Gaming Target - Xbox: Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon

Written by Sean Sharp on April 08, 2002

First Impressions: Xbox pays homage to the only man who could have beaten Hong Kong Phooey.

After watching Enter the Dragon, who hasn't dreamt of being Bruce Lee and kicking some butt as you fight the good fight? Later this spring, gamers will see that dream become a reality when the upcoming Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon title for Xbox hits store shelves. The late Bruce Lee, a martial arts master and movie star, is a man whose fame and legend seems to grow larger every year. Because of this, creating a game worthy of his name is a daunting task.

Taking on the responsibility of developing such a game will be Ronin Entertainment. The team at Ronin has found success in the PC arena and are looking to make a name for themselves in the console market with this eagerly anticipated title. To complete this undertaking, the folks at Ronin have created a 3-D style fighter reminiscent of Double Dragon. Because this game will obviously be a lot deeper than an old school brawler game, there will be a first person shooter type lock on mode that will allow you to focus on the enemy who presents the biggest danger at that particular moment. Apparently you will be seeing a wide array of enemies who all have different fighting styles. Luckily for Bruce, you can scroll through your enemies in situations when the computers idea of danger differs from yours. The addition of different fighters styles will be a welcome change of pace from the recent games that have seemingly tried to pass off one main enemy as something else by simply changing their clothes or hair type (cough coughЕState of EmergencyЕcough cough.)

Now a simple punch or kick would surely be no problem for opposition of this caliber, so you will be given a multitude of move combinations that will increase in quantity as you progress thru the levels. The number of moves is said to be in the hundreds, which surely would make Mr. Lee proud. How these moves look will unquestionably be the focus of many peoples curiosity. To make sure that the moves are up to par, the folks at Ronin have appointed a one-time student of Bruce Lee and digitally tracked his movements to present a level of realism to the fights. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to realistically reproduce movements of that speed on a video game, but if they can come close, gamers should be impressed.

All these moves will come in handy when you are kicking butt across the globe. You will be spending some time overseas and throughout the good old United States, as there are 30 different venues where Bruce will be traveling. I for one am hoping to see Bruce laying the smack down in North Jersey, ala Tony Soprano. The reason you are racking up the frequent fighter/flyer miles would be your journey -- or should I say quest, to unearth an ancient artifact. Of course Bruce is hoping one of these secrets will aid him in his mission to find his father, who has mysteriously disappeared. So as you can see, there is indeed a story behind the basic fighter mentality of the game. This was the most pleasant aspect of the game to me, as I am a huge fan of a good story. Hopefully the plot will be intelligent enough to keep gamers interested throughout the game.

Having such a unique title being produced by a development company with little experience in the home console market may have some fans a little on edge. You can put those worries aside because Universal Interactive and Microsoft are in charge of publishing the game. Universal Interactive have produced some quality titles, the most notable of which would be the new Crash Bandicoot game for Game Boy Advance. More importantly would be the fact that Microsoft themselves have a hand in the game. Microsoft has produced a surprising number of quality first party/first generation titles, such as Amped, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge, and last but certainly not least, Halo.