PS3 Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Platform: PS3
Developer: Atlus
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pros: Addictive and Fun
Cons: Controls could be tightened up, epic story lookers need look elsewhere
Verdict: Buy It, right now. Ok, if you’e broke at least rent it.
Price: $40
Acquired: Developer Provided Review Copy
3D Dot Game Heroes takes action games back to the 16-bit era. Pixilated goodness, bleeps and bloops fill the air, and giant phallic swords rock the screen. Is this a recipe for greatness, or a trip down the wrong rabbit hole?
3D Dot Game Heroes starts with a wealth of characters for you to choose as your hero. There are some 40 pre-made characters to dig through, scrutinize, and judge by looks. We are talking ninjas, samurai, Santa’s, and epic warriors. If you are not content with the selection given to you, you can just go about making your own character. Sorry kids, there will be no trading of penis characters online.
The character nicety carries over to continuing your game as well. Let’s say you took up the Deathbringer Santa. You enjoyed Badass Santa for the first dungeon, but now he is a bit boring. Save your game and reload. This will bring up a prompt asking if you want to change your character. It is a nice touch in removing the repetition of main characters.
With the daylong debate of what character to choose at your back, the story begins. This story is nothing we have not already been through over and over again. Good guy seals away evil ages ago. Some schmuck undoes this heroic act. You are the chosen one to reseal away evil. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. The good thing about the story is that Atlus does not take is so seriously. They go so far as to make fun of these types of stories. This humor really shines through in the character dialog.
Almost all the townspeople have something witty to say about the impending doom that is upon them. Atlus brought in a great touch of comedy to the story. Enjoy the game for what it is and don’t expect some epic tale here. The game comes with pure enjoyment minus all the moral dilemmas that plague games as of late.
Controls for 3D Dot Game Heroes are pretty basic. You can use the D-pad or the analog stick to move around. One button will swing your giganto sword. Another button will use your super special weapons like boomerang or hooksho…err…wire rod. There is no finger knotting in this game. Controllers everywhere will thank Atlus for contributing to their “non broken” status in the future.
The only issue I really found is that you have to take pixel location into account. There were far too many times I would miss an enemy due to not being in the correct line with them. It can be frustrating, but after an hour, or so, that frustration melts away to yield a child like gaming experience. And I mean that in a good way.
So anyone who has watched any of the trailers has notice: this game LOVES giant swords. This is not just a sword that is twice the size of the hero…oh hell no. We are talking a sword that takes up a good 30% of the screen. In the immortal words of Paul Hogan, “Now THAT’s a knife.”
This might seem unfair and make the game super easy. I assure you it does not. Sure, it is awesome to walk around swinging that big ass blade and stopping an enemy from a mile away. This Viagra sized sword only exists if that health bar is full. Enemies know this little fact. The enemies will make an ambush or spit goo on you when it is least expected. One hit and that awesome sword turns into a toothpick. Thank goodness for those awesome health potions. Nobody likes a limp sword. [Editor's Note: We're sorry for the limp joke.]
One of the biggest issues with this phallic sword from the gods is that it tends to overshadow the use of magic or secondary items. Why use some boomerang when the deathbringer sword can easily dispose of baddies? The secondary items and magic are great, but I found I only broke them out when I needed them for a specific task. Ruling the world with your blade is the name of the game here.
The best part of this game comes in the presentation department. Dotnia started out in a 2-D world. This 2-D world comes into the glorious realm of 3-D thanks to the king. The transition was not so smooth ,though, as all that original pixilated goodness carried over. This makes for one visually simplistic yet complex look. Everything comes made from blocks. Characters, houses, chickens, enemies, and even the water come assembled from little cubes. The use of lighting and reflections will often take this game to a style all of it’s own. Take a moment, look beyond the highly waxed floors, and notice that even the tiles in the castles and boss rooms consist of 3D blocks.
This 3D block style also carries over to enemy death sequences. Besting an enemy will yield an explosion of blocks. It is like tying an M-80 to some Lego and watching the aftermath of the explosion. This is so satisfying.
The music and sound effects carry a retro feel as well. Boss battle music struck my retro memories the hardest. Memories flood in of fighting bosses from the SNES all due to some simple music gracing my speakers while I played this one from Atlus. Between the music and the visuals, I felt like I was 14 again, minus that whole voice cracking and hair growing in funny places bit.
Story, music, and pixelly blocks aside, there is a fair amount to do in 3D Dot Game Heroes. The main quest is not the only fun you will be having. There are side quests to help you in your marathon running as you go from town to town to help out the inhabitants.
The biggest surprise came in the form of the mini-games. These are classic games like Blockout with a twist. These little jewels of fun are available to play at your leisure, but I bet you spend almost as much time playing the mini games as you do the main game. The new spins provide a completely new challenge to the retired games of the past.
Anyone who misses the days of Zelda on the SNES need to haul ass to the store to get this game. Yeah, haul ass. This is well worth your coin. Everybody else can just run to the store. This is an addicting, fun, and nostalgic game. Do yourself a favor and rent it at the very least.
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