Panzer Dragoon Orta: Beautiful. Astounding. The very "Sistine Chapel" of video games.
PhatPat
100% score
Having never experienced the series before this latest installment into the ubiquitous Dragoon legacy, Orta faced the daunting task of convincing me that the series lives up to the infamous and copious hype with which it is commonly associated. So, I laced up my boots, cracked my knuckles, and plunged in - reservations be damned. Let's just say, my convincing threshold was breached in...oh...about five minutes. There's no reason to beat around the bush when describing Panzer Dragoon Orta's graphical wizardry, so allow me to summarize what is likely the first response from 99.72615% of Orta gamers: GASP! GURGLE! B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B! Duh...Purty. Panzer Dragoon Orta is, without reasonable doubt, the most beautiful and fluid game of this genre in the history of console gaming. In fact, it's only a shame that such a world merely exists in the realm of fantasy and binary extrapolations. Your eyes hopelessly transfix to your screen. If not for the glare from your kitchen of neglected and enflamed Easy-Mac, you'd swear that you were actually riding shotgun with Orta. SmileBit has managed to blend astounding graphical realism with what can only be construed as an element of modern art - all at a blistering, hiccup-free 60 fps. It truly must be seen to be believed. If eyes could drool, you'd need cheek bibs while playing this game. There have been complaints about the "rail-based" system that drives this game, which critics claim removes much of the control from the player's hands. This may be distracting at first, but the sheer speed at which the scenery whips by and the general melee of combat will convince you that a full roaming 3D world would have been physiologically impossible for the human brain to process. As packaged, you'll already feel gray matter seeping from your ears after 15 minutes of play. Bottom line: GET IT. NOW. PhatPat
