Anyone who appreciates good shooters, a la Star Fox or the Panzer Dragoon series needs to take a bite out of this one.
As you may have guessed, Orta is one of those 3D, 3rd person, in-air shooters in the vein of Star Fox, which had no small part in making this genre popular. However, in the current-gen, games such as these seem to become ever so rarer (in terms of good, high-quality shooters). But let's keep focused on this title specificallly, and what it's got going for it.
Before you play the actual campaign, there are three optional tutorials that teach all the basic flying techniques and such, as well as changing dragon forms (I'll get to that later). You start off as Orta, a young female orphan, trapped in a tower by the evil Empire for most of her life. The Empire, a military force fueled by the ancient technology of the past, is threatening to overrun the world. One day, they finally come to kill you, but a dragonmare (a half-robot, a half-flesh robotic dragon) arrives at the nick of time to save you from the clutches of death. Throughout the rest of the game you are in battle with the Empire, and the "ancient machines of the past", but you will find more about this when you actually play the game. The story itself is very good, and not too short, though it could've been longer. It engages but it doesn't strangle the game, it's interesting but not overdone.
As for the graphics, they are absolutely gorgeous, when you're flying through hordes of enemies, admiring the cinematics, or simply scrolling the menus, you'll find none other than top-notch, and this is a 2003 title! The sounds of battle get a little repetitive sometimes, but the soundtrack is (from what I've heard) classic Panzer Dragoon, and can be intense, peaceful, or even msterious. Every level is different, in visuals and sound, whether it be deserts, canyons, villages, and of course, the sky. Although the graphics and sound still remain great even today, it is not to the outstanding high-quality that it once was, as certain PC game or console game graphics (Ninja Gaiden, Half-Life 2) rise ever higher. Still, I think many jaws will drop, and much drool will cascade.
Once you first ride atop your dragonmare, in the first level everything you learned from the tutorial comes into play. There is a targeting reticle which guides your fire with the A button, much like other shooters, with one key difference: By tapping, Orta will fire a rapid fire gun, but when you hold down the A button, the reticle changes to lock on to multiple targets. Once you release the A button from this, the dragonmare will shoot homing lasers at your targets. As you fly through the various levels, it will be important to change camera angles with the Land R buttons, to attack enemis to the front, back, and sides of you. You can also glide or slow down, to ram enemies or to avoid making close contact. Also, as you kill more and more enemies, a meter will fill up, which will allow you to release a "berserk" attack, unleashing heavy damage as well as keeping you invulernable for a small amount of time.
The ability to change forms is also available in the beginning of the game. You have a single button to change forms, which works but is sometimes cumbersome in combat. Your main form, the more balanced of the three, of course is the "Base Wing", which has the abilities in the above paragraph. But there are also two other forms to master: the "Glide Wing" and "Heavy Wing". The Glide Wing has an emphasis on speed, but causes less damage than Base or Heavy. The Heavy Wing is slow, but causes the most out of the three. During the course of your adventure, you will be able to pick up "Gene bases", upgrading the form that you have equipped, when you recieve enough of them. These will change the appearance of that form, and build on it's strengths more and more each time it is upgraded. I won't reveal the key similarites and differences between them, but I will say that balancing out the use and upgrades of your forms, in and out of combat, will be essential for survival.
After and during the main storyline, you will unlock all sorts of cool things to keep you entertained. Details about the Panzer Dragoon world and it's life, secret missions with different characters, a movie and picture area relating to everything Panzer Dragoon Orta, and something else VERY special: The original Panzer Dragoon! But, you'll have to beat the game first.....
All of these gameplay mechanics, though some similar to the older Panzer Dragoons, all work well together. The gameplay sometimes feels a little unoriginal, and you'll need to get the hang of it at first if you're like me, but the gameplay mechanics mentioned before keeps things very new. The controls in general are responsive and well laid out, and shouldn't hamper the game at all. The story, which you will see unfold as you play, is solid and different. About the graphics and sound....'nuff said. For your money's worth of only about 20 dollars, you get all this, with unlockables galore, and just about everything else a great game has. I have a lot of hope for the rest of this series, and you should too, so go support the cause and buy this game!