Last Update: 3/8/07

Rise of the Dragon

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A futuristic adventure game that borrows graphical elements from Blade Runner (in fact, the title character's name is "Blade Hunter"). You must find out what is killing--by horrible, spontaneous mutation--inhabitants of the city, before it's too late. An oriental cult, drugs, and street informants are among the places you find clues.
Platform(s):    
Publisher: Sierra

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Overview

Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game that was released in 1990 for the DOS computer and later remade for the Sega CD (1994) as well as the Amiga. The Sega CD version added voice actors to the game and was given a MA-17 rating by the Videogame Rating Council, most likely for profanity, references to a fictional illicit drug, cross-dressing, prostitution and partial female nudity.

Story

cyberpunk version of Los Angeles in 2053. Rise of the Dragon's seedy vision of the future is often compared to the computer game Snatcher and the film Blade Runner. The main character is named William 'Blade' Hunter, an apparent tribute to the film. His clothing also resembles that worn by Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner.

Blade Hunter is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer turned private detective. When the mayor's rebellious daughter Chandra is found dead and horribly mutated after experimenting with a new designer drug, Hunter is called upon to track down those responsible. This leads Hunter to discover an underground Chinese Mafia operation led by a megalomaniacal drug kingpin intent on world domination.

During the game, Blade has to reconcile with his girlfriend Karyn, uncover the mystery behind Chandra's death and the MZT drug, and sabotage the villains' plans to poison the Hollywood reservoir.

The final battle of the game sees drug boss Deng Hwang use MZT to turn into a monstrous dragon. The coming of the dragon is foreseen in the game by a street drunkard who raves that Bahamut is coming.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Rise of the Dragon is similar to that of Dynamix's other 1990s adventure games, Willy Beamish and Heart of China. The screen shows the current room roughly from Blade's perspective. Movement occurs with the cursor, which becomes an arrow to proceed to another room or a magnifying glass to get closer to a part of the current scene.

The game has a time meter that reflects the passage of time in the game. Each of Blade's actions take up a certain amount of time. Some game events will only occur at particular times. The player must find a way to delay the plans of the game's villains, or the game will end after only three days and Blade will not have time to save the day. Travelling between locations can take up a lot of in-game time, so players must plan their moves strategically.

Several puzzles in Rise of the Dragon have multiple possible solutions. Blade's activities can influence the plot of the game later on. Game characters remember his earlier behavior, and if he says the wrong thing to key characters they will refuse to help him with his work. This can render the game unbeatable.

Rise of the Dragon features two arcade-style action scenes and an aim-and-shoot scene. It is possible to beat the game without playing through all of these scenes. If the player tries and fails to complete the arcade scenes several times, the game will offer the chance to automatically win the sequence and move on to the next scene.

Rise of the Dragon Download

Free Game Downloads Download the full version of Rise of the Dragon from Abandonia. Will require a DOS Emulator.