Mia and the Dragon Princess Review

Mia and the Dragon Princess tells the story of Mia, a normal teenager working in an underground pirate-themed bar. As she goes outside, she comes across Marshanda, a mysterious woman who only speaks Indonesian and is clearly out of her element. Mia takes it upon herself to help the stranger who’s not only on the run but looking for something special.

As with other Wales Interactive projects, Mia and the Dragon Princess is an interactive movie experience where players, while watching the game, will be called upon to make conversational choices in other progress the story. Each decision has a short timer so players can make a choice; if the timer runs out, the game will choose for you.

One nice small difference with Mia and the Dragon Princess is that before a decision is required, Mia’s personality traits will display in the top left corner of the screen giving you a subtle heads-up to be ready. And not only do the choices make a difference story-wise, as it features 10 different endings, but they will also have an impact on your character’s traits. It’s nothing major nor does it have an impact, but still fun detail nonetheless.

Another difference from other of Wales’ quality projects, Mia and the Dragon Princess is one of the most action-packed, violent interactive experiences. Dita Tantang as Marshanda is kicking all sorts of ass and the fight sequences are impressively well-choreographed. Here’s to hoping Wales Interactive explores see more action-focused experiences as the pros of interactive movies; and if a character is surrounded by multiple enemies, maybe give players the option to choose who to hit first.

Given that this is an interactive movie, not there’s not much to report on the visual side of things. The game does start off with a short cartoon revealing some of Marshanda’s backstory; it’s fine and has the aesthetic of classic older cartoons that seems to be made out of paper. There are a few hiccups as editing remains off at times; especially when making a decision. When you make a choice, there seems to be an “invisible” loading where you see the other character waiting. Some of the gruesome moments look like they were made with Photoshop 6.0. The actors’ performance is top-notch; all characters are believable and lines are delivered with the proper emotions.

As much as I love Wales Interactive’s movie experiences, they are not without faults and Mia and the Dragon Princess is no exception. The first is that while Marshanda speaks and understands only Indonesian, she somehow understands English at times which throws off the consistency a bit. Also, there’s a point where everyone barricaded themselves in a hidden room away from the bad guys… but the bad guys take forever to actually try to break down the door to reach them. Were they having a pint waiting? There’s also the lack of manual save; it’d be neat to be able to save at different points and reload saves to make different choices.

Mia and the Dragon Princess is another banger from Wales Interactive. It’s action-packed, the actors deliver a believable performance, and the fight scenes are well-choreographed and welcomed addition compared to other more streamlined, less violent movie experiences from Wales. While some of the things like some of the editing, questionable consistency, and laughable special effects. But overlooking these faults, Mia and the Dragon Princess is a fun action romp and definitely worth the ride.