Since the release of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance nearly two years ago, fans of the action/RPG genre have been anxiously awaiting a title that can live up to the standards set by the now classic game. While Dungeons and Dragons Heroes doesn’t do much to improve upon that formula and suffers from some problems of its own, it is a good game in its own right and should satisfy anyone who is looking for something to tide them over until Dark Alliance 2 arrives.
Like most games of this type, Dungeons and Dragons Heroes is fairly light on the storytelling. Centuries ago, four heroes faced off against an evil wizard who was attempting to destroy the kingdom of Baele. The heroes defeated the wizard, but the battle cost them their lives. Somehow, the wizard has returned and the four heroes have been resurrected to defeat him once again. Sound familiar? It should…it’s been done a dozen times before. That’s okay, though. Heroes’ focus is on slaying monsters and finding powerful items, not storytelling. Kind of like how no one goes to Hooters for the wings.
Players have the option of playing as a fighter, wizard, cleric, or rogue and that decision will obviously affect your play style. The fighter, for example, can go toe to toe with most enemies while the wizard has to rely on hit-and-run tactics. The combat system is simple but solid, for the most part. One face button attacks and another uses any items you may have attained, such as throwing knives or wands. The other two can be assigned to any skills or spells that your character has acquired. One trigger button is used to block while the other controls Heroes’ highly touted system for cycling spells and skills. Basically, holding down this button significantly slows down everything on-screen and brings up a menu that allows you to change what skills are assigned to the two available face buttons. In theory, this allows one player to switch skills without pausing the game, therefore allowing the other players to keep fighting. In reality, though, it just doesn’t work well. Sure, all of the enemies are attacking in slow motion, but that doesn’t stop them from nailing you with arrows and spells, regardless of how slowly they are moving. Most players will probably find it simpler to either wait for a break in the action or to just pause the game. A better idea would have been to simply allow the player to customize all of the buttons on the controller. The wizard, for example, could then assign more spells to those buttons she has little use for, such as the attack and block buttons.
Each character begins the game with some basic equipment and a few spells or skills. When enough experience has been gained from killing monsters and solving quests, the character will gain a level and become more powerful. The player is also rewarded with skill points that can be used to improve existing skills and spells or purchase new ones. Points can also be spent to allow the character to wear better armor and wield more powerful weapons.
Dungeons and Dragons Heroes was originally slated to be released for all three major consoles, but the development team decided to drop the Playstation 2 and Gamecube versions in order to optimize the game for the Xbox. This is somewhat of a mystery because, while the game looks good, it certainly doesn’t contain anything that couldn’t be done on the other systems. The strongest aspect of the graphics is the enemy design. Dungeons and Dragons has an excellent and imaginative bestiary and Heroes brings it to life. Mind flayers, dark elves, fire giants, and many other denizens of the Forgotten Realms are wonderfully represented. The game’s environments are a bit disappointing. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, the levels are sparsely detailed and redundant in design. The focus of the game is obviously on fighting, not sightseeing, but it’s hard not to be disappointed considering how lush and exotic the Dungeons and Dragons universe can be.
Dungeons and Dragons Heroes’ most perplexing visual problem is the frame rate. It stays pretty constant most of the time, even with loads of enemies and spells on-screen simultaneously. However, the frame rate will often stutter when simply breaking open boxes or barrels. While it doesn’t really affect gameplay at all, it’s annoying, especially considering how smooth the rest of the game is. The game’s camera can also be a source of aggravation. The game is played from an overhead view and can be zoomed in and out. While it’s nice to have the option of playing from a really close perspective, it simply isn’t feasible. Enemies have no qualms about firing spells and arrows from a distance, and being unable to see your adversaries makes survival difficult. Playing from the other extreme, however, really makes you feel detached from the action, so somewhere in between is optimal. In a cooperative game, though, the camera automatically zooms out whenever the players are more than a few feet apart. This annoying “feature” forces you to constantly adjust the camera or simply give up and play from a bird’s eye view.
Heroes’ audio is pretty standard. The game’s background music fits the game’s action-oriented theme well. All of the necessary sound effects are in place and sound accurate. The background noises that accompany many of the levels, such as the chirping of crickets and croaking of frogs in the swamp areas, are a nice touch. There isn’t anything special here, but it gets the job done.
Despite the problems I mentioned above, Dungeons and Dragons Heroes really is a lot of fun to play, especially with a group of friends. The characters are well thought out and each has different strengths and weaknesses that complement the other characters in the game, making cooperative play a lot of fun. There are many different skills and spells to learn and lots of powerful items and equipment to be found. There have been some complaints that the game is too easy, and this is true to a certain extent. Yes, on the default setting, the game is rather easy. Not easy in the sense that you’ll never die, however; on the contrary, death can come swiftly and often, depending on a number of things such as what class you’re playing, what equipment you have, and what skills and spells you’ve bought. It’s easy in the sense that the game is very forgiving. A seemingly unlimited amount of healing and mana potions can be purchased at the tavern. Raise dead amulets, which automatically resurrect your character, are plentiful in the second half of the game. So, while death is always a threat, it isn’t nearly as punishing as it could be. The harder difficulties, though, should satisfy even the most hardcore gamers.
Heroes has plenty of replay value for those who like to get the most out of their games. All four playable characters are unique and play quite differently, so you could conceivably play through the game with each of them and get a different experience each time. After finishing the game, you also have the option of playing through the game again on a higher difficulty with the same character, keeping all of your skills and items intact. There really isn’t much incentive to do so, however, because you’ll probably already have most of the skills and spells you want and playing through again doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of new weapons or armor. Still, it’s a nice addition for those of you who like to build really powerful characters.
Dungeons and Dragons Heroes isn’t quite everything fans hoped it would be, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking it out. There’s something immensely satisfying about plowing through hordes of monsters with a group of friends, and Heroes does that exceptionally well, despite its other flaws.
