This spin-off is a bizarre piece of the future from the past. Confused? Just play it and enjoy.
Unfortunately, the length of Blood Dragon is probably its weakest aspect. It'll take you just a few hours to get through the story, though you can go back and complete secondary missions and also collect hidden goodies like VHS tapes and television sets, relics from an age gone by. There's also no multiplayer, though for a game like this, it could've easily been overkill to try and add it. It's not too big a deal here.
Ubisoft did a bang-up job with the in-game graphics. Though not as vast and beautiful as Far Cry 3's tropical paradise, Blood Dragon has a gorgeous, neon-lit setting that you'll want to keep exploring, just to see what obscure references and enemies you find next. Sometimes the game can be a little too dark for its own good, but overall it's a fine use of the engine. Bonus points also go to whoever considered doing the cinemas in a similar style to NES games, because it just totally clicks here.
As for the audio, I absolutely love it. Michael Biehn, a veteran actor from Aliens and The Terminator, gives Rex Colt just the right amount of attitude, chastising a computer system for making him run through an unnecessary tutorial ("Just let me kill s**t!") and making puns that would come straight out of an 80's film. Some of the one-liners can be excessive, but they never really wear out their welcome, oddly enough. The other voicework is good, though hardly on the level of Biehn's, and the sound effects are splendid, especially the roars of the Blood Dragons.
But, honestly, the soundtrack is something else. Power Glove provides a superb set of 80's action tunes that are a must-listen, mainly because of how well they take familiar themes and make them feel like their own. If you can, hunt this sucker down and add it to your collection. I can definitely see these guys having a future in song composition for games. (Going on tour wouldn't hurt either.)
