Double Dragon Neon

[Lady Jaye]

So, who has downloaded Double Dragon Neon for the PS3 or Xbox 360? I played a very early alpha build at PAX East, and I did like the bit I played, but that was a far from complete version. The few reviews so far are all over the place, with IGN giving the game a mere 3/10, while Joystik, EGM, and Game Informer were more lenient.

If you bought the game, how do you like it? Is it worth it? Or should I just wait until it's on sale at 400 points on XBLA? The problem is that there is no demo available for either version.

[RCM]

Sucks that there's no demo. I'm a fan of WayForward's work, esp. BloodRayne, but was never a Double Dragon fan. 400 points isn't much, but I prefer trying before I buy arcade titles.

[Lady Jaye]

It's actually 800 points. I meant whether I should wait till it hits 400 points on sale.

[RCM]

I watched a colleague play it at work for a bit a little while ago. He said something to the effect of "If you like Double Dragon this is Double Dragon." You can play with various stats and abilities, but at its core it's DD. I think I'm going to pass until a demo comes out, or maybe I'll just try it when my colleague isn't busy.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It's free on Playstation Plus.

I snagged it and Jet Set Radio yesterday but didn't have time to play either (actually didn't have time to DOWNLOAD either).

I'll give it a whirl and let you know what I think, however, I saw the demo at PAX East and thought it looked pretty bad.

*I am hoping it's decent. While I prefer the style, pace and mechanics of a game like River City Ransom, I do like a good Double Dragon game.

[buzz_n64]

Whatever happened to the Double Dragon 3D remake that was supposed to come out on XBLA? Double Dragon ii: Wander of the Dragons. It was announced a little over a year ago. I guess they cancelled it.

[Stringfellow]

there is a demo on xbox live

[dgdgagdae]

What a mess. I liked beating someone with a baseball bat and hearing "Touchdown!" Morons.

It's not often that I play a game where you beat up a bunch of scantily clad whores and I don't even want to finish the first level.

[The 1 2 P]

I didn't know this came out yet. I'll need to download the demo(if it's available yet).

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Um, yeah.

This is aggressively mediocre stuff.

I appreciate some elements of where they were going with the license, a retro 80s/90s throwback vibe with an emphasis on cheese, but the gameplay isn't tuned, the levels are slow and bland (stretches of walking with no enemies showing up at all) and the fighting is stiff and awkward.

It's a shame, there seem to be some seeds of brilliance but unlike the LEGITIMATELY BRILLIANT Scott Pilgrim vs. the World game which modernizes and gets the genre right in almost every imaginable way, this feels like it would've been a snooze even on Genesis or SNES.

Oh well, at least it's FREE on PSN PLUS!

[Gameguy]

When was the last good Double Dragon game anyway? It seemed to get worse after Double Dragon II. Not counting the Battletoads/Double Dragon games, fun but not really part of the main series IMO.

[mailman187666]

I got it for 360. It can be a little irritating combat wise sometimes because of the clunky awkwardness, but if you play it long enough you can kinda get used to it. The stiff controls.kind of spikes the difficulty as well. I like how it doesn't take itself seriously with all the 80s throwback stuff. They did away with the tape rewind aspect you saw at pax east. I also like the upgrade system and have been a fan of the series since the 80s, so all in all to me its worth the $10.

Don't always listen to me for reviews because I am normally optimistic about the games I play and try to just have fun with them. I used to play the crap out of what is considered to be some of the worst games in history.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

When was the last good Double Dragon game anyway? It seemed to get worse after Double Dragon II. Not counting the Battletoads/Double Dragon games, fun but not really part of the main series IMO.

Super Double Dragon on SNES is very good and Double Dragon Advance is pretty fantastic IMO.

[Gameguy]

Super Double Dragon on SNES is very good and Double Dragon Advance is pretty fantastic IMO.
I haven't found a copy of Double Dragon Advance yet but I've been meaning to get it. I have Super Double Dragon but it feels off for some reason, I'd have to play it again to be more specific but something just didn't seem right about the way it played. It's not horrible but not great either.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I haven't found a copy of Double Dragon Advance yet but I've been meaning to get it. I have Super Double Dragon but it feels off for some reason, I'd have to play it again to be more specific but something just didn't seem right about the way it played. It's not horrible but not great either.

This guy has mad Double Dragon Advance skillz ... and it shows off the right way to update a game like Double Dragon to accommodate for the sluggish gameplay (by today's standards anyway) of the the classic.


http://youtu.be/R1p_6uLbbj8

[Cryomancer]

I played the demo and immediately bought it. I'm also apparently one of the first few people (at least on trueachievements) to get some of the achievements, neat.

