that were released for sale in the United States on the Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Sega CD, and rarely, some computer games...
, most likely for profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, references to a fictional illicit drug, cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and partial female nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
.
Story
The game is set in a dark cyberpunkCyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
version of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 2053. Rise of the Dragons seedy vision of the future is inspired by the film Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
. The main character is named William 'Blade' Hunter, an apparent tribute to the film. His clothing also resembles that worn by Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
as Rick Deckard
Rick Deckard
Rick Deckard is the protagonist in Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,and also the 1982 film adaptation Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott...
in Blade Runner.
Blade Hunter is a former Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
officer turned private detective. When the mayor's rebellious daughter Chandra is found dead and horribly mutated after experimenting with a new designer drug
Designer drug
Designer drug is a term used to describe drugs that are created to get around existing drug laws, usually by preparing analogs or derivatives of existing drugs by modifying their chemical structure to varying degrees, or less commonly by finding drugs with entirely different chemical structures...
, Hunter is called upon to track down those responsible. This leads Hunter to discover an underground Chinese Mafia operation led by a megalomaniacal drug kingpin intent on world domination
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
.
During the game, Blade has to reconcile with his girlfriend Karyn, uncover the mystery behind Chandra's death and the MZT drug, and sabotage the villains' plans to poison the Hollywood reservoir.
The final battle of the game sees drug boss Deng Hwang use MZT to turn into a monstrous dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. The coming of the dragon is foreseen in the game by a street drunkard who raves that Bahamut
Bahamut
Bahamut is a vast fish that supports the earth in Arabian mythology. In some sources, Bahamut is described as having a head resembling a hippopotamus or elephant.-Overview:...
is coming.
Gameplay
Dynamix
Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of computer games from 1984 to 2001, best known for their flight simulator, Red Baron, the Front Page Sports series, Betrayal at Krondor, and their online multiplayer game, Tribes.-History:...
's other 1990s adventure games, Willy Beamish and Heart of China
Heart of China
Heart of China is a 1991 adventure computer game made by Dynamix. The game features the exploits of pilot Jake "Lucky" Masters as he tries to rescue nurse Kate Lomax from a ruthless warlord. The story and characters are similar to Indiana Jones.-Plot:...
. The screen shows the current room roughly from Blade's perspective. Movement occurs with the cursor, which becomes an arrow to proceed to another room or a magnifying glass to get closer to a part of the current scene.
The game has a time meter that reflects the passage of time in the game. Each of Blade's actions takes up a certain amount of time. Some game events will only occur at particular times. The player must find a way to delay the plans of the game's villains, or the game will end after only three days and Blade will not have time to save the day. Travelling between locations can take up a lot of in-game time, so players must plan their moves strategically.
Several puzzles in Rise of the Dragon have multiple possible solutions. Blade's activities can influence the plot of the game later on. Game characters remember his earlier behavior, and if he says the wrong thing to key characters they will refuse to help him with his work. This can render the game unwinnable.
Rise of the Dragon features two arcade-style action scenes and an aim-and-shoot scene. It is possible to beat the game without playing through all of these scenes. If the player tries and fails to complete the arcade scenes several times, the game will offer the chance to automatically win the sequence and move on to the next scene.
Sega CD Version
Several differences existed between the Sega CD and DOS versions of Rise of the Dragon, the most prominent being the addition of voice acting to the Sega CD release. Blade Hunter is voiced by Cam ClarkeCam Clarke
Cameron Arthur "Cam" Clarke is a prolific American voice actor and singer, well known for his work in animation and video games. Clarke is well known for providing the voices of Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 original English-dub of Akira. He often voices...
on the Sega CD.
The graphics of the Sega CD version had to use a more limited range of colors than the DOS version, 64 on screen colors compared to the 256 of the computer, which gave it a green tint. This tint has been compared to some of the images seen in The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
movies.
Another notable difference between the two versions of the game is the removal of a scene with a French kiss
French kiss
A French kiss is a kiss in which one participant's tongue touches the partner's lips or tongue and usually enters his or her mouth. A French kiss is a slow passionate kiss which is usually considered intimate, romantic, erotic or sexual...
and implied sex from the Sega CD release. These changes were made even though the game was given a MA-17 label by Sega of America. This was likely due to public concern in the early 1990s about sexual and violent content in popular video games such as Night Trap
Night Trap
Night Trap is a video game that was released in North America on October 15, 1992 originally for the Sega Mega-CD. It was filmed over a three week period in 1987 for an unreleased game entitled "Scene of the Crime"...
and Mortal Kombat.
Other small changes from the DOS to Sega CD version:
- The munition clip for the handgun (at the side of the computer) was removed.
- In the Pleasure Dome, where Darcelle is playing cards, there is only one dancer--the one in the bikini was removed. Part of the naked dancer's show was removed as well.
- At the Pleasure Dome's bar, players can no longer talk to the punk NPC.
- The arcade scene cannot be passed even if you die more than 5 times.
- Subtitles were removed, leaving only voiceovers.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1991 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#170 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
In 1991, Rise of the Dragon won a Special Award for Artistic Achievement from Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
magazine.