DragonStrike (video game)

Did You Know?

• Ports for the PC-9801 and X68000, developed by Crosstalk, were published in 1992.
• The Nintendo Entertainment System version is a top-down scrolling shooter with 14 missions, unlike the original 40.

Gameplay

DragonStrike is a flight simulator in a high fantasy setting. The player character is a knight who flies on a metallic dragon equipped with a lance and magic items, including a magic orb that acts as a radar. The dragon can use recharging magical breath, claws, or bite to attack enemies above or below. Opponents include evil dragons, manticores, wyverns, sivak draconians, and gas spores. Flying too close to the ground risks enemy archers. Successful missions grant more hit points and access to a more powerful dragon; choosing between bronze, silver, or gold dragons alters missions and the ending.

Plot

The game is set in Krynn during the War of the Lance. The main character is a young knight of Solamnia who climbs the ranks of knighthood and is assigned different dragon mounts. The story begins halfway through the action of War of the Lance, after metallic dragons joined the Knights of Solamnia, and ends with a major victory for the god Paladine. The NES remake features a dragon without a rider, with a different ending that diverges from the novels and tabletop modules.

Reception

SSI sold 34,296 copies of DragonStrike. Dragon #161 gave the game 5 out of 5 stars in 1990. Computer Gaming World in 1990 called it 'a superlative and innovative product' that appealed to both fantasy and simulation gamers, though it wished for Gold Box character import. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, the magazine gave it four of five stars, noting it was a clone of Dragonriders of Pern that received less attention. A 1994 survey of strategic space games gave it three-plus stars. A GameSpy reviewer stated Westwood was hitting its stride with 'another forgotten classic and badly underrated DragonStrike', praising its VGA graphics and fractal terrain engine, and noting it rewarded strategy over reflexes, though the flight model was simplistic.