$20 GOTW: Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox)

One of the best kept secrets of the original Sega Saturn was the Panzer Dragoon series. It was a mash up of 3-d polygonial graphics (which were ahead of their time even to this day) and old-school rail shooting action. You took control of a dragon rider, and it was your goal to bring down an evil empire. The story might have been all too typical, but it was window dressing for the intense sky-high combat. There were two more entries in the series before the Saturn was laid to rest, and the fate of the series was up in the air. That is, until 2003, when the series returned on the Xbox with a vengeance.

You take control of Orta, a slave worker with a mysterious past. You are liberated from your prision with the help of your flying steed, and you are instantly thrust into chaos. Military aircraft, ground vehicles, and other dragon riders try to bring you down, however, you are quite formidable yourself, as your dragon comes with several upgradable weapons. Even so, the game is still difficult and challenging, as you make your way through 10 stages in order to discover your mysterious past. Thankfully the challenge is more on the “Ninja Gaiden” level, where your missteps only make you want to keep replaying the level just to advance.

At the end of the game, several unlockables await you, including files and bios on the game’s enemies, side missions with different playable characters, and most of all, the original Panzer Dragoon, in all of it’s 32-bit glory. For those of you with an xbox (unfortunantely this game is still not backward-compatible on the Xbox 360 as of this write-up) should seek this out. It’s a combination of new-school graphical flair and old-school twitch action that won’t dissappoint.