You have a fire temple and a water temple then a stone temple etc. Both the dungeons and the world map are fun to explore and hold many secrets and entertaining side-quests, but the design seems to adhere too much to a paint by numbers approach. Seeing as it’s an adventure game, the levels you adventure in need to cut the mustard. With all the classic titles that are being harked back to, the design of 3D Dot Game Heroes needs to be solid so it can sustain the hefty weight of the genre heritage it’s built upon. From Final Fantasy 4 to Demon’s Souls, your favourite title is bound to get a nod, whether it’s old or new. It plays off enough conventions throughout the story to bring a smile to the face of the more hardcore gamer, and the amount of referencing is endearing and always comical. One way that 3D Dot Game Heroes is able to create it’s own identity is through the sense of humour. Spin Attack? Cuckos? In what game have I seen these two things before? hmmm… The thing boarders on plagiarism and, whilst this might be too much for some people, at least 3D Dot Game Heroes is stealing from the best. From the characters, plot and dialogue to the weapons and side-quests it’s almost identical. I know I’ve been playing that card a lot but there’s no way around it. The other key thing that may put you off the game’s core mechanics is just how similar it is to Zelda. This is probably one of the biggest flaws with 3D Dot Game Heroes. This lack of depth can also be seen in most aspects of the game and it often gets to the point where you no longer feel compelled to play. The combat is enjoyable in its simplicity, but there are many occasions where it feels a bit on the spongey side and generally lacking in depth. The retro charm is an immediate success and the game does an immaculate job of mimicking the staples of the genre, unfortunately for worse as well as better. Regardless, the artistically inclined of you will find a great deal of enjoyment to be had in this feature. The creation tools are fun and easy to use, if a little too restrictive in the limited amount of colours available. Seeing as the graphics are made up entirely of pixels, the visuals lend themselves toward user generated avatars. (I wonder what Freud would say?) Another feature of note is the character creation. It’s not exactly an innovative feature, but it always brings a smile to your face when you’ve improved a sword’s size to the point where it fills the whole screen.
There are multiple swords for you to collect throughout the game that can be upgraded in various ways at the local blacksmith. There are a few other nice touches that attempt to break from the usual mould as well. It’s an entertaining setup with a retro charm, that fills a gap left in the genre by the lack of 2D titles being released on this console generation. The rest of the package is also implicit with challenging and puzzle-ridden dungeons, along with a vast world to explore. The combat is a simple one button affair, but provides an enjoyable experience, even if it is a little shallow. This means the engine of 3D Dot Game Heroes will be familiar to most of you. The gameplay resembles the adventure game paradigm made most popular by the top down 2D Legend of Zelda titles.
This becomes even more obvious when you pick up the controller. Regardless of how you look at it, it’s clear what is influencing 3D Dot Games Heroes. It might not have the stunning visuals of Crysis, but the graphics have an undeniable charm It is obvious right from the start that the visuals are a major strong point of the game. The technical aptitude of the visuals is also noteworthy, with the water and bloom effects being particularly impressive, if a little on the extreme side. The artistic flair and unique style cannot be truly expressed properly in words. Thus we get to see the sprites become 3D models before our eyes and the pixelated, yet smooth visuals becomes apparent. The visuals begin looking like a carbon copy of the original Legend of Zelda, but when the king of Dotnia realises the tourist trade is losing out due to the 2D nature of the land, he decrees it become three dimensional. This becomes most apparent in the visuals, as reading about it doesn’t quite convey the sense of humour the game has. But before you write 3D Dot Game Heroes off as a derivative piece of trash, you need to understand that the clichéd nature of it is sort of the point. If this doesn’t remind you of every other adventure game of the past twenty years then you’re either: Not a gamer, or exceptionally unobservant. An evil stirs in the kingdom of Dotnia and, as the descendant of the legendary hero, it is up to you to find the six magical orbs that can seal the evil that may befall the land.