Blazing Dragons (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
295A playthrough of Crystal Dynamics' 1996 license-based graphic adventure for the Sony PlayStation, Blazing Dragons.
Blazing Dragons is a PC-style, point-and-click adventure game based on a cartoon from the late 1990s. I can't say as I've ever seen it, but the basic idea behind it is seems to be flipping the King Arthur story with as much British humor as possible. At least, that is how the game presents it.
You play as Flicker, an anthropomorphized quadruped dragon, who has fallen in love with Princess Flame. Her father has promised her to whomever can win the knights' tournament, so Flicker starts out by doing everything in his power to become a knight. However, some nefarious humans show up to throw a spanner in the works, and everything soon becomes nonsensical and thoroughly hilarious as a result.
See, the writing feels like it has been patterned off of the cheekiest of British comedies, a mismash of elements from Monty Python and Some Mothers Do Ave Em, with bits of Are You Being Served? and Only Fools and Horses sprinkled about for good measure. This is comedy gold, through-and-through.
I mean, I can't be the only one that thinks of Flicker and Flame as talking dinosaur versions of Frank and Betty Spencer, can I?
As if you needed further convincing, just consider some of the names in the celebrity-heavy voice cast: we've got Cheech Marin, Terry Jones (RIP), Jim Cummings, Michael Bell, Charlie Adler, Rob Paulsen, Kath Soucie, and the list just goes on and on from there. The game's production values are AAA-tier, and the laughs flow as freely as piss does in a stiff wind. Excellent stuff.
The gameplay is secondary to the writing in a game like this, but Blazing Dragons makes for a good adventure game, as well. The puzzles are super easy and it's way too short compared to its genre contemporaries, but the absurd logic at work behind everything nails the tone of the story.
Want to destroy a man's wooden fife? Of course, use a pipe cleaner that you covered in nasty termites! Need some rope? Sure, go right ahead and fracture the neurotic Rapunzel's already fragile psyche by throwing hair tonic at her, just so you can lop off her locks and repurpose them!
The painted art and spritework looks great and matches the goofy tone of the story, resembling much of developer Illusions' other games from the time (I've listed a few examples below with links of you're interested), and since the game was designed with consoles in mind from the start, it's not plagued by the technical issues that 90s PC-to-consoles usually suffered from. Remember the excruciating load times from The Adventures of Willy Beamish on Sega CD and Discworld on the PlayStation and Saturn? There's very little of that to be found here despite the PS1's paltry bit of RAM and slow CD drive.
It also has aged far more gracefully than the bulk of games we saw in the 32-bit generation. Time hasn't blunted the impact of the 2D art, and that's not a compliment that you would probably direct at any of the PS1's 3D games. Given the choice, I'll gladly take clean 2D art over warped textures and primitive polygonal models, thank you very much.
There are even some really fun little background details to note if you're paying enough close attention. For example, after you leave the moth (amusingly named Pavlov) out of its jar, it flies straight out the window. The next time you see it, it's buzzing around the door of Princess Flame's room. (Get it?) A bit corny, yeah, but it certainly made me smile.
If a cleverly written, saucy adult take on the Saturday morning cartoon turned playable sounds like a good time to you, don't hesitate to grab yourself a copy of Blazing Dragons. It's fantastic.
PS. If you want to dive a bit further into this style of game, here are a few titles that are worth a look.
*Other animated adventure games developed by Illusions:
Scooby-Doo Mystery https://youtu.be/zhFS0wv_G10
Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick https://youtu.be/4MYCxfd0h_s
Beavis and Butthead Do U https://youtu.be/Cf9EXzz4sRo
*Games with a similar style and sense of humor:
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist https://youtu.be/xcUZh0BZQSQ
Day of the Tentacle https://youtu.be/-fOMmblXgjw
Discworld https://youtu.be/PjWy2glZ_4w
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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