Panzer Dragoon Zwei

PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI
Sega of America
Sega Saturn
1 Player Game
Kids to Adults
Animated Violence

by Maria Muñoz

Go back several years before the terrible battle against the empire in PANZER DRAGOON 1. Dragons are bred in the country of Mechania for use by the Dragoons, or Knights. Dragons with wings are executed under normal circumstances because they are deemed a bad omen. Mechania has begun to study the ancient ways rather than fight a futile war using technology. The Empire is more advanced in technology and will slowly win this bloody war. Randy, our hero, and his newfound friend, the dragon he saved from being killed, continue on to turn the ride of the war.

PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI is a marvelous and exciting shooter game that incorporates 3-D animation and 360 degree angles to make it more interesting to play. The player's object of the game is to shoot and destroy any obstacles in the way. The player goes through different levels and territories finishing levels and fighting boss monsters/machines at the end.

The controller is set so that the player may use the left and right shift buttons to rotate the view. PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI's firing mechanism allows the player to target more than one obstacle and shoot them all at once (Homing Laser) or to just shoot them sporadically. The former is the better strategy. The game also has an added shooting feature, Berserk Mode, which hurls all of the dragon's energy bolts at a group of objects or the boss monsters.

Panzer Dragoon Zwei is visually stunning and offers some of the best graphics the Saturn platform is capable of.

In addition to the standard options, PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI offers an added option called Pandora's Box which only appears if the players makes it through all the levels in one try. After clearing a level, a player scores points in three areas: Clear, Route, and Technical. Depending on the score, the dragon goes through one or more metamorphic changes and increases in size and strength.

PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI has more than one possible route to take, and a player can receive more points depending on the difficulty of the route. The player also has the choice of three different instrument modes: full instruments, normal instruments, and instruments off. Full instruments gives the player a warning radar that indicates the distances of the enemies by three colors: Yellow is within visual range, Orange is very near, and Red is dangerously close.

PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI is a very fun game for those who are into the shooting game genre. I highly recommend it for its visuals and music. Go get it today!