Now Playing: Dragon Force

Originally released on the Sega Saturn in 1996, Dragon Force is a mixture of turn based strategy and real time tactical battles. Set in the fantasy world of Legendra, you begin your campaign by choosing one of eight factions. Your choice of faction determines your start position on the campaign map, your Monarch and your initial set of Generals.

Although the overall story is the same regardless of faction, each faction has its own unique story based cut-scenes and events. Each faction is also initially tailored to a specific type of unit. There are ten different unit types, ranging from the standard soldier and cavalry units, to the more exotic zombie, dragon and harpy units.

The game is divided between two modes – the real time campaign and the tactical battles. The campaign map gives you an overview of Legendra, with your armies represented by a single soldier based upon your Monarch. Each army can contain up to five Generals, each of which can lead a single unit of up to 100 troops. Movement on the campaign map is restricted to set paths between villages and castles, the latter of which can be occupied to expand your territory.

All of this might sound a little like a Total War game. And in many ways, it is. In fact, Dragon Force is probably the only reason I began playing Total War. I never came across another strategy game which offered a similar set up of turn based campaign and tactical battles until I saw the original Shogun on sale.

But Dragon Force isn’t quite the same. The campaign, although split into timed ‘turns’ (each representing a week) actually moves in real time (although it can be paused to issue commands). So you really need to keep an eye on what’s happening all across the map, as the AI factions advance, retreat and occupy all at the same time.

When two opposing armies meet (all factions are at war, there’s no diplomatic options or alliances) you’ll enter a real time tactical battle. The enemy will select one of their Generals to fight. Each General has their own level, stats and unit type. The player will then select a General of their own to face them on the battlefield.

The battles, like the campaign, are entirely 2D with sprite based units, animations and effects. Before the battle you can set a unit formation (offence / defence / raid / breach) and then issue commands when the battle begins (advance / charge / disperse / hold). The two armies will clash on the field, but the battle won’t be won until a General is defeated or retreats.

Each General has their own health bar and special skills which can turn the tide of battle to their favour. They’re essentially ‘hero’ units, and fighting battles will grant them experience enabling them to level up, grow more powerful and learn new skills. But Generals alone won’t win you battles. You’ll also need to select the right kind of troops.

Some unit types are more or less effective depending on what type of unit they face. For example, the monk unit absolutely destroys zombie units, but performs very poorly against archers and dragons. Knowing how effective each unit type will be against another is the key to victory. Which is also why it’s important to build varied armies of multiple unit types.

Defeating a General and capturing them will also give you the option to recruit them, enabling you to build more armies and expand your territory more rapidly. Occupying castles is important, as they serve to reinforce your men from a growing pool of reserves. They also offer an important terrain bonus depending on the level of the castle.

At the end of the every turn, you’ll enter the ‘administration’ mode of Dragon Force. This is where you’ll typically see story based events, but it’s also where you’ll bestow awards upon your Generals (giving them more troops to command), recruit more Generals from those you’ve captured, fortify castles (to increase their level) and also search castles for useful items such as weapons or stat boosts which can be equipped to individual characters.

Regardless of which faction you choose, this is how you’ll spend the first ‘half’ of Dragon Force. You’ll be expanding across the campaign map, occupying castles, recruiting new Generals, levelling up your Generals and increasing their unit counts. Over time, you’ll destroy the other factions, and once you’ve captured their Monarch, they’ll then join your army.

I won’t get too much into the story, but it’s fairly straightforward. There’s an evil God and eight chosen heroes on a quest to defeat him. Eight heroes. Eight faction Monarchs. Yeah, it’s not hard to figure out. And that’s when Dragon Force takes a neat turn and transforms almost into a traditional party based RPG.

Because once you’ve conquered the entire map and all the other factions, you must then embark on a quest with those eight heroes to recover certain items which will help you defeat the evil God. This all builds to a final showdown where you’ll face the evil God himself and destroy him. It’s pretty cool.

Dragon Force still looks and sounds great even today. And although the story is fairly serious, there’s a lot of humour injected throughout thanks to the varied characters. There’s also a lot of hidden / bonus content, as certain characters will interact differently with others, and there are also special Generals you can find by exploring certain locations on the campaign map.

With each faction having its own unique story based events, it makes playing each faction a somewhat unique experience, at least in the early game. Oh, and one thing I can’t not mention, although it is a little bit of a spoiler, is the giant robot that crashes onto the campaign map and starts tearing up your shit with lasers. No, I’m serious. There’s a giant robot in this fantasy based game. It’s so bizarre, especially when you have to recover a legendary magic sword to destroy it.

Okay, so what about some more negative aspects of Dragon Force? Well, I guess my main issue is that it’s all a little too easy. The AI factions rarely consolidate their forces in the same way you do, meaning it’s far too easy to whittle an opposing faction down one General at a time. They also never really expand beyond one or two extra castles, so once you’ve absorbed 2 or 3 other factions, taking the rest of the map becomes a matter of time rather than skill.

Something that always irritated me is the re-spawning ‘evil’ Generals. There’s a pair of them that reappear every 3-4 turns. They can prove troublesome early on, but as they never grow more powerful, they become more of an annoyance than a threat. You get some similar armies towards the end game that keep reappearing, but that’s when things are wrapping up so it’s not such an issue.

Overall, Dragon Force remains an engaging and enjoyable title. It’s still fiendishly addictive, and I’d often find myself playing ‘just one more turn’ of the campaign rather than quitting when I’d intended to. It’s a shame I never got to play the sequel which was only released in Japan. Dragon Force is one of the key games that got me into strategy, and it’s the entire reason I began playing Total War. Not just one of my all time favourite games, but one of the best, too.

8/10