Dragon's Breath (Second Review)


Title		Dragons Breath (Second Review)
Game Type	Action Strategy
Company		Palace / Outlaw, 1990
Programmer      Andrew Bailey
Players		1-3
Compatibility   OCS/ECS (Not AGA)
HD Installable  No (copy protected; no patch yet)
Submission	Bernd Gmeineder

Review
Far away there is a land called Anrea which is ruled by the Great Lords.
In the centre of this country there lies Dwarf Mountain which has always
been the source of cruelty and injustice for Anrea's inhabitants. The
areas of the country which are relatively far away from that mountain
became prosperous and wealthy. However the villages which are close to the
centre have always suffered from war and starvation. The legend says that
the secret of immortality can be found in the throne hall of the great
Castle which is built on top of Dwarf Mountain. The aim in Dragons Breath
is to find the three parts of a magic talisman, hidden in the land of
Anrea, and with it gain access to the throne hall and immortaliy itself.

At the start of the game up to three players can select one of the
following characters: Bachim the Alchemist, Ouered the She-Vampir and
Ametrin the Green Beast. After the players selection a 3D map which shows
the area around Dwarf Maintain will appear. After clicking on the
character icon the player can see his own castle and has several options.
First of all there is the library which is split in Accounts, Decision,
and Magic parts. All the accompanying books are very useful and provide
information about the various towns, incomes, payments and more.

Another huge part of the game is the subject of Dragons, which makes the
game very unique. Here you can breed dragons and enhance them with magic
spells. Initially though, the dragon eggs have to be placed on a burner
where they must be heated. The more you heat them, the faster the
dragon will be born. Be warned however: Too much heat can decrease the
strength of your "babies". After some months the dragon will see the light
of day and is ready to help you to conquer new villages and towns.

In order to be successful in Dragons Breath you must also use magic
for your own advantage. For this purpose there is a laboratory in which
you can mix various potions that will improve the power of your dragons or
will increase the population of your villages. Nearly everything can be
manipulated with these spells. However this part is not required to finish
the game. But of course it will make a lot of things in the game easier.
From time to time there is also a visiting trader from whom you can buy
new ingredients for your spell activities. Besides this, there are icons
to access maps and taxes in order to have the full control of your
subjects.

Your most important job in Dragons Breath is to conquer new villages and
lands since all three parts of the Talisman are hidden there somewhere.
Dragons are always required for conquering since they the only weapon at
your disposal. You can either ask the computer to control the dragon when
attacking a village or you can do this yourself. When you choose to
control the dragon manually there follows the only action sequence in
the game, which is a very good shoot 'em up.

If you have found all the little tricks and the right spells in the game
everything will become a bit boring. There comes a point when you have
conquered all the villages, but have not yet found all the parts of the
Talisman. Here the game becomes really boring since the part(s) you still
need could be anywhere on the map. It could take ages to find it and this
is not exactly very motivating. This is probably the only negative aspect
in the game however. The graphics are excellent and were drawn by Simon
Hunter who has a very unique style. The music is a real pleasure for the
ears. All melodies sound very fantasy-like and were composed by David
Hanlon. Finally the detailled user manual and the tricky spell book which
come with the game have to be mentioned. You cannot go wrong when you buy
this game.





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