Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long, Attack of the Dark Dragon (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

There are so many kids' TV programs now, not to mention game tie-ins, it's difficult to keep up with them all. Jake Long was a character that I was completely unaware of, although since I've had the game I have caught one or two episodes. For those who haven't, Jake is your average 13-year-old kid who just so happens to be able to transform into a rather large Red Dragon. Along with his Grandpa (who's his teacher) and a 600-year-old talking dog named Fu Dog (yes you did read that right) it's up to you to defeat the nefarious Dark Dragon and rescue your beloved Rose. If you've got all that then you've clearly had considerably more sleep that I have although I can tell you what the game is like.

Gameplay

Although developers WayForward have attempted to do something a little different, American Dragon, is essentially a 3D platformer with a little added. It all takes place in a number of locations in Jake's neighborhood including the streets of New York, Central Park and even his high school. Most of it is pretty straightforward although you will encounter the odd clever bit of level design. To make things a little more challenging you also have to collect three magic crystals, which control the corresponding colored platforms and as the game progresses you will spend a considerable amount of time doing this. Unfortunately it's also the section of the game that causes the most frustration as not selecting the color correctly means no platform and you plummet to your death.

Enemies are everywhere and destroying them will reward you with either health or Dragon Power. Once you have enough you can transform into the Red Dragon although it will only be for a limited amount of time unless you discover an alternative source of power. You dragon is actually mostly used for puzzle solving rather than combat and its abilities such as Hover and Shield allow you to gain access to otherwise closed areas. The Fire is also useful for eliminating some of the more powerful enemies. Finally, the boss levels all follow the exact same pattern; the boss is in the middle of a circular area and you run round him whilst trying to avoid his attacks and also delivering the odd kick or punch. This is hardly original and another lost opportunity when you think just how inventive some console bosses are.

After each area you'll be treated to a Dogfight sequence although here it's actually a Dragon-fight. This generally takes place over the terrain you've just been platforming over and is a refreshing change to the usual DS mini-games that developers tend to add. Not that they are a bad thing, it's just that this is so much better. This is also extended into the Multiplayer section with each player taking over a different colored Dragon but as there's no single card play it's unlikely that as many gamers will enjoy this as the developers might have hoped.

Controls

Whether you are playing as Jake or a Dragon the controls are pretty standard platform fare with move, jump and attack buttons where you'd expect. It can be a little daunting at first though and, as this is aimed at the younger gamer, the first two levels are tutorial based.

Graphics

After a very compressed FMV selection from the show the game settles down into a kind of 'fixed path' 3D platformer. It's not too bad either with the models of Jake and the Dragon particularly well animated. Some of the backgrounds are less impressive and even seem bland in comparison, but as there is meant to be some distance we'll have to be a little forgiving. The highlight though has to be the air-bound battle sequences featuring Dragons attempting to shoot one another down which never appears to drop it's impressive frame rate.

Sound

While the soundtrack is far from memorable the Far Eastern music does fit the gameplay well. Elsewhere there's a handful of sound effects including the odd muttering from Jake himself but, outside of the 'Dragon Up' which accompanies a transformation, there's little you'll actually understand.

Dual screen

It strikes me that most developers spend some time working out just what they can do with the touch-screen interface and microphone and whilst some are successful others simply revert to using it as an options or map screen. American Dragon is probably somewhere in the middle and WayForward have designed a kind of options 'wheel' to utilize the various Dragon Powers and also the magic crystals which, when selected, make platforms appear. There's even an attempt at using the microphone but like Phoenix Wright it's just using a simply phrase (in this case 'Dragon Up') in order to transform.

Final comments

Jake Long could have easily have been just another run of the mill platformer and it's true that the actual platform sections are a little underwhelming regardless of whether you are playing as Jake or the Dragon. What saves it to a certain extent though, are the excellent mid-air battles, which could have easily have been a game in their own right. It's still problematic, the gameplay is often frustrating and the lack of a single cart multiplayer is a serious oversight. Still, there's much to enjoy in Jake Long's first appearance on the Nintendo handhelds. I suppose I'd better play the GBA version now.

Pro: Dragon Air Combat.
Con: A Little Repetitive, No Single Card Multiplayer.
Final score: 6.7

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