Saturday, April 23, 2016

Double Dragon 3 - Rosetta Stone



Yie Ar Kung-Fu!

Today I wanted to feature an Atari ST game to help celebrate St George's Day so I figured something dragon-related would be great? Anyhow, I tried a few games but I wasn't in the mood for those and sadly, nothing else really caught my attention. Then I remembered Double Dragon 3 ... ahem ... come on, it has "dragon" in the title!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 For all those wondering what England's St. George's Day is about 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Okay, Double Dragon 3 takes us on a trip around the world and begins on the streets of America. From the first stage, we're thrown into the thick of it as these streets are filled with many thugs - all intent on giving you a good hiding!! There are lots of kicks and punches which can be acted out using cool animation and look pretty nice.

Controls are smooth & responsive I found with each type of kick or punch was easily performed. In fact, DD3 is actually very easy to pick up and play so feels like that arcade feeling I hoped for. We need no learning curve. I must say that, immediately, even a beat 'em up noob like myself gets a thrill from this arcade-styled kicker!



You don't mess with guys that look like these two!!


But I gotta laugh at the fun artwork throughout. It's great, but a little creepy!!


Kick him when he's down!

Immediately, it's obvious this game was designed with fake Hollywood-style action over any pseudo-realism which is fine by me! The baddies are awesome and can attack in groups making for a frantic, full-of-laughs, joystick-bashing time. At times, I got a Golden Axe vibe and, throughout, I enjoyed the barrage of silly fighting.

The gameplay is well-balanced, without being too easy or overbearing. I soon discovered a jumping/flying kick which is very effective. However, repeating the same move soon bored me, so out came my joystick-waggling skills to uncover other hidden moves and before long I found a spinning vertical kick! Now I wonder what else there is...

The enemies are a traditional lot with predictable AI but they all move slowly so the overall pace is reduced. Occasionally, shops are available to offer you cool power-ups like weapons, etc/etc. This adds a little more depth and longevity to your entertainment and proves that beating people up will always be incredibly good fun!



Come on, get up and take some more smackin'!! Yeah, I can take on anybody GRR!!


Ah, he's big. Well, they say that the bigger they are... (I hope that's true!!)


The CryptO'pinion?

Double Dragon 3 is a bucket load of fun with great graphics to boot. I loved the initial location set in the grungy streets of America and later levels vary nicely. The sound effects are neat but it's a shame there's no in-game chip music. However, I am genuinely shocked by just how much I enjoyed this beat 'em-up and I cannot recommend it enough.

Double Dragon 3 offers great, kick-ass action so scores top marks from me. I really enjoyed this game a bunch!!


Kick & punch your way using either
floppy disk or your hard drive

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