The second game to be released by FreakoutGames, 'Freaky Dragon' offers players a much more substantial level of gameplay compared to their first game, 'Freaky Tup', yet immediately I felt a stab of déjà vu. The game plays suspiciously like an old Neopets game I used to be addicted to, yes I am ashamed to admit that, and playing Freaky Dragon feels like a shoddy remake of the game but adjusted for mobile phone gaming.
Developer: Freakout Games
Genre: Arcade
Release date: 29th July 2014
Platforms: Android
ESRB: E - Everyone
'Freaky Dragon' is an endless runner game where, essentially, you’ll be endlessly running, or flying, to the other end of the screen as you dodge obstacles, avoid the top and bottom layers of the screen and pick up golden eggs. The premise is very simple and, overall, the gameplay has some fun elements as you not only have to dip and dive your dragon about but fire at enemies and barriers that get in your way. The only way the game can end is when you die so in this sense the game becomes a test of endurance and stamina so the longer you play the harder it gets. In my case, 30 seconds was enoguh for me to fail at the game and simply playing the game long enough to acquire thees screenshots proved to be almost excsesively frustrating. No sooner had I flapped my way forward a few times was I being shot down by a ballista's arrow. As somebody used to playing 'Volcano Run' religiously (oh the shame), I found the controls to be jerky and difficult to use as making the micro-movements often required to get out of a tight spot seemed almost impossible.
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The general appearance of the game is pleasant with bright, bold colours though it’s not particularly well constructed. Whilst the facial expressions of your dragon are decent the animations can be off, for example when you breathe fire, letting out a short and sharp fireball, it continuously appears above you and more in line with your body than your mouth. The game is set with a repeatedly background of dark, dank blue caverns and the odd stalagmite or stalagmite break this up whilst doubling as obstacles. Other inanimate obstacles include spiked boulders that only try and pierce you when you get close, fat, golden cannons and ballistae that all want to knock you out of the sky though the latter do not actually move to track your progression. The enemies look brilliant however and, rather than just a repeat of one or two, there’s a decent mix of creatures and all of them are well designed and quite monstrous, in a good way.
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The soundtrack of the game is something the developers have got right and overall it’s all pretty pleasant and not too irritating which is important as this game may go on for a very long time, depending on how determined you are. An added feature that many players will enjoy is the ability to share your game score on Facebook as well as a leaderboard where you can compete for the top player scores. With all of this in mind, Freaky Dragon is a free game and with its reasonably challenging difficulty level and easy to use controls this is a game that you may as well play if you fancy an indie, endless runner game that looks and sounds ok.
The Good:
- Decent soundtrack
- Looks reasonably good
- Bright, colourful graphics
- Escalating level of difficulty keeps it challenging
- Abiltiy to compete with friends and within a leaderboard
- It's free.
- Nicely designed enemies
- Very simplistic
- Nothing really stands out
- Some animations are off
- Dragon has a weird face.
- Eerily similar to 'Volcano Run'
Final thoughts: “Whilst Freaky Dragon is nothing particularly special it’s clear that FreakoutGames are improving with every release and I’m kind of looking forward to see what’s on the horizon.”
You can download Freaky Dragon from the Android store, here.
