'Dragon's Lair' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter's review of 'Dragon's Lair' is up, and unfortunately he says this HD DVD release compares less favorably to its previously-released Blu-ray counterpart. While the video, audio, and supplements are identcal, he says the gameplay itself is unjustly restricted in terms of user customization.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/783/dragonslair.html

[Tonkpilsnut]

Any word on if they are gonna bring Time Warp to HD-DVD? I prefer that one over the first Dragon's Lair, the adventure was far funner (Alice In Wonderland, anyone?) and was longer, too. Can't wait to see if they do it..

[CarbonToe]

This 'game' was not very good when it came out in '83 and it hasn't aged well at all. Yes the series improved with each new version of the game (DL2 & Space Ace) but that isnt saying much!!!

If you must, track down the old TV series, pop the batteries out of your remote and then stab at it randomly!!!!

There is about 5 mins of play and you'll put the disk back in the case.

Some nostalgic memories are better left as that!!!

[ot444]

Here they recommend the Blu-Ray version. What about the deal breaker on the review of the Blu-Ray version? They stated that if you fail a sequence, instead of having to go through it again you just skip passed it. That was horrible. I did not buy it for that reason alone. Does the HD-DVD version suffer from the same terrible "feature"?

[WesleyTech.com]

Sounds like Digital Leisure screwed this one up good...

I don't see why they would not include the option to remove the "hints" from the screen. From what I understand the "hints" could easily be coded in as an IME component that could be toggled on and off...

[haroof]

I remember playing this as a kid and drawing HUGE crowds because I was able to complete the game.

Must have been a crowd of close to 40 people at the arcade watching behind me.

Good times & man I'm getting old.

[timbobarry]

What sucks is they didnt even use HDi for this release. Its using the regular DVD menu system. What did they expect to come from that while using BD-J on Blu-ray. Guess you can say that the old DVD menu system can almost imitate what the Blu-ray version does.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by timbobarry

What sucks is they didnt even use HDi for this release. Its using the regular DVD menu system. What did they expect to come from that while using BD-J on Blu-ray. Guess you can say that the old DVD menu system can almost imitate what the Blu-ray version does.

I agree, that was a weird choice by Digital Leisure. I am guessing that they did this to save money because in this manner they can use pretty much the same implementation as they did for DVD - just upgrading the video.

I guess in Blu-ray they had to use BD-J since I don't believe the DVD menuing system is supported on Blu-ray since they are not DVD licensed.

[mrgoodnight]

I just got this game from Amazon, which is strange because I pre-ordered it, and then when August 15th came Amazon told me it wouldn't ship for 4-6 weeks, presumably Sept 17. They required me to "approve" this change, which I never did, because I figured I'd just order again when the game came out. But low and behold, the game showed up in my mail today!

Great game IMHO, but I don't understand a few things. Why does the game push you forward when you die? After the first bridge scene, when you run in the lair, whenever you die you are pushed to another stage. This confused the heck out of my girlfriend and I, and I don't remember the arcade game acting this way. However, as we kept playing, we reached a certain point where the game would allow you to repeat a stage you did not complete properly, the correct way I remember playing the game. So what's up with this? Are you just forced to complete various stages before the game plays them properly when you die?

[Digital Man5]

I just had a real quick question, and I haven't seen this answered anywhere(if it was, I missed it, and apologize).

On the DVD version there was an "autoplay" mode that pretty much just played the video for the entire game(there was no input from the user, it was like a movie). Is this feature on the HD DVD version? I can't stand playing the "game", but I do love watching it as a short animation film. If anyone can let me know, I'd appreciate it. I am deciding whether or not to get the HD DVD version, or the regular DVD version(that "auto play" thing is the deciding factor).

[gmac]

Yes there is a autoplay mode On the hddvd

[Digital Man5]

Excellent! Thanks so much for the info! I will definitely pick it up!

[zombiequest]

Originally Posted by haroof

I remember playing this as a kid and drawing HUGE crowds because I was able to complete the game.

Must have been a crowd of close to 40 people at the arcade watching behind me.

Good times & man I'm getting old.

That makes two of us I'm 39 now and remember those days of drawing the crowds with finishing DragonsLair... those arcades are long since gone... but definitley not forgotten.

[Digital Man5]

Originally Posted by Digital Man5

I just had a real quick question, and I haven't seen this answered anywhere(if it was, I missed it, and apologize).

On the DVD version there was an "autoplay" mode that pretty much just played the video for the entire game(there was no input from the user, it was like a movie). Is this feature on the HD DVD version? I can't stand playing the "game", but I do love watching it as a short animation film. If anyone can let me know, I'd appreciate it. I am deciding whether or not to get the HD DVD version, or the regular DVD version(that "auto play" thing is the deciding factor).

I know this is quite a while back, and though I got an answer on the Auto-Play thing, I had one further question(now that I am finally getting around to trying to get it): When you watch it during the Auto-Play mode, do the text overlays(telling you what to do) show up during this mode? They don't on the DVD version, but I just wanted to make sure they didn't on this one before picking it up(it would ruin it for me if it did, as I won't even "play" this "game" but just watch it as the short movie that it is).

If anyone can confirm, one way or the other, I would appreciate it.

DM

[mikey_myers138]

Originally Posted by Digital Man5

I know this is quite a while back, and though I got an answer on the Auto-Play thing, I had one further question(now that I am finally getting around to trying to get it): When you watch it during the Auto-Play mode, do the text overlays(telling you what to do) show up during this mode? They don't on the DVD version, but I just wanted to make sure they didn't on this one before picking it up(it would ruin it for me if it did, as I won't even "play" this "game" but just watch it as the short movie that it is).

If anyone can confirm, one way or the other, I would appreciate it.

DM

Nope, no text overlays on the Auto-Play.