After a long-protacted development, Crimson Dragon is finally in a playable state - and its switch to Xbox One exclusive has made for some cool new features. Obviously it looks incredible: your fire-breathing dragon buddy is dwarfed by gigantic bosses, such as the weird octopus-dragon-thing Baobab-O we encountered during a demo at the Tokyo Game Show, one of its mighty wings filling the screen as you fly in for the kill.
"Originally it was a Kinect-only on-rails shooter, but we've added controller support, and that allowed us to take the boss sections off rails and offer free flight," explains director Yukio Futatsugi, who based the game on his cult hit Sega Saturn series Panzer Dragoon. Crimson Dragon supports Kinect and controller inputs simultaneously, which keys into a new Draco Connection mode. Usually, you have at your command a main attack that is tied to your chosen dragon (and which evolves along with your beast) and a sub that you can re-equip as you play. Draco Connection, however, allows you to call in some back-up.
"If your friends register their dragon online, you can summon them to help you, and they'll get reward items," explains Futatsugi. You can then control your leathery wingman using the Kinect voice commands "Assault," "Advance forward" and "Fall back", and utilise its main attack. So if you're having trouble with a certain stage, you can find a friend with a much stronger attack skill, borrow his or her beast for a spell, and share the booty when you're done.
The implementation of controller support is a welcome move in general, as the original Kinect-only builds on Xbox 360 seemed a bit laborious - you were required to stand at all times and swing your entire body to move around. The controls could still use a bit of work, though, especially as regards the free-flight boss battles. The right thumbstick controls both the aiming reticule and the camera, which can leave you struggling to orient yourself at the worst possible moments.
There are online co-op missions for up to three riders, but Crimson Dragon's RPG elements will probably supply the bulk of its replay value. There are six breeds of dragon at the start of the game, and each will have several levels of evolution, which you can accelerate by picking up items - some of which are peculiar to rarer breeds of enemy dragon - and boosting your score (by finishing a boss fight with time on the clock, for example).
Porting the game mid-development to Xbox One was "extremely difficult," Futatsugi admits - his team at Grounding Inc numbers just 25 people - but that's a feat the developer has pulled off with flying HD colours. The dragon designs come courtesy of Panzer Dragoon lead artist Motoko Kusanogi, and many of the original Andromeda team are involved as well.
Crimson Dragon will cost a scanty $20 in the US, and Grounding plans to release regular DLC, some of which may even be free. The budget pricing is reassuring, because the game's Space Harrier-style, on-rails 3D shooting may not appeal to everybody, even given spruced-up controls. As for ourselves, we're looking forward to sinking some hours at launch into raising our perfect dragon - and then filling the skies with fire.