Dragon's Lair HD Blu-ray/PS3 Review

If you really want to revlieve your early 80's arcade experience on your PS3 and HD Sony Brevia LCD TV then Dragon's Lair HD on Blu-ray is for you. Digital Leisure did a brilliant job remastering Don Bluth's hillarious animated sequences to look spectacular on an HD set. Unfortunately the gameplay was left in tact, broken parts and all. I'm glad the original version is on the disc, but what I really want is a home version. The original was design to dispatch you quickly, forcing you to deposit more quarters. At home? I don't need that kind of frustration, I need fun more than nostalgia.

Does Dragon's Lair HD Blu-ray look like a true "HD Game?" that depends. I think this is easily the best looking version of Dragon's Lair to date (and there have been countless remakes, including a remarkably pixelated Amiga version). However, for the uninitiated, Dragon's Lair is a cartoon videogame. Hand drawn animated sequences are strung together to create a videogame version of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Don Bluth (Land Before Time/Secret of NIMH) provided all the art for the game, and it truly is the game's strength. His work truly is timeless and is fun today as it was 24 years ago. Alas the game itself is not.

Videogame necromancers, pay attention! When you resurrect a videogame from the grave, please note: the world has changed, your game may have to be adapted to fit in. You know how when you resurrect zombies they kinda smell and nobody wants to be their friend? Retro videogames are the same way. Arcades games were meant to gulp quarters. People don't use quarters anymore. Hence you have a problem. Dragon's Lair is inordinately difficult, and it was designed so that you would keep filling its cabinet with your lunch money. Home games in which people lose to soon and frequently are seen an frustrating, and end up on the used rack at your local videogame shop

Dragon's Lair HD may look superb, but it is in desperate need of a true home version, one that lets you take some time between choices, or at least clearly lets you know what your options are. I truly hope Digital Leisure does bring Space Ace and the rest of the cartoon games to my HD set, but rather than a direct port, let's get a reworked version. And while you're at it, how about a few more extras? You've got 20+ years of material to draw from.