Millennials had a good time growing up with fun and carefully crafted licensed video game links for their favorite cartoons and movies, such as The lionking and aladdin. Then things took a dark turn in the middle of time when licensed games were made sloppier and favored cash-in over quality. The advent of mobile gaming didn’t help much either. In modern times, licensed games are often a meager experience with a strong emphasis on buying premium currencies.
However, not all is completely lost in this genre, as evidenced by: DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms.
In connection with the latest Dreamworks series in the How to train your dragon company, Dragons: The Nine Realms, this action-adventure title from Outright Games publishers puts you in control of the titular dragons. As Thunder and others from the show, players explore multi-themed realms while fighting off other dragons and dodging environmental hazards.
I almost used the term “solving puzzles” in that last paragraph, but unfortunately that’s not really the case. Most levels in Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms amounts to little more than “going from point A to point B” except you have a handful of switches to flip to get there. Sometimes you just need to smash the nearby gem cluster that acts like a switch, and sometimes you need to destroy it with a certain element.
That’s about as complex as it gets. There’s an illusion of depth as your roster of dragons expands, but it’s still a case of “hit the thing with the right type of attack to clear the path.” But hey, this is child’s play, and that’s okay.
as child’s play, Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms runs some fine lines. The level concepts are simple, but sometimes complicated by awkward camera angles, and getting lost can be common for some young players. Combat is just robust enough for kids who love the franchise, but aren’t necessarily used to complicated controls yet. Perhaps the best aspect is the level-up system, which allows players to trade gems they’ve won by clearing levels for new upgrades and benefits.
Still, parents should expect some potential frustration. Healing requires you to switch your character, which isn’t possible at all in the first world, and some glitchy controls made navigating certain environment set that much harder.
“In the end, Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms is a great experience for young fans of the series/franchise.”
In terms of presentation, Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms‘ graphics are adequate, even if some levels are a bit too similar (exacerbate those moments where you could turn around and get lost). On Switch, I ran into some instances of overly finnicky steering, which caused dragons to get stuck in strong headwinds when trying to land. The story of the main character of the series got a little tiresome, but it would be beneficial for the game’s intended audience.
My biggest nitpick in this department, however, is a stylistic choice involving combat. Get hit by an attack and there is an intentional delay effect to emphasize that you just took damage. The first few times it was shocking, I even wondered if there was any legitimate delay and led to taking Lake injury. We get it, game, getting hit is bad.
The story itself is very minimal and not strongly connected to the source material. My kids liked the previous one dragons‘ series, both with the original cast and the Netflix spin-off, but haven’t seen the new series yet. This game does very, very little to inform newcomers about the new, radically different status quo – which can be a pro, a scammer, or a non-issue, depending on your perspective.
in the end, Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms is a great experience for young fans of the series/franchise. The whole experience isn’t overly simplified like many mobile games, which I appreciate as a parent; at least there is something next to “Dodge the obstacles in this car runner” and “Ask your parents for their credit card number.” However, for a long time dragons fans who might have loved the original movie as a kid will probably not find much stimulation from this title now as adults.
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