by: Tom Goulter
Microsoft has unveiled the title it’s been developing under the codename of Project Draco, and the reasons behind the game’s unabashed Panzer Dragoon similarities have become clear. Offering the title up to public scrutiny at an Xbox fan event in Akihabara over the weekend, the company revealed that the game, developed by Panzer creator Yukio Futatsugi, will be titled Crimson Dragon and will serve as a spiritual continuation of the Sega series.
With a staff including numerous Panzer series veterans, Crimson Dragon will retain the Sega franchise’s rail-shooter controls instead of the fully-manual setup of titles such as the PS3’s Lair. Veterans of Panzer Dragoon – or similar titles such as Rez – will understand this approach, augmented here with Kinect support and an element of customization in the form of different foods and weapons which offer the opportunity to evolve your chosen dragon to suit your play-style. You can check out some screenshots of the Unreal Engine 3-powered title above, and you can get the game later this year on XBLA.