I think it's pretty damn good, and I'm not even really a fan of Double Dragon to begin with. This thread is surprisingly negative, I think, as this game does bring back a lot of classic gaming feel and methodology. There's all kinds of weird little secret areas and even an actual button-pressing code in it! Lots of joking references to other games as well, and a general feel of absurdity. I like it.

[The 1 2 P]

I played the demo earlier today and actually liked it. Of course the attempt they made to add some....um, personality to the characters doesn't seem like it paid off but the actual gameplay mechanics work fine for me. I like how you can upgrade your move set as it gives you an advantage when surrounded by three low level grunts and one pissed off Abobo. I'm going to scoop this up but I still will probably wait for the inevitable holiday sale.

[kupomogli]

This guy has mad Double Dragon Advance skillz ... and it shows off the right way to update a game like Double Dragon to accommodate for the sluggish gameplay (by today's standards anyway) of the the classic.


http://youtu.be/R1p_6uLbbj8

Double Dragon Advance is really good game, and damn O_O. If that's not a TAS then that guy has to be a Double Dragon God or something.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's terrible or completely broken, I just think it could have benefited from more creative level designs and character scripting.

No matter how much any of you are enjoying the game, you've got to admit that there are stretches of walking where pretty much NOTHING occurs.

To me, it's just it's just a very average/mediocre Double Dragon game.

[JSoup]

Played it, liked it. I'm normally not very good at beat'em ups, but I still enjoy them. Kinda wish Sony would get their shit together on the trophies, though. A bunch of accounts aren't updating correctly for this game.

[The 1 2 P]

I really wish Microsoft could get the license for the original Double Dragon renewed on XBLA. I still have the demo on my system and wish I had the ability to play the full version.

[Az]

I finally got to play the demo and I was a bit disappointed. The running mechanic is weird; not only do you have a "run" button but you don't instantly start running but have this slow get-a-running-start type initial movement. The grab thing is unintuitive, not only do you have a "grab" button but you can't grab anyone until they're dizzy.

The whole 80's aesthetic is rather lame to me. Double Dragon 1-4 had this gritty, urban post-apocalyptic vibe going. I've never looked at anything exhibited by DD and thought "Wow, what an 80's American pop culture trope". Apparently simply because the game was released in the mid-eighties was enough connection to do a complete turnabout in the atmosphere. If they were hoping to associate this with the Tradewest entries rather than the Technos ones, they succeeded. While maybe not complete garbage it's a step down from DDA, and a definite step down from homebrew offerings like SoRR & several OBOR mods. Remove the DD license and some of the tunes and I might could appreciate it's mediocrity with lowered expectations.

[Blitzwing256]

I found the game a great deal of fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously and is generally enjoyable to play through. I love Skullmageddon (yeah insert skeletor rip off comment here). I'm not sure what people were really expecting from this game, but I got what i paid for (the ending is worth the price of admission alone) lots of replay value, fun levels, silly humour and secret areas, great game.

[Cryomancer]

So as a followup to my previous praise of this game, lemme say that I've pretty much played this game every single day since I got it.

While playing it I started to make a list of retro-style game mechanics that this game has that you don't see a lot of anymore, such as...

(I mentioned some of these in my earlier post, I see now that I have typed them out. Sorry to be redundant.)
The helicopter mini-boss in stage 6 shoots missiles at you, and there is a safe spot you can stand on to never get hit, just like old shooting games and whatnot.
There is an actual, for real, press-buttons-to-activate cheat code.
There is a boss with a bunch of breakable parts.
Bosses in general start to flash after taking enough damage, and flash faster the closer they are to death.
Several of the enemies are palette swapped. Some of the swaps only exist on one certain screen or section of the game.
There is a hidden area you have to do a slightly cryptic thing to enter.
There is a hidden helper character as well.
A specific game example, the not-Mega Man boss has two doors to pass through before fighting him, which you can jump or slide into and pass through just like in Mega Man games. He dies like Mega Man too.


I'm sure there's a bunch of other stuff like this I'm forgetting, too. Honestly if you're into retro games at all this one should be a fun time for you.

[E Nice]

It also has one of the better endings a videogame could have this side of the Portal games. An intense, humourous battle, with a remixed Double Dragon theme playing, and then a funny ending theme.
I have to wonder what they were thinking when they included that fuzzy flying helper, the things it says.