Dragon's Crown is a 2-D action, side-scrolling beat ‘em game up developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.
 Enter the world of Hydeland where impish goblins, odiously grotesque Cyclopes, reanimated skeletons and zombies, and ferocious, foreboding dragons dwell; all of which are bent on standing obstinately in front of your path towards obtaining the eponymous Dragon's Crown.
 You, as the player, are presented with six diverse character classes to choose from:
 The robust Fighter sports a heavy suit of armor and wields a sturdy shield and a sword. He quickly dispatches enemies while using his shield to defend allies.
 The dauntless Amazon wields powerful two-handed weapons, such as the mighty axe she carries with relative ease.
 The Wizard’s absurdly destructive magic spells are capable of blasting away the strongest of foes.
 The lithe Elf targets her enemies with her bow, flinging arrows towards her foes with swift proficiency.
 The stocky Dwarf tosses his foes as if they were merely a lightweight feather.
 The Sorceress, notorious for her physique, focuses on supportive spells, granting assistance to friends in need.
 As previously mentioned you are tasked with the retrieval of a mystical crown before a coven of mysterious magic-users can acquire it and use it with ill intent. However, before you search for the almighty crown, you must obtain various objects, such as a royal scepter that was stolen and nine talismans that unlock the "final" boss of the game.
 Honestly, the story in this game is quite monotonous. The developers could have given the player the ability to direct the story by making choices throughout (as is expected in an RPG). Instead, players are simply viewing a tenuous story that is presented before them rather than directing the story themselves. I did not feel like the great hero who saved the kingdom from dark forces; I felt like all I was doing was fetching vague items that had little to no actual weight on the story other than to drive it forward. The story of this game feels underwhelming and could have been something incredible. The narrator, though, does a brilliant job at describing and retelling events in the style of a Dungeon’s and Dragons Dungeon Master. I just wish that he had a better story to tell.
 This is where the game clearly shines and it is deservingly proud of it. It is obvious that a great deal of intricate attention was placed into the gameplay of this particular title. Players can choose between six different classes that play vastly different from one another. I have played through the "Normal" difficulty of the game twice, but I have dabbled with the Fighter class a few times, too. I primarily played as the agile elf and the obscenely destructive wizard class, and I prefer to play as the Wizard for obvious reasons, though the Elf is my favorite. The diversity does not end there, though. With each class, the player has a list of character specific skills that they can invest in and a list of common skills that all classes have access to. This means that a person that plays as the elf can invest in her dagger skill and maximize the effectiveness of the dagger or they can focus their attention on the development of her archery skills. Alternatively, a player that chooses the wizard can choose to invest in the wide arsenal of spells that he can learn.
 While the development of the characters can vary, the gameplay is mostly the same all around. Players fight through a variety of beautiful hand-drawn dungeons, dispatching enemies from above, behind, and in front of them. Players can string together meticulous combos or simply fling their weapons about in hopes of striking a nearby enemy. I, as the wizard, would trap enemies in a continuous stream of magical pillars I would call from below their quivering feet.
 Players also have the ability to play with computer controlled AI companions, which are obtained by reviving the bones of fallen adventurer. These bones can be taken to the priest and revived for a small fee. The AI companions, sadly, are not the smartest, but they can be valuable cannon fodder. Since the AI companions are essentially expendable, a human player can take the reins of one character slot. Up to four players can experience the game together. A player can choose to play with an online companion through the Stables (an area in town that is unlocked at a later point in the game) or by playing with a local friend of their own, which can be done at the beginning of the game without having to unlock the Stables. I feel that playing with online friends or random people online could have been implemented better. Through my second journey, I opted to play online with my fiancée, but we quickly discovered that in order to play together we both had to unlock the Stables, which in unison unlocks the online capabilities of the game. Personally, I think that players should be able to access the online features from the start of the game, but that is a merely a minor grievance since players can choose to play locally with friends.
There are few characters in the land of Hydeland. The six character classes the player can choose from could be considered to be "characters," but they do not receive much character development throughout the story. The character classes do not speak to other NPCs and are essentially there to run errands for the other characters. Since this game is reminiscent of Dungeon’s and Dragons, I think that player’s should have the ability to shape their character's personality and develop their character throughout the story. This would have strengthened the Dungeon's and Dragons vibe that the game has. The only significance the player has is to complete tasks, acquire specific items, and move the "plot" forward. Players are able to choose between a small selection of color palettes, which is greatly appreciated; however I think that it would have been to the game’s benefit if the players were given the ability to further edit their character’s color scheme (i.e. Street Fighter x Tekken’s character color edit option or Borderland’s New-U Station). I do not think that creating personalized characters from the ground up (i.e. Dragon’s Dogma) would be necessary for this game since the character sprites are beautifully drawn, but I think that more color options would have been nice.
Their exaggerated features (i.e. the Sorceress's bust size, the Fighter's bulky armor compared to his tiny head, and the Dwarf's massive muscles) are quite silly, but Vanillaware has a knack for creating characters with silly anatomy, so I do not feel that should detrimentally affect a person's overall perspective of the entire game and it should not be a point of contention.
The music in this game is vibrant and immensely beautiful to listen to while you plow through hoards of enemies. It is mostly orchestral and genuinely feels as if it would fit right at home in a medieval setting. The tracks range from dark and ominous to uplifting track that sets the mood for an epic battle between the forces of good and evil. The music is exactly what you expect from a fantasy title and it delivers in droves.
The art design (and character design) in Dragon's crown has been considered to be rather contentious, and I do not want to delve too deeply into the controversy, but it involves overly sensitive feminists and the Sorceress. The Sorceress is designed with an enormous bust size and feminists have stated that because of her bust size being unrealistically large, the game is sexist. To avoid garnering controversy over my personal viewpoint, I will simply say that I do not agree. Vanillaware has a knack for developing characters with silly anatomy and this game is no different. The art design, while it definitely will not appeal to everyone, is not objectively offensive. I feel that the art design is at times gritty, dark, and imaginative while also having a touch of elegance. All of these elements are quite suitable for a fantasy game such as this. This is a fantasy game that does not care about realism. This game's art style has one primary objective, which is to give the player a fantasy atmosphere.
 The game is marred by its underwhelming story and lack of personal character progression, but it shines like a radiant gem with its excellently crafted gameplay and pleasant fantasy soundtrack. This game deserves your attention.
