I have been in love with the recent renaissance of classic style gaming. Seeing old ideas come to life with new technology with titles like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mega Man 10 and Castlevania Rebirth gives me with warmth I haven’t felt since the days of blowing dust out of cartridges and simple, yet rewarding game design. Well, From Software and Atlus decided to roll out their own retro style game with 3D Dot Game Heroes for the PS3, a game all too similar to a game about green elf boy from Hyrule.
They aren’t denying that they’re ripping off The Legend of Zelda: from a Wind Waker style intro to quotes purposely stolen from the original NES classic. At first glance it would seem to believe that Nintendo has lost their minds and incorrectly released a game on a competitor’s console. The game plays nearly the same as Zelda, a grand kingdom to walk around, a quest involving items like the boomerang and bow to accompany your sword and shield and dungeon design exactly like the old days. From Software has done a bit to make this adventure more next-gen however with advance character creation equipped with sharing capabilities and visuals though blocky, are hardware demanding due to gorgeous water effects, crisp colors and good use of physics.
The story takes place at a kingdom called Dotnia, a once flourished 2D kingdom that was once troubled by a dark lord. This lord was banished into an orb by a young hero until one of his minions stole the orb, and you, the hero’s descendant, must stop the lord once more. During this, the king saw his kingdom lose popularity and decreed that the kingdom turn 3D, pixilated look and all. While the story isn’t Oscar winning material, retro games are mainly known for solid gameplay.
What’s cool though is that you are not a fixed character. There are dozens of premade models to choose from: warriors, ninjas, dragons, monsters and even a tank! If you don’t like that, you can edit the premade ones or create your character from scratch, building the hero from Dotnia block by block. If you put the time into it, you’ll be rewarded with the character of your dreams (or nightmares).
The controls are mainly NES Zelda fare, with two item slots for the X and O buttons for the sword and the other equipable items. Those items are found in dungeons and after gaining them, you gain access to new areas and dungeons via those items. Remember those cracks in the wall? Bomb them. Is there a big gap in the way? Use the Wire Rod (Hookshot) to grab a pole and fly across. The dungeons become much more complex in later scenarios and sometimes might take hours to figure it out. One thing that may take players longer to finish them is the difficulty. Thankfully, unlike more recent Zeldas like Twilight Princess, the game is pretty hard, with enemies and especially bosses, taking several hearts from you from a single hit. Fans of Atlus and From Software’s difficult and delicious hit Demon’s Souls take note. When time goes by and your wallet fills, you can obtain proper equipment, like rings, to protect you. Beating bosses gains you an additional heart and you can find scattered heart pieces along Dotnia, collect four and gain a new heart.
When your health is full, the sword is gigantic.
However, it seems like the gameplay for Dot Heroes fell flat, and only creates needless frustration. One thing that Zelda is known for is pixel perfect gameplay. When the player inputs a command, the game responds without a hiccup, and that everything in the game’s world exists for a reason. This leaves the player’s skill alone as the only catalyst between their success and defeat. Dot Heroes tends to forget this part because players can go to their deaths from things out from their control. The sword would sometimes not work correctly, whether the blade would cut half its size, or in some cases, not show up at all, leaving your hero looking dumb with an empty hilt and sometimes a lost life.
Dot Heroes also suffers from random drops, meaning that the items that drop from enemy deaths and breakable environment elements, like vases and grass, can be anything like money, arrows, health, magic restoration or possibly nothing. Zelda always had this rule where money would never drop unless the player had full health, otherwise, it would drop hearts. This nonrandom drop method encourages keeping health up for money and keeping players alive and not scrambling for health. Dot Heroes doesn’t go by such a rule, so players can be at full health and see nothing but hearts or be half dead and never see a single heart. For a game that focuses of saving and spending money for upgrades on the character and the sword, using that Zelda rule would be a fantastic way of subconsciously invoking the player to do better without leaving the worthless sense of worry and frustration. Hey, if they’re going to rip Zelda off, they might as well not cut corners while they’re at it.
3D Dot Game Heroes is a bittersweet retro serenade for Zelda fans and no one else. The reason the review is focused on comparing it with Zelda is frankly because From Software asked for it. They knew what they made when they finished this project and unfortunately didn’t do anything to expand the genre, add some sort of cool twist in gameplay or make it unique outside the cool visuals. The game is fun but stale, and has that constant nagging that it’s a totally inferior throwback to Zelda. If you like Zelda, it’s cheap and worth a spin, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you don’t like Zelda, stay far away from it. If you don’t know Zelda, then play Zelda: it’s a much more user friendly, rewarding and inviting experience.
3D Dot Game Heroes for PlayStation 3: 6.5/10
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