Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Review

by Lance Arthur Smith

Bruce Lee. The name is synonymous with action, excitement, and legend. The movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story effectively captured these qualities and more. It's only natural to think that this hero of millions would translate well to a video game saga. Well... yes and no (predominantly no).

The translation from motion picture to video game is apparent only in the story mode of this Sega Genesis cart. Story mode takes you on a journey through key moments of the movie. The cinema scenes of Bruce fighting the sailor, facing Johnny Lee, and confronting the Phantom are a nice change of pace from the lame gameplay of everything else.

Billed as a "fighting game," Dragon shows two, sometimes three, characters punching and kicking it out on screen. This is about all of the fighting that goes on, as landing a punch is not a question of skill, but of luck. With the amazing variety (read: sarcasm!) of three or four moves per fighting position, you have about fifteen ways of disabling your opponent. Ohhhhhh, groovy! Not only is this repetitious, but the so-called "special moves" are about as special as red apples. The much feared "flying stomp" requires no difficulty and connects approximately three percent of the time. THREE PERCENT!

Despite all these MAJOR flaws, you will attempt to keep playing no matter what. You're thinking "I'm a Bruce Lee fan, so I'll stick with it" (and you better be, 'cuz that's the only way you're gonna play this game). But even the most die-hard Bruce Lee fans will be turned off by the droning pseudo-intense music and sound effects. Bruce's heart shaking "KIAAAAH!" is replaced by a wimpy "hai."

On the plus side, the character designs and graphics are admirable. Much effort was taken to ensure that Bruce's stature and physique were intact. Too bad nothing else in this game is as chiseled as Bruce's biceps!