Dragon Tide Review: Bringing Old in Old School
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

During the heyday of old consoles, role playing games were just pixilated sprites. Those boxy looking characters you played was your portal to another world, slaying monsters, using spells and saving the day. Now, with the invention of the next gen consoles, we get to experience games that have surpassed our imaginations and the old pixilated chaps are soon forgotten. Dragon Tide, a browser game that uses that same system we grew to love and reminds us of the good ol’ days of RPGs. However, it seems that the good ol’ days should have been left in the past.

Where It Begins

Your character is a hero in a world where dragons have taken over. Dragon Tide, as the name suggests revolves around your journey to become stronger so that you can rid of the world of the menace of the dragons. Sounds good right? The game does have a certain flair for storytelling. The brief history of the game does bring the mood of your goal and your quest in the game however this is the only place where the game really makes you feel like part of the story.

Visuals

Right off the bat, Dragon Tide is a game that is not visually spectacular. You get a little sprite that symbolizes your character. The sprite you have doesn’t change regardless of the race and career class you choose, so that’s another minus point for the game. Aside from the map you don’t get any other visuals in the game. So it’s really a letdown that the only graphics you see are a pixilated character, which reminds you of the 8-bit, characters of old school RPGs.

Gameplay and Controls

There’s nothing revolutionary in the gameplay of Dragon Tide. It has all the elements of an RPG game however in Dragon Tide everything is done in a slower pace than a lot of us would like. You control your character by clicking on the directional buttons found on the game’s interface. Your character moves inch by inch per click so it takes ages for you to get where you want to go to. The inventory and even attacks are also done by clicking on the links that are found in your main page.

While the controls do provide you a little nostalgia for the old RPGs, the games controls are very inconvenient. The response time between clicking the direction you want your character to move to the actual movement of your character is delayed.

Job Classes and Races

Dragon Tide follows the standards when it comes to its Job classes and character races. You have the standard races such as the dwarves and elves and the job classes you can find in most RPGs and MMOs. That would mean that there is nothing new going on in Dragon Tide. What you have is the same old races and the same old job class that online games have in spades. So it would really make you think twice in playing the game.

Mobile Playing

I would say that this is the only feature the game has that would set it above the other browser games available on the market. Being able to play the game while you’re on the go is something that browser games don’t really look into, especially those that have the same game system as Dragon Tide. I’ve tried playing the game with my PSP and it runs the same way as it runs on a computer. As I continued playing the game, it felt as if Dragon Tide is more suited for mobile playing. Of course the gameplay does not really improve when you play it on a mobile device, it just feels right. I was actually able to spend more time playing Dragon Tide in my PSP rather than my computer. Mobile playing however is not really exclusive for Dragon Tide as other games such as Travian are available as well, so it’s not really an achievement that you can play the game on a mobile device.

Updates Still Being Done

The other thing that keeps the game running is the game updates. It is surprising to see that Dragon Tide has a steady stream of updates. Though it might not be too much, the constant updates show that the game is not dead. You have something to look forward to every month.

Conclusion

Dragon Tide is a game that is definitely at a disadvantage against other browser games of the same theme. Visually the game definitely lacks a lot of things, from the pixilated images to the lack of anything graphic in the interface. When it comes to the gameplay and controls, the game has nothing new to add to the genre. What you have is a game that takes time to play and majority of it would be due to the delay in-between actions which really defeats the purpose of the game being an RPG. 

The game only has the mobile device compatibility and the steady stream of updates going for it, and this really doesn’t make the game more appealing. Once the novelty of being able to play an old school RPG wears off, what is left is a bitter taste of time wasted and the question, why did you even bother. There are definitely more games out there that are worth your time. Though I must say that the game is not the worst I’ve played, it really is near the bottom of the ladder.

Pros:
– It has a decent storyline
– There are a variety of races that you can use
– You get to see your character moving
– You can play the game on mobile devices.

Cons:
– Game graphics is old
– It takes ages for you to control your character
– Game interface is dull.