Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
| Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp | |
|---|---|
 Dragon's Lair II arcade flyer | |
| Publisher(s) | Digital Leisure, EA (IPhone port) |
| Platform(s) | Laserdisc, CD-i, PC, DVD, Blu-ray, IPhone, PS3, Wii, DSiWare, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Macintosh |
| Release date(s) | June 16, 1991 DSiWare |
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1991 laserdisc video game by Digital Leisure. It is regarded as the first "true" sequel to Dragon's Lair. It takes place years after the timeline of the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced several children. When Daphne is kidnapped by the evil wizard Mordroc in order to be forced into marriage, Dirk's children are clearly upset by the abduction of their mother, and Dirk must once again save her.
Home ports of the game were announced for the Philips CD-i, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and Jaguar CD. However, only the CD-i version was actually released, though non-playable demos of the 3DO and Jaguar CD versions appear on those consoles' respective versions of Brain Dead 13.
The game was later ported to the Wii as part of the compilation release Dragon's Lair Trilogy.
Overview
As with the original, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp consists of an animated short film that requires the player to move the joystick or press a fire button at certain times in order to continue. The game follows a traditional damsel in distress storyline where Dirk the Daring must find and rescue Daphne with the help of a well-spoken time machine. It seems that the time machine is (or has been possessed by) the brother of Mordroc, the foul wizard that has kidnapped Daphne. Dirk travels through several dimensions and historical eras searching for Daphne, some inspired by classic stories and fairy tales such as Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty, to prevent Mordroc from enslaving Daphne to his whim with the dreaded Death Ring. Voice actor Michael Rye reprises his role as the narrator in the attract sequence, as he did with Dragon's Lair as well as Space Ace.
Development
Development on the game began in 1983 after the success of the original Dragon's Lair, and finally reached arcades eight years later, hence Leland Interactive's credit on the title screen, although a commercial from Don Bluth Productions featuring completed animation from stage 3 in the game had aired on television in 1984. Gameplay differs from the original in two important ways. First, it's linear, as opposed to the randomized sequences of rooms from the first game; "dying" in the sequel also forces the player to resume from a checkpoint in the level rather than starting a randomly different level as in the original. Second, golden treasures are scattered throughout the game; getting each treasure is optional and requires an extra move, but the player is awarded extra points. The developers originally planned to include a longer battle sequence at the end if the player managed to collect all the treasures, and a shorter one if they missed any, but this idea was scrapped in the final version and the longer sequence is used regardless. In the final release of the game it was made mandatory to pick up all the treasures; if the player misses any, at the end of the game it loops back to the first treasure missed. As well, unlike in the first game, the actions the player must do are prompted by a brief flash of what Dirk should use or where he should go next.
Stages
- Stage 1; Dirk's mother-in-law is angrily bent on beating him for Daphne's disappearance, so Dirk must flee from her while getting past creatures and obstacles in the deceased Singe's old castle, including two ravenous snakes, one of which is inexplicably wearing a Tam o' Shanter, in order to reach the time machine that will allow him to pursue Mordroc.
- Stage 2; In prehistoric times, Mordroc takes a moment to taunt Dirk as he battles pterodactyls, a T-rex, and two winged centaurs that carry Daphne away. As this happens, the tiny island they are on gradually crumbles into the sea.
- Stage 3; In 1865, Dirk is materialized in Alice Liddell's house and goes through the looking-glass that hangs over the fireplace. While becoming as Alice, he tumbles into Wonderland where he faces Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Queen of Hearts, her army of playing card soldiers, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, the Jabberwocky and the Cheshire Cat.
- Stage 4; In the Garden of Eden, Dirk has to escape from guardian angels, the advances of a morbidly obese Eve, half-hungry, half-smooth-talking snakes, and finally, the ruin of Eden itself when Eve accidentally eats the forbidden apple.
- Stage 5; In 1804, Dirk is shrunk to the size of a mouse in Ludwig van Beethoven's study, where he must avoid the predations of the composer's persistent, hungry cat, not to mention the sheer chaos of his creative gust.
- Stage 6; In Ancient Egypt, Dirk finds what appears to be Daphne (wrapped completely in linen bandages) but is actually Mordroc in disguise, leading Dirk on a wild goose chase as he explores an ancient tomb while narrowly avoiding poison gas, spiders, giant bats, corrosive acid, scarabs, and a giant mummy.
- Stage 7; At his castle, Mordoc puts the Death Ring on Daphne's finger, which transforms her into her monstrous form, the banshee. Dirk must avoid the monstrous Daphne's mindless attempts to devour him, get the ring off her finger, restore her to normal, and defeat Mordroc at the same time. In addition to the alternate scene in the non-arcade version, Dirk has to remove the ring from Daphne and throw it at Mordroc.
- Final Stage; Although Mordroc is finally defeated, Dirk must fight off Mordoc's own surviving minions, who gets their revenge on him for defeating him, so that Dirk safely escapes the crumbling castle with Daphne.
During the course of the game, the player can optionally find and collect "treasures". In the Director's Cut version of the game, gathering all the treasures offers an alternate, shorter and easier second-to-last stage. In it, Dirk must get the Death Ring and then throw it at Mordroc. This also includes 3 death scenes that were not used in the final release.
Releases
Home computers
Around the time the Arcade was out, an abridged version was released for the Amiga home computers by ReadySoft. It included only some of the scenes and most stages were absent altogether. It included the introduction reaching the machine, followed by the prehistoric stage, the Garden of Eden, and the final stage.[1]
The game was followed by Dragon's Lair III: The Curse of Mordread also by ReadySoft. it presented an original storyline with Mordroc's sister, the evil witch "Mordread". She arrives at Dirk's and Daphne's home, and absorbing both the house and Daphne into an orb. This game incorporated the stages of Wonderland and Beethoven's piano from Timewarp but also included some original sequences: an intro, a stage on a pirate ship, a stage in the time realm, and an original ending.
DVD release
Dragon's Lair II was released on DVD on April 17, 2007.
Blu-ray release
Following the release of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace in HD for Blu-ray, Digital Leisure said they were working on a Blu-ray version of Dragon's Lair II for some time in 2008. The disc was released on June 2, 2009.
An easter egg on the Space Ace Blu-ray allows the player to play the first scene of Dragon's Lair II in Blu-ray format.
Reception
Computer Gaming World called Dragon's Lair II "an exceptional program which suffers from uninteresting game-play". The magazine criticized the game for, like its predecessor, being "a long series of trial and error" instead of testing the player's ability.[ 1]
References
- ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/game/dragons-lair-ii-time-warp
- ↑ Greenberg, Allen L. (March 1992). "As the Worm Turns". Computer Gaming World. p. 74. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
External links
- Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp at the Killer List of Videogames
- Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp at MobyGames
- Detailed Info on Dragon's Lair II: TimeWarp
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