Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon Review (PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch & PC)

The Double Dragon series once captured lightning in a bottle, back when it catapulted to success in 1987. Since then, twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, have struggled to steal the show with an inconsistent release schedule and regurgitated old-school formula. What’s more? The beat 'em up genre has exploded to include way better releases. Most recently, games like Streets of Rage 4, River City Girls 2, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge have had much better success scooping positive reviews. All the while, Double Dragon Advance (2003), Double Dragon Neon (2012), and Double Dragon IV (2017) remained faithful to the original’s glory days in the ‘80s and early ‘90s and, in the process, failed to resonate with fans.

According to Secret Base Pte Ltd’s developer Raymond Teo, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon is ready to try a new recipe. The game will add rogue-lite elements you’ll want to return to constantly and, in the process, create an innovative way to overhaul the repetitiveness of beat ‘em up games of today. Can Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon truly be the game that ushers the Double Dragon series to a new era? Will both old and newcomers have the time of their lives playing the new game? Just how worthwhile is Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon? Tag along on our Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon deep-dive review to find out.

Double Trouble

A nuclear war has broken out in New York City. Chaos ensues. Gangs take charge. It’s up to brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee to take the bad guys down. As always, the brothers are skilled in flashy martial arts. However, the new game has Marian and newcomer Uncle Martin join them on their quest.

At first, you can only select two of the four characters. It’s the new tag system that lets you switch between characters mid-game. Each character has a different skill set. Uncle Martin is more of a close-quarters kind of guy with the brute strength “hulk” effect. Marian, no longer the helpless girlfriend the Lee brothers have to save, is a firearms expert, hence a long-range kind of girl.

Surprisingly, though highly welcome, Billy and Jimmy are different, too. Billy is slower, but he can throw devastating sucker punches. On the other hand, Jimmy is quick on his feet. And to counteract, his punches are weaker. It’s all up to you to decide how to tag team your crew. Perhaps you’d like a close and long-range duo. Or want to compensate for an ineffective skill in your first choice. You’ll be free to swap characters mid-game, thus taking advantage of a pair.

There’s More

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is much simpler. Previously, it wasn’t as fun, with a slow, clunky, punishing gameplay system. Now, any player can jump into the game and quickly get caught up to speed. For starters, all it takes is mastering one-button or direction-plus-button combos. You’ll navigate linear levels, which have a decent amount of room to show off your best moves, and either evade enemy attacks or unleash your own.

Most enticing are the special attacks, which you can use for crowd control. And when you take down three or more enemies simultaneously, you receive healing items and bonus cash in return. The game has a special attacks meter, which fills up based on your performance. Since each character has unique special moves, you can tag in your partner when their special meter fills up to double the trouble.

Feel like the first four characters don’t suffice? You can unlock more, precisely up to 13 unique playable characters and nine more when you earn more tokens. It’s not as much the number as it is the diversity of their playstyle and strengths. Each character is distinct from the other, even as far as a select few inheriting a boss’s powers or picking dropped enemy weapons, thus making tag teaming all the more interesting.

Uphill Climb

With four nuclear war-ridden stages, you’ll have to clean up the gangs in all of them to complete the game. There’s a twist, though, that you’re free to choose either one of the stages to start. Each one is color-coded and themed after a gang boss. When you conquer it, the next one you choose will have stronger enemies, more locations, and a longer time frame to complete.

It’s easy to think there’s probably a strategy here. Which stage should you take first? Which one should remain last? Well, save for how interesting or annoying you find the gang boss to be, there really isn’t much that goes into the tactical front of the mission structures. On the bright side, though, it’s a great replayability factor, where restarting the game and choosing a different order reveals fuller stage versions you hadn’t seen before.

Look and Feel

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons looks and feels great. The vibrant and diverse stages include neon-lit cityscapes, casino floors, desert wastelands, urban towns, dimly lit pyramids, and more. Character designs, too, jump off the screen. They do share a resemblance to the old days but also have a fresh, modern flair. And the soundtracks have been remastered to maintain upbeat, toe-tapping tunes.

Perhaps the game’s fluid animation may have gotten in the game’s way since attacks do tend to lose their snappiness. They have a delayed feeling that can be frustrating when avoiding lightning strikes and falling rocks. Not every area supports gameplay, too, like the dimly lit pyramid that has you relying on a little spotlight to spot hordes of enemies. Some platform obstacles were hardly fun, especially when enemies would spawn in areas you’d already passed, forcing you to retrace your steps.

Rogue-lite

It’s pretty grand that you can carry over your progression to the next level. So when you reach the end of a stage, you can spend some cash to gain buffs like health, stronger special move attacks, damage retention, or grant buffs to your partner if you’re KO’d. It’s a better alternative to just stockpiling cash, which, if you die, you’ll lose all of it and start afresh. Although technically, you can trade in cash for tokens to unlock things like characters and art. Tokens can carry over to the next stage too.

Generally, the new rogue-lite element didn’t exactly change my gameplay strategy a tad bit much. It didn’t feel as impactful to the gameplay or change the core experience. For the most part, beat ‘em ups feel like they have always been roguelike in nature. Die, you lose all your credits, and it’s game over, so you start again. Some buffs and unlockables are immediately beneficial, though. But if you decide to pay them no mind, I doubt it’d affect your playthrough that much.

Verdict

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is reminiscent of the past for the present. It’s a classic beat ‘em up that clings on to its origins like a child would to her mother. But rather than simply copy and paste mother’s recipe, the game takes a step further to add enticing specials that will get both old and new players hooked.

Starting with the tag system, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons makes it so players can enjoy a wider range of skills and abilities. With over 20 playable characters, each with a distinct flair and move sets, you can shuffle around a pair of them to find the ones that work best for you. It’s a system that works perfectly, especially with the special meter indicator that fills up regularly, giving you more than enough swaps throughout the playthrough.

The other new feature, rogue-lite, may need some more polishing. It still doesn’t bring much impact to one’s strategy. Although to be fair, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons isn’t meant to be a strategic game at all. Simply mashing buttons mindlessly and stringing combos along until the enemy KO’s brings such exhilarating satisfaction. With time, that’s bound to get repetitive and boring, but Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons has taken a step further to add randomness to the mission structure.

And to sum it up, the game’s eye-popping, pixel-perfect visual style wraps the entire experience and ties it with a bow. Its stages are detailed and fun to maneuver, albeit with a few touch-ups that post-launch updates should iron out easily.