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Review by Marc Golding
December 09, 2003
They took the series in a new direction with the decidedly more action-RPG-ish Wonderboy in Monster Land before launching the third installment, the award-winning full out action-RPG subtitled, The Dragon's Trap. So, years later, it seemed as if the original game (which was the ''inspiration'' for Hudson's Adventure Island) was forgotten, so good ol' Sega thought they'd remind us.
Revenge of Drancon is an exact, no-frills port of Wonderboy and Sega sneakily - though fruitlessly - changed its name. The new name is horrible and nonsensical - there's no doubt of that - but what we've got here essentially, is Wonderboy incognito and on the go, which isn't a bad thing at all.
If you've played any Adventure Island game, you'll know precisely what to expect. A blonde-haired bush boy takes the place of Master Higgins, but the clichéd mission to save your careless girlfriend remains the same.
Just like Higgins, our fair wonder boy starts off unarmed, lacking even the ever-popular cutesy game function: jumping on enemies to defeat them. The hero must find an egg, bump into it to crack it, and procure the axe weapon that lies within. Until you do this, you will be but a helpless manchild in a grass skirt, so get cracking (groan).
Once you've gotten the axe, you are empowered to slay tree spiders, snakes, wasps, and other outdoor pests by tossing it. But axe or not, you'll still have to avoid certain hazards altogether, such as boulders, fires and falls, which all incur instant death. Oddly enough, bumping into static rocks doesn't kill you, but simply drains your energy.
Speaking of which, yes, this is one of those 'vitality bar' games. Even if you don’t take damage, and you’re standing around minding your own business, your energy will decrease by the second. This means you must always keep moving forward, collecting the life-giving fruit that appears magically hung about the air as you proceed. You needn’t move along at break-neck speed though - a decent clip will ensure a comfortable trip.
Eggs bear another surprise that will make your trip even smoother. Enter, the skateboard. If you already have the axe, the next egg that would harbour one, will instead house a skateboard. Strap on that helmet and get ready for a Sonic-worthy ride through the forest and cavern locales, ignoring most of your foes as a matter of expediency. Without a doubt, riding the skateboard is the most attractive thing about playing this game. It's very fast, and very fun.
Run, skate, collect fruit, jump over rocks and leap from platform to moving platform, all the while tossing axes at cutesy creatures. It’s all in the name of mindless fun, and it's simple, yet challenging. This goes on for eight worlds, each with four stages totalling 32 levels. Each world has a big boss creature guarding passage to the next, tucked away at the end of the fourth stage. After fighting the first two or three successfully, you will start to uncover a disturbing trend. They’re all the same! When you defeat one of them, he will be whisked away, his head changing as he goes, but his body remaining the same. While this is extremely lame, at least the attacks vary somewhat from boss to boss.
Revenge of Drancon is a good action game for the Game Gear, and should provide at least a few days of colourful platformer fun - especially if you're an Adventure Island fan, and haven’t already had your fill of the original Wonderboy.
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Most recent video game reviews written by Marc Golding
AMY (Xbox 360) [January 18, 2012]
Alone in the Dark 3 (PC) [November 24, 2011]
The War of the Worlds (Xbox 360) [November 23, 2011]
Bejeweled 3 (Xbox 360) [November 15, 2011]
Daytona USA (Xbox 360) [November 04, 2011]
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