Dragon Blaze Review

Dragon Blaze is a 2D vertical shoot’em up, or shmup if you prefer, where players take control of one of four characters and their dragon companion. The goal is pretty simple: survive. Enemies and their projectiles will be coming from all sides and in high numbers. Dodge everything while shooting and killing everything.

As with any shmup, players can pick up items to increase their dragon’s attacks. Every time you pick up a power-up, they’ll stack up until you can max it out. You can also use a special magic attack that can be unleashed when the magic meter is filled up by killing enemies. There are also handy little bombs that can clear the screen of enemies if you’re in a bind. You have a limited amount of bombs, but you can pick up additional ones.

Another nifty feature that allows players to get some backup so to speak is that you can dismount your dragon and move around while firing while your scaly buddy fires as well. Although, your dragon won’t move, but it is impervious to damage, but the character isn’t. Each team of a character and dragon has a different skill set so you can replay the game with different skills.

What makes it stand out from other games of the same genre is the fact that every time you start the game, levels are thrown at you in different orders. While level design and the enemy pattern don’t change all that much, it’s a pretty neat feature that offers some variety and makes each replay slightly different.

For those uneasy about taking the dive into the shmup genre, there are a few things that will help you ease into one of the most difficult and challenging genres. You can set the game to very easy. You can also set up to max of 9 lives and an unlimited number of continues.

Honestly, there isn’t anything inherently wrong here, aside from the fact that it doesn’t change the perception that shmups are hard as nails. The game does offer a handful of difficulty levels; the easiest difficulty setting is called Monkey (which is hilarious for some reason) but it’s still not that easy, although a decent way to introduce yourself to the genre.

The game looks great; with its colorful, pixelated visuals. The game features unique visuals and stunning background art that offers a unique experience compared to other shmups that are set in space. The bosses are also introduced in a unique, method that is a bit hard to describe, but it has an eerie feel to it all the while looking a bit ahead of its time. The soundtrack is an intense, albeit generic, electronic score that goes hand in hand with the non-stop action on screen.

Dragon Blaze is a great, solid entry in the genre and a re-introduction of a solid shmup to fans. Fans of the genre who might’ve missed this gem back in 2000 will revel in the game’s unique mechanics and varying levels of challenge. For newcomers, I’d definitely recommend Dragon Blaze as an entry point of the genre. While challenging, having accessibility features to adjust the challenge is a huge plus. I highly recommend Dragon Blaze.