GAME CLEAR No. 45 -- Panzer Dragoon Orta

Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002, Xbox)

Developer: Smilebit
Publisher: SEGA
Clear Date: 8/4/2021
Clear Platform: Xbox Series X via Backwards Compatibility

I’m gonna pre-empt my thoughts on Panzer Dragoon Orta itself a bit by talking about Xbox’s backwards compatibility. Orta is the first original Xbox game I’ve beaten through Series X backwards compatibility, and I have glowing things to say about it. It’s widescreen, it’s uprez’d, it’s got AA, and it’s got HDR. It’s like playing a remaster in almost every way, but you can play it by just popping your original disk in. This is some of the best back catalog stewardship of any of the big three major console manufacturers. I love it! I’ve already started Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell since. It’s not quite as impressive an effort, but it’s still a thoroughly convenient and sharp way to play the game. Just wanted to devote a paragraph of this to giving Microsoft props here for a job well done. I hope they have support for more original Xbox games in the pipeline!

Moving on.

The main story tonight is of course Panzer Dragoon Orta, which I enjoyed a whole lot. I was finally drawn back to it because I got a Series X, and I knew that was the definitive way to play it. I haven’t yet played Saga, so I’m a bit out of order, but my Pseudo Saturn Kai finally arrived, so I’ll probably be playing that soon. Anyway, as far as the Panzer Dragoon rail shooters go, I think this is the best.

On top of its obvious graphical improvements, it also has the most coherent story and most nuanced and varied gameplay. Said gameplay is still fundamentally the same, but the dragon can shift between three different forms on the fly (basically: standard, “strong but slow”, and “weak but fast”), and mastery of these three forms is essential to clearing the fairly difficult story mode.

The story consists of a beefy 10 chapters each with letter graded scoring and all that for people that enjoy doing runs of these kinds of games. Until I got in a groove with the game, they generally took me a couple tries each. The bosses at the ends of each stage are equally challenging, but you may mercifully continue from the start of the boss fight.

Once you beat the game, there’s still plenty to do in the “Pandora’s Box” section of the game, which includes a bestiary, a surprisingly deep Panzer Dragoon encyclopedia, and several bonus missions that take you through the story of side characters or allow you to play as a supporting character during certain events of the story. I didn’t get through all the bonus content, but it was cool and welcome. Hell, the entire first game is in there too! That’s neat.

Anyway, this ain’t my best-written GAME CLEAR ever, but it’s my blog and nobody reads it, so whatever. Panzer Dragoon Orta is pretty good!