YMMV / Rise of the Dragon

• Alternate Character Interpretation: How reprehensible is the mayor? As it turns out, he's far more aware of Deng Hwang's group and goals than he initially appears, and willingly gets Blade tied up in the cult's plot. Because of this, Karyn is put in danger. However, by the mayor's own admission, he chose Blade because he knew Blade's poor habits as a cop would make him perfect for the job at hand, and he's ultimately proven correct, as Blade's more direct approach slows down the Chinese Mafia's operations at multiple points, and Blade is ultimately the one who saves Los Angeles. Though it does take some heckling, the mayor can also be convinced to offer Blade a considerable boost in firepower. The mayor is painted as scuzzy for manipulating the situation as he does, but given how much the Police Are Useless in this story, and given Blade can save the day, it's hard to argue his method wasn't effective, especially considering there was no way in hell Blade was going to take the job if he knew the actual risks. Seen in a more positive light, his The Needs of the Many quote can come off as downright heroic given the circumstances;
  "I can live with the sacrifice of two people if it means fourteen million can be saved."
• Complete Monster: Deng Hwang is a member of the Chinese Mafia who seeks world domination by awakening the dragon Bahamut's powers. Storming a research center and killing 20 people, Deng develops the drug MZT, which he gives to many people, turning them into mutated dragons who die immediately after usage; one of them being the mayor's daughter, Chandra. With MZT, he attempts to pollute the city's water, which would kill everyone in Los Angeles, but when that fails, he threatens to pollute Los Angeles unless the police cease operations. Strongly dissatisfied with failure, he has Chen Lu's flesh melted off for giving Chandra MZT and exposing their operation, and personally murders Jonny Quong for failing to stop William "Blade" Hunter. To get revenge on Blade, he kidnaps the latter's girlfriend Karyn and tries to inject her with MZT, which he does in the bad ending.
• Underused Game Mechanic: Rise of the Dragon was the first game to use Dynamix's new game engine. As such, there are many engine features that get only a fleeting appearance. You can even get stuck if you don't read the manual carefully and learn there's a time you need to press both mouse buttons.
  • There's a special secondary inventory screen for dressing and undressing. It's used twice.
  • The "aim with equipped object" feature only gets used in one scene.
  • There's only one inventory item that can be combined with another inventory item.
  • The side-scrolling arcade engine is only used twice, with one instance being optional.