Much like Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man and even Mario himself, Dragon’s Lair is a videogame property that surely needs no introduction. Originally released in 1983, Dragon’s Lair defined a short-lived genre by paving the way for a new form of interactive media. A common debate in the modern videogames industry is the progression of the conventions that allow for interactive storytelling, and yet often forgotten is one low budget adventure videogame that broke new ground while uttering no more than a handful of lines of dialogue.
Dragon’s Lair is an interactive animated adventure, the likes of which had never before been seen in the consumer end of the market. Originally developed as a Laserdisc title, released for both home systems and as arcade cabinets, Dragon’s Lair was billed as such an innovative and successful production that new titles based on the same principles would be delivered for more than a decade following it’s original 
release, despite the common criticisms of lacking any respectable degree of gameplay. Dragon’s Lair has been released on countless systems over the years, in countless variations and with countless new features; the latest of which is now available via the Xbox LIVE Arcade, as a new title for Xbox 360’s Kinect.
Dragon’s Lair is a videogame based entirely on QTEs, a mechanic that is berated for overuse in the modern industry, and yet here we see an entire videogame based around the design. Playing as Dirk the Daring, your quest is to rescue Princess Daphne from an evil dragon. Your quest will take you through a number of animated sequences as you venture through a castle to reach the titular dragon’s lair, each of which requires a series of correct inputs in order to successfully move on to the next sequence, eventually working your way through increasingly complex strings of inputs.
Now, the first thing that should be stated about this new edition of Dragon’s Lair is that, despite being billed as an ‘Arcade Kinect’ title, the videogame doesn’t require Kinect to play. Indeed, the controller option that is available will probably be more inviting to most, as the gesture detection is far from perfect, and given
the split-second timing required on some of the harder scenes, Dragon’s Lair is little more than a continued frustration when played with Kinect.
There are essentially three versions of the videogame included within this Xbox LIVE Arcade release: the original laserdisc and arcade versions playable with the controller in two difficulty settings, and the brand new Kinect revision. Players can opt to have the required input appear on the screen or play blind, as was the design of the original arcade release.
Dragon’s Lair undeniably looks dated, but what twenty nine year-old videogame – or animated motion-picture, for that matter – doesn’t? If fact, when compared to similar videogames available at around the same time Dragon’s Lair arguably remains the finest visual accomplishment of that era. Dirk is still a charming character thanks to his creator, Don Bluth, having become skilled in the art during his time at Disney. With the pleasantries offered by successful completion and not-so-pleasant outcomes of failure, Dragon’s Lair remains a compelling experience due to it’s storyline, and the fact
that all action and emotions are delivered with minimal dialogue. Dragon’s Lair is a simple ‘hero on a quest to save the princess’ story, and is instantly accepted through suspension of disbelief because of its well worn template.
While critics can stand back and point out just how much Dragon’s Lair achieved at the time of its original release and what it offered videogames of the modern era, there’s no denying its simple approach to gameplay is no longer as dynamic as once though. In an industry that moves so swiftly from one landmark title to the next, aging in terms of technical design is to be expected, and yet still Dragon’s Lair only holds any weight in terms of nostalgia. Having been available on nearly every system released since its 1983 debut, gamers who enjoyed Dragon’s Lair the first time around will likely have already purchased the videogame on any number of other formats, and yet sadly they are the only audience who are likely to find merit in the Xbox LIVE Arcade release of Dragon’s Lair.
 
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