Developed by MegaFun Games
Published by Oasis GameS
Reviewed on PlayStation 4
Hidden Dragon Legend is a game created by MegaFun Games and is a fresh face in the somewhat barren hack and slash genre. The game takes place in Ancient China and features a nameless protagonist as he awakens in a secret laboratory with a bad case of amnesia. He is suddenly attacked by masked and cloaked figures where he begins to awaken his “potential.” He then goes on a journey to discover who he is, why this “organization” is doing awful things and maintain his sanity despite growing violent urges.
Did that sound horribly cliché to you? That’s because it is. Hidden Dragon Legend is as cliché as it gets, including plot twists like “I had masters and brothers and they were either killed or made into slaves for the organization.” The game is divided into four chapters. Each one is a slog and goes for stretches of time without explaining anything only to receive a huge exposition dump that furthers the clichés. This also brings up another problem the game has: the voice acting in English is atrociously bad and the grammar was clearly not checked. It’s one thing to have a bad script, but it’s practically a sin to add awful voice overs on top of that. The protagonist eventually remembers who he is but by that Point I had already given up on the story.
Now even if the game has a bad story, the gameplay and other components can still save a product like this. Sadly the only real saving graces are not enough. The combat, while responsive and having some variety, is not that much fun. The system tries to emulate a mix of Strider and Devil May Cry, but emulates neither of them correctly. Strider has a focus on mobility and being able to attack in rapid succession, whereas Devil May Cry specalizes on being able to perform awesome combos. You get a handful of combos that can be used with your sword, daggers for long ranged attacks, a dodge roll that allows you to pass through enemies, and a grappling claw that can pull in small to medium sized enemies. You also have very limited combos and a clunky sense of movement. It doesn’t help ether that a handful of enemies can just interrupt your combo with their super armor. The difficulty scaling about halfway through the game is also totally inexcusable. While the primary focus is the combat, you do quite a bit of platforming. The levels are very well designed in terms of their visuals, but the layouts for the levels are kind of sloppy and lead to a lot of issues. There are some very obvious collision detection issues that prevent you from being able to double jump correctly which leads to VERY CHEAP deaths. Even some of the combat set pieces lack flare and resort to cheap knock backs into instant death tactics.
Ultimately, I really cannot suggest Hidden Dragon Legend unless you need a healthy dose of rage. There are far too many issues and even with its detailed presentation it is hindered by limited mechanics and technical issues…..and listening to the voice overs will make you want to play on mute.
