Dragonrage - Arcade-Style Adventure

Dragonrage is a Flash animation arcade-styled action adventure created by Newgrounds.com user gvsboy. This flash-based adventure was submitted to Newgrounds.com on January 4, 2009, and has received front-page status circa the middle of January 2010. As stated by the game's author, a sequel is most definitely being worked.

Gameplay

The goal of Dragonrage is to fight off enemies until the end of the game.

Enemies take many different forms and come from all sides of the screen. To attack an enemy, press J while moving to perform a dashing attack, which means you will attack in the same direction for a certain distance.

Enemies can attack back. Simply touching an enemy or enemy bullets can harm your game character.

At the top-left of the screen, you can see the level of your game character, your current score, and the score you need to obtain until you can level-up. Below these values is your health bar as indicated by red boxes. The red boxes will turn white when you take damage. Avoid having your health bar decrease completely.

At the center of the top of the screen, you have the letters R, A, G, and E. These letters take the form of items that can be collected throughout the game. When you have collected all of the letters, you will automatically go into Rage mode, which basically makes you indestructible and extremely powerful. A large red square will emanate from your game character's body (and possibly your own) that can damage the enemy, many of which will be destroyed with one touch of the red square of doom. As your Rage mode time diminishes, the red square will shrink in size until it is no more, indicating to you that Rage mode is now over.

Throughout the game, you will encounter some obstacles, like spikes, that can hurt you. Avoid touching these.

Also, items will appear throughout the game. A description of what each item does can be seen by pressing H to access the help menu.

A link to a spoiler page that includes information on all attainable items and objects can be found in the Author Comments section of the game's Newgrounds.com site.

Game Controls

Use WASD to move around.
Press J while moving to perform a dashing attack.
Press P to pause.
Press M to mute.
Press H to access the help menu.

Game Review

Dragonrage is a fun little arcade-styled game that will take you back to the good old days of coin-operated, joystick-manuevering arcade games. The game music adds to the arcade-style feel of the game. Like a lot of classic arcade games, this one can become quite repetitive, but its initial addictiveness can keep you playing for a long while.

Dragonrage scores a 9/10 for high entertainment and replay value.