Panzer Dragoon-inspired Kinect game Project Draco detailed

By Adam Rosenberg September 16, 2011

project-draco — Image used with permission by copyright holder

One game that’s been gathering buzz at Tokyo Game Show this week is Project Draco, an upcoming Kinect-only Xbox Live Arcade game from the creators of the Panzer Dragoon series. PlayStation 3 launch title Lair kind of messed things up for dragon flight simulator games, but Dragoon is a longtime fan-favorite rail-shooter from Sega, and anyone who’s played it can probably agree that it’s a perfect fit for Microsoft‘s motion-sensing Xbox 360 camera.

Project Draco will place players on the backs of a variety of different dragons, according to Famitsu (via NeoGAF). The story is set 150-200 years in the future, with humanity now not-so-happily ensconced on a new world. Some sort of apocalyptic event occurs that nearly shatters our civilization, and part of the rebuilding process involves using dragons for transport.

Which is, for lack of a better word, awesome.

The game will be directed by Grounding’s Yukio Futatsugi and feature dragon designs from Manabu Kusunoki, the Panzer Dragoon series’ creators. Since the play is all on-rails, both of your hands are devoted to managing your mount’s attacks. For the Bloodskin dragon that Famitsu demoed, the right hand controlled locking on and firing with the Homing Laser and the left hand unleashed Fire Breath. Swinging both arms down together triggered the Eclipse Ray attack.

The game will also feature a skill upgrade tree that you can unlock by shoving food down your pet fire-breathing reptile’s gullet. Each completed stage brings with it a food reward, and the more your dragon eats the more skills you can unlock. It seems that there will be a wider range of attacks than the three Famitsu demoed, with abilities and boosts offering around 150 unlockable skills in all.

The game has been in development for about a year now, and it should be arriving on Xbox Live Arcade sometime in early 2012.

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Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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