DRAGONSTRIKE

 DRAGONSTRIKE is an AD&D game from SSI that's placed in TSR's DRAGONLANCE world.
Set during the War of the Lance, the game is essentially a combat flight
simulator in which you fly Krynn dragons instead of airplanes. Although it
incorporates several role-playing elements, DRAGONSTRIKE is not an RPG; quite a
few of the current flight simulator programs feature at least as many
role-playing characteristics as this game does. (This review is based on the
IBM-PC version.)

 You start out as a Squire (i.e., Level 1 Knight) in the Solamnic Order of the
Crown. As you successfully complete missions, you advance in rank. Eventually
you're invited to join the Order of the Sword. There is no need to do so; you
can complete the game in the Order of the Crown. If you chose to become a Knight
of the Sword, you will eventually be invited to join the Order of the Rose.
Again, you do not have to switch. The main difference between the orders is
their difficulty: As a Level 3 Knight of the Rose, your missions are harder than
those of a Level 3 Knight of the Sword, whose missions are in turn harder than
those of a Knight of the Crown. The increased difficulty is partially offset by
the opportunity to fly a more powerful dragon, however.

 Flying a dragon is much simpler than flying an F15: It's basically
seat-of-the-pants aviation. The only "modern" instruments are a crystal ball
(radar) and an Arrow of Enemy Detection, which help you get close to the enemy.
The remaining "instruments" are merely substitutes for your own senses. Gameplay
mechanics should be very familar to those who've flown a simulator, and very
easy to learn for everyone else.

 You fight a set sequence of battles. When played in order, they correspond
roughly to the War of the Lance as described in the DRAGONLANCE Chronicles.

 The designers did a superb job of creating a dragon-combat flight simulator.
Besides the obvious breath weapon, the dragons automatically attack with fang
and claw when they fly close enough to an enemy. In addition to death by breath
attacks, you can be knocked off your dragon, or be "pin-cushioned" by arrows.

 Unfortunately, DRAGONSTRIKE's implementation does not match its design. There
are no overt flaws, but when measured against the current state of flight
simulators, this game seems behind the times. For example, you don't have a full
range of views: "Scan" and "look down" are missing. There is Ad Lib sound board
support, but only during the opening and closing theme music (which is quite
nice, by the way); the sound during actual gameplay is minimal and consists of
mediocre PC-speaker effects.

 The game box recommends a 6MHz AT or faster PC. However, on my 12MHz AT with a
very fast 16-bit VGA card and the display options set to the minimum, the
response is still slightly erratic. The handling of control units is another
example of outmoded operation: You must explicitly specify keyboard, mouse, or
joystick input; the program can't figure out on its own which unit you're using.
However, there is one well-implemented feature: You may re-map the keyboard
controls to whichever layout you find most comfortable.

 DRAGONSTRIKE relies on an off-disk protection scheme that's reasonably easy to
use. The package came with only 5-1/4" floppies.

 AD&D fans -- and especially DRAGONLANCE fans -- will no doubt enjoy this game.
Flight simulator fans, however, will find the program either lacking in
execution, or pleasantly free of the complexities of a modern combat flight
simulator. In any case, game box recommendation notwithstanding, a 12MHz
processor should be considered the minimum acceptable speed.

 DRAGONSTRIKE is a good game, but not quite as good as it could have been.

 DRAGONSTRIKE is published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. and distributed by
Electronic Arts.

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