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Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Blue Dragon

Blue Dragon
by Cary Woodham
October 09, 2007

This game's got the cure for the RPG blues.

Reviewed for XBOX360.

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Scroll down for our Kid Factor.

GamerDad Seal Of Approval - 14+.  Click to learn more about our review seal. The ESRB says:
Fantasy Violence: GamerDad made cartoony creatures fight each other.
Alcohol Reference: You can visit pubs and taverns in towns, but no drinking is involved.
Crude Humor: Some of the enemies look like cartoon pink poop, and monsters leave behind their treasure in the form of poop as well.
Mild Language: Characters frequently use words like 'damn' and 'bastard,' especially at the beginning of the game.
Mild Suggestive Themes: One of the characters is slightly underdressed and voluptuous, but it's not near as bad as in other video games.

Blue Dragon is a role playing video game for the Xbox 360. When ominous purple clouds and a vicious monster attacks young Shu's town annually, Shu and his friends finally decide to take action and try to stop the monster. This leads them into the belly of an even bigger beast and on to a more fantastic adventure. They'll meet new friends--and even fiercer foes, but luckily Shu and company gain the power to control great monsters living in their shadows to help them fight, hence the name Blue Dragon.


Blue Dragon plays a lot like your typical Japanese RPG, such as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. Visit towns to gather clues and items, then delve into dungeons and other monster filled areas to defeat enemies, build up experience points to level up, and progress to the next area. Battles are also pretty typical turn-based, RPG fare. Select attacks, spells, and items from a menu and watch the actions play out. Players can assign different classes to the characters' shadow monsters. By leveling up, the shadows' classes gain special skills you can use in battle, and pick which learned skills each character will have. This makes battles a truly customizable-and fun, experience.

If there is any problem with Blue Dragon, it's that the game doesn't really do anything innovative in the RPG area. But fans of old classic RPGs won't mind one bit. In fact, an assortment of RPG maker veterans worked on Blue Dragon, including Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy), music composer Nobuo Uematsu (also Final Fantasy), and character designer Akira Toriyama, who also designed the characters for games like Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, as well as comics and cartoons like Dragon Ball Z. With fun graphics, likable characters, a driving soundtrack, and classic fun gameplay, Blue Dragon is one of the best RPGs for the Xbox 360.


Click to learn more about GamerDad's Kid Factor review section. Violence is mostly cartoony, almost silly in some cases, and there is no blood. There is a bit of crude humor as some of the enemies are shaped like cartoon poop (as depicted in Japanese comics and cartoons as pink swirls), and some monsters leave behind these poops that you can squish around to get treasure. Characters do use mild cursing like 'damn' and 'bastard' especially early on in the game, and it's a little bit unnecessary in my opinion. One of the female characters is a bit busty and underdressed, but that's the only bit of suggestive themes you'll find here. Even though a lot of the game has voice acting, reading skill is still helpful as much of the game is still text based. Because of all these things, Blue Dragon is best for teen gamers, but younger preteens who enjoy watching cartoons like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z would still be OK with Blue Dragon.

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Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Blue Dragon
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Game Info:
Platform(s):
XBOX360

ESRB rating:
T - Teen

Fantasy Violence, Alcohol Reference, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes

Score:






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