I'm a gamer who is acutely aware of what he likes and dislikes in an interactive entertainment product. If it says "Castlevania", "Silent Hill" or "Metroid" anywhere on the box, I know I will most likely love every second of entertainment encoded on the disc within. But once in a while I like to take a chance on a title that I usually wouldn't play. My latest foray into the unknown has dropped me squarely into the colorful world of Panzer Dragoon Orta. The obtusely-named Xbox title is a sequel to the various Panzer Dragoon games that appeared on the Sega Saturn. These niche titles have developed a dedicated cult following over the years, so long-time fans were very happy indeed to see a new game in the series appear on the Xbox.

I never owned a Saturn and thus never played any of the Panzer Dragoon games, so I'm probably not the most qualified guy to review the latest sequel. But I do know a good game when I see one, and I'm level-headed enough to talk about the pros and cons of a game even if I end up disliking it. In Panzer Dragoon Orta, you assume the titular role of Orta, a sullen young girl who is imprisoned by some unscrupulous characters. The opening cinematic depicts a Dragoon (essentially a badass winged dragon) arriving at her holding cell just as she is about to be killed by some rampaging Dragonmares. Orta climbs aboard the frightful creature, and together they high-tail it away from their pursuers.

You take control of Orta and her Dragoon at the end of the opening movie. (There is a training mode that you can play through prior to starting the main game. Use this to familiarize yourself with the controls.) Panzer Dragoon Orta is a railed shooter, an exceedingly rare genre that is almost non-existent anymore. Though I've never played any of the prior games, various gaming sources will tell you that it plays much like any other game of this type. The game essentially pilots your dragoon for you through a 3D environment, leaving you free to concentrate on attacking and defending. Panzer Dragon Orta presents you with all the standard conventions of the shooting game, including a variety of rich environments, multiple branch points and complex boss battles.

Shooting is the name of the game, and that's what you'll be doing much of the time in Orta. Holding down the A button and moving the targeting reticule across an enemy will give you a homing lock; releasing the button will blast a series of homing lasers towards your target. You can also wail on the A button to throw out a stream of non-homing semi-automatic laser fire. Combining the lock-on and free-aim techniques is often useful for dispatching larger foes quickly. Enemies will come at your from all sides, meaning you'll have to use the left and right triggers to rotate your field of view to face them. Luckily you've got an on-screen radar that will show you where enemies are coming from, though tracking fast-moving foes is often tricky even with radar assistance.

You start out using the default dragoon form, called Base Wing, but you can morph into other forms using the Y button. The imposing Heavy Wing configuration augments your base firepower and stamina but is limited to fewer simultaneous lock-on targets. You also cannot boost or slow down in this form (more on that later). Orta's dragoon can also morph into the sleek Glide Wing form, a specialized configuration that can fire a stream of auto-aiming pellets with a high rate of speed. The Glide Wing can also boost or slow down twice as often as the Base Wing, but its maneuverability is offset by its lack of homing lasers. Switching between the various forms makes up the bulk of the strategy in Panzer Dragoon Orta and provides just the right amount of depth and complexity to this fast-paced game.

Though Orta is a railed shooter, you still have some control over the flight of your dragoon. For starters, you can use the left analog stick to move around the screen and avoid certain objects and enemies. You can also adjust the speed of your ride by pressing X to boost or B to decelerate. Changing speed will be critical in the games' many boss battles, as you can use X to change your position relative to the target. For instance, boosting once will put you at the boss' side and doing it again will put you in back of it. It will often be necessary to change position to avoid attacks, as well as to gain a better vantage point to hammer an exposed weak spot. (During a boost you are temporarily invincible, making it a good battering ram in close quarters.)

Your position will often change automatically too, as the game takes your dragoon through various sweeps and pans of the environment as you play. Learning which way to turn and fire as you move through each level will be crucial to succeeding and gaining a higher rank. The game tracks the percentage of enemies you've shot down, how many hits you've taken and the time it took you to defeat the stage boss. Meeting certain conditions in a given level will also net you a Gene Base, a power-up item that allows your dragoon to gain levels in each of its 3 forms. Each form gains various advantages as you level up (such as increased lock-on capabilities) in addition to undergoing a striking physical change.

Gaining levels will also increase the power and duration of your Berserk Attack, a devastating move you can unleash when your Berserk gauge is full. The gauge can be refilled by defeating enemies, though you're better off saving your Berserk attacks for boss battles. There are other gauges, including health and boost, that you must pay careful attention to throughout each mission. The boost gauge is particularly important during multi-stage boss battles that require you to change position frequently. Overall there is a lot to keep track of while you're playing, and I can see novice players getting frustrated easily. Panzer Dragoon Orta caters to the dedicated game player who will relish the challenge of a tough, complex shooting game.

Orta's gameplay is rock solid, and the main game should provide between 6 and 8 hours of play the first time through. There are 3 difficulties (Easy, Normal and Hard), but even the Easy game will provide a good challenge. I tried playing on Normal initially but switched to Easy after I had trouble clearing the first episode. You are ranked at the end of each stage, so fans of old-school shooters will likely find the lure of a higher ranking reason enough to replay multiple times. Of course, Panzer Dragoon Orta offers an embarrassment of unlockable riches, including mini-missions, encyclopedia entries and even the entire original Panzer Dragoon game complete with slightly updated graphics. Players who really dig the game will find themselves busy for quite a while.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is a great looking game, thanks to detailed models, colorful texturing and a metric ton of on-screen action. Orta and her dragoon are nicely detailed and fluidly animated, resulting in a protagonist who is fun to play as. The enemies are rife with minute details as well, and the boss creatures are extremely impressive works of gaming animation and are often made of multiple transforming parts. The environments are incredibly rich and varied, ranging from a lush river valley to a stark snow field to a floating armada of military ships. Even with all this detail the game runs at a high, consistent frame rate that never dips. The only complaint I have about the graphics is the course dither pattern that covers the screen; it knocks a few polish points off of an otherwise beautiful game.

I'm a huge fan of video game audio, but I found the aural fare in Orta to be mostly forgettable fluff. Music rarely comes in to play during the game, and when it does it has virtually no impact on the story or action sequences. The acting is mostly passable, but the game tends to muffle the dialog significantly. The characters speak some sort of hybrid language (read: gibberish) that left me feeling fairly indifferent towards them. The game is encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 format, resulting in some room-rattling explosions and directional sound effects. Despite that though, the game still manages to sound painfully average compared with other Xbox titles like Halo or Jet Set Radio Future.

Smilebit's railed throwback is a great game with high production values and a ton of replay value. It's easy to see that a lot of time and care went into making a worthy sequel in the Panzer Dragoon lineup. I admit that I am not nearly as enamored with this title as I was with Smilebit's other quirky Xbox game, Jet Set Radio Future, so I haven't found myself playing it very often. But I think that Orta will make a big splash with fans of the series and with players who love shooting games. If you think you fit the games' target audience, then I highly suggest you take Panzer Dragoon Orta for a spin.