Originally published October 2015

Being born midway through the 1980s, I "missed out" on growing up through a truly absurd decade. Yet, there were plenty of movies and TV shows that permeated the ether of the 90s that I was able to experience somewhat vicariously. Much like these reviews, I was late to the party but still able to enjoy the excitement just as well, so references to media from the era are certainly not lost on me. With the recent reverence the 80s have been getting--since nostalgia fads start 30 years after their desired decade for some reason--various contemporary forms of entertainment have been showcasing their artistic homages to that era, and video games are no different. Speaking of which, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

If you read my review of Far Cry 3, you'll already know that I've become a fan of the gameplay style these games use and that Far Cry 3 had quickly become a new favorite first-person shooter in my collection of games. I also mentioned that the story of Blood Dragon seemed more interesting, but that was only as an outside observer. Having finally finished the game, I can say that while it is more interesting and entertaining, it's certainly not more intelligent or emotionally deep.

And that's okay! Blood Dragon wears its intention on its sleeve in that it's not trying to be something classy and eloquent with a great deal of depth to its story. Instead, it revels in the trashy B-movie styles from the 80s with a storyline cut out of an action film from the era. Up front, I will say that everything Blood Dragon sets out to do, it accomplishes.

Story

You play as cyborg special agent soldier Rex Power Colt in a post-apocalyptic future where man and machine have become one and the same. The world of the future looks like if the movies Predator, Aliens, Terminator, and The Running Man had a baby and Daft Punk are the doctors present during the procedure with Uncle Rambo in the waiting room. You're on a jungle island as in Far Cry 3, but it is inhabited by cyborg soldiers and "nerd" scientists along with cyber-wildlife, including the titular Blood Dragons.

What are you doing on this jungle island? You're going after Robo-Bennett from Commando, though that's not the name they give him in the game. It doesn't matter what you're doing there. You have maybe about 5-6 story missions total and they mostly include storming a facility and wrecking shop like a one-man army. There are no real plot twists or anything, it's just a simple 80's action movie romp where you go kick ass all day. There's a moment that requires you to "test your might" as the hero must become all-powerful, but the rest of the time you are playing as the lone wolf terrorist on this island to stop evil, spread freedom, and say no to drugs.

One of the best things about this game is the writing. So what if the story isn't complex? That doesn't matter when everything the characters are saying is pure, gold cheese. There are constant references and ridiculous moments permeated with PSAs, puns, and one-liners that would only sound half-good coming from an action star. The fact that they got Michael Biehn from Terminator and Aliens to provide the voice of Rex Power Colt makes great moments like this even better.

There are a few moments where I wish the story wasn't told through the comic book cinematic just rendered in-game, but I think that was partially due to a limit on time. We never actually see Robo-Bennett in a physical form, so they may have just opted for the comic book method to meet deadlines.

Gameplay

If you played Far Cry 3, you will have no trouble jumping into Blood Dragon. If you didn't play Far Cry 3, you will have no trouble jumping into Blood Dragon. Blood Dragon takes the gameplay of FC3 and simply amps up your main character to its full potential. Jason Brody got pretty strong by the end of his game with the various upgrades he got, but he still took fall damage like a punk. Rex can fall from anywhere in the sky and land without a single point of damage. Not to mention he starts out with a variety of advanced kill moves that Brody took a long time to get, including the death-from-above move. One of my favorite things to do was to grab a hang-glider, soar over enemies, and then drop a mile from the sky on top of them, killing one of them in a spectacularly dramatic fashion.

That's the thing about playing Blood Dragon: you're really powerful from the start. What's even better is that you only get stronger. The very first thing you do in Blood Dragon is use a laser mini-gun to assault a base while Little Richard's Long Tall Sally is an obvious homage to the movie, Predator. On-rails mini-gun segments are typically reserved for later sections in most games, but Blood Dragon is clearly injecting you into the middle of a character's progression. This doesn't stop it from giving you an intentionally annoying and self-aware tutorial segment immediately afterward, but nonetheless, Rex is a trained killer and you only get stronger as your weapons and abilities are upgraded further.

