Dragonheart: Fire & Steel

Dragonheart: Fire & Steel (stylized as DragonHeart: Fire & Steel) is a video game loosely based on the 1996 fantasy adventure film Dragonheart. On most systems it is a 2D side-scrolling action game, but the Game Boy version is an adventure game with combat scenes, where adventure mode uses a first-person view and combat mode is a simple 2D fighting game.

Dragonheart: Fire & Steel
Developers	Funcom (console & PC versions) Torus Games (GB version)
Publisher	Acclaim Entertainment
Platforms	PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows, Game Boy
Release	Game Boy NA: May 1996 EU: October 1996 PlayStation, Saturn, PC NA: November 13, 1996[1] PAL: December 1996
Genres	Hack and slash, platform
Mode	Single-player

Plot

Dragonheart: Fire & Steel follows the story of medieval dragonslayer Sir Bowen as he attempts to end the reign of a particularly evil king along with seven evil dragons that have ruled the world (the seven evil dragons never appeared in the film). On the way, he befriends the last dragon to exist, Draco. Sir Bowen and Draco must join forces to defeat the army serving the king and rescue a damsel in distress. It drops out some of the film's plot, but it is still a close match.

Reception

Reception for Fire & Steel

Review scores

Publication	Score
AllGame	(PC)[2] (SAT)[3]
Electronic Gaming Monthly	4.5/10 (PS1)[4]
GameSpot	2.8/10 (PS1)[5] 3.4/10 (PC)[6]
Next Generation	(PS1)[7]
Sega Saturn Magazine	27% (SAT)[8]
Manic Games	28/100 (SAT)[9]

After its release, a Dragonheart spin-off was developed by Acclaim Entertainment as a 2D hack and slash game called Dragonheart: Fire & Steel for the PlayStation and Saturn. The game does not use the film's music, instead featuring an original score by Thomas Egeskov Peterson.^[10] It was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews due to simplistic gameplay,^[4][7][8] poor controls,^{[4][5][7][11]} and jerky animation.^{[4][7][8][11]} Though the graphics were praised, particularly the rendered backgrounds, critics agreed that the gameplay problems were an overriding problem.^{[4][5][7][11]} Acclaim released a PC port of the game in late 1996, which was given similar criticism.^[6]

An original Game Boy game was also based on the film, titled simply Dragonheart. The four Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewers described the Game Boy game as rather simple as well as lacking sufficient challenge, noting especially the "anticlimactic" combat, and the reviewers concluded that the game offers fair entertainment and longevity for being a portable game. The reviewers especially praised the game for its storyline, with Sushi X calling it the main reason he continued playing the game.^[12]