Speaking of weapons, upgrading your guns will quickly make you stronger than a majority of your opponents. The pistol, you get as your starting weapon, while strong enough, is probably the weakest weapon of the whole game. This is slightly disappointing because it's based on the legendary Robocop gun. Regardless, the other weapons you get in the game are incredibly powerful after only a few upgrades, especially the sniper rifle. Once you've upgraded your sniper rifle to use explosive rounds, it is effectively a long-range grenade launcher that can kill a vast majority of your enemies easily.

There is one enemy type that does not go down so easily, which is the titular Blood Dragon. Blood Dragons are gigantic dinosaur creatures that are extremely aggressive and tough. They will kill you quickly if you aren't careful. Essentially, they're giant aggressive iguanas that can shoot lasers from their eyes, like many lizards could in the 80s. These giant Gila monsters eat the cyber-hearts of the soldiers you face on this military island, for some reason. Thus, you can loot the hearts from the fallen bodies to use them as bait for these giant creatures if you need to lead them away. This is usually what you want to do because they're not easy to kill, even with all your upgrades.

Aside from the blood dragons, there's not too much of a difference between the gameplay of this and the original Far Cry 3. There are still a bunch of outposts for you to infiltrate and take over. There are still a bunch of bounty-hunting/rescue missions. There are still a bunch of hunting missions. It's just all in a slightly smaller supply and everything you can earn or do progresses faster.

With all the upgrades and default abilities that Rex Power Colt has, it's clear that Blood Dragon just wants to take the gameplay of its base game and turn it up to an absurd level of ridiculous fun. Since the base game was already pretty fun, I'd say it's safe to say that Blood Dragon manages to be a pretty fun experience.

Presentation

As I mentioned, this game is all about the 80's. Blood Dragon came out a few years ago and since there's a thing about particular decades and their styles becoming popular 30 years later, it feels like it was one of the first games to really amplify and capitalize on the Americana of the time. Of course, the 80s weren't as great as everyone born in the 1990s seems to think it was--games like Blood Dragon or films like Kung Fury clearly have an unrealistic fondness for the style, sound, and culture of the decade. If only the ‘80s actually were as colorful, neon, and musically gifted as our retro reverence for the decade is.

Back to the point: Blood Dragon is extremely aware of its presentation. It has intentional scan lines on the screen to simulate watching a movie on an old tube TV, common in households during the 80's. The loading screen is a black screen with a tracking bar, as though the player is watching something on a VHS player. Everything is a mix of neon blues, reds, and greens.

Going a little further under the surface, the island, character, and gun designs are all references to classic ‘80s action movies like Robocop, Aliens, Commando, Terminator, Rambo, and Predator. As I mentioned, the fact that they managed to get the actor Michael Biehn (star of two of those movies) to voice the main character further elevates the experience, especially with his outrageous one-liners.

The writing of this game is hilarious if you are in on the joke. Rex's statements and one-liners are stupidly funny. The low-resolution comic-book cut-scenes have some great moments that made me laugh out loud. Even the smallest details like stickers on crates in enemy bases saying things like the common PSAs of the 80's serve to add a chuckle to the overall experience. The only downside to all this is that you need to be in on the joke most of the time. If you didn't grow up at all during the ‘80s or were old enough in the ‘90s for ‘80s syndication to catch up, you may miss a fair amount of the humor here. Thankfully the gameplay is still solid fun.

Before moving on, I'll say that the music is also great. Powerglove provides a fantastic soundtrack—I have listened to it several times on its own—that manages to evoke the synthesizer styles of music synonymous with the ‘80s and drum beats similar to the movies mentioned before. It fits so well that I actually recommend just putting this soundtrack on repeat in the background while watching action movies like Commando because it blends almost too well. Once again, reverence is better than the real thing because I don't think most of the music from that era is actually as good as all the music you can find on the internet that claims to be inspired by it. I would sooner listen to this and other artists like Lazerhawk and Megadrive than actual music from the ‘80s.

Conclusion

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a short but fun game. There are only a handful of story missions. Even with all the extraneous content, I finished the game in under 10 hours. Yet, with its lower price point, creative style, and already fun gameplay amped up even further, it would be difficult for me not to recommend it. Even if you don't get the reverential humor and style of Blood Dragon, the game is still fun and exciting enough to pull you in and release your inner roboninja.