3D Dot Game Heroes, A great Homage

While Infendo usually reviews Nintendo related games, and most of you are wondering why 3D Dot Game Heroes is being reviewed on this site. I have to say that this game is heavily tied to the 8bit era, and has an even stronger tie to the original and famous Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda. However, the question remains… is 3D Dot Game Heroes a complete rip off of a great game? or is it something that can stand on it’s own.

Story

Legend tells of an evil king known as the Dark King Onyx. He brought misery, tragedy and darkness to the kingdom of Dotnia by stealing six magical orbs. However, a young hero rose up against the Dark King and with a legendary sword a managed to take back the orbs and use the power to seal him away.

Yet, like most evil bad guys, they have copy cats, and the forces of evil rose again. A man know as Dark Bishop Fuelle stole the orb used to seal away the Dark King and has used it to throw the Kingdom of Dotnia into a state of chaos once more. The game’s main protagonist, which is totally customizable to the user, is the grandchild of the brave hero who sealed away the Dark King and thus is entrusted with the responsibility to save the land.

The legend, also talks about how the kingdom was once a 2D pixelated world. Yet, the King of the Land felt that sprites were outdated so he decreed for the kingdom to make the switch to 3D. This caused the entire world to become 3D while still retaining its original pixelated look. A very weird, and quirky way of explaining the style of the game.

Character Creation

Before you start the game, you can create a custom character to play with. You don’t have to do this, since there is a huge selection of predesignated characters to choose from, but if you do, you can do some really cool things.

Each character has a specific type when you play the game. There are of course genders which is not just for a aesthetics look, but it effects the stats of your character. The difference is that Male characters get an automatic +1 strength boost on all swords, and female characters get an automatic spell casting reduction cost by 1 magic vial. This really is of course all up to how you want to play the game. If one type of character isn’t working for you… you don’t have to stick with that character at all. Since you can choose to pick a character to replace your current character when you load your save.

Of course, I took this opportunity to replace one of those predesignated characters with a character of my own design. Seeing as how 3D Dot Game Heroes is a homage to Zelda I created this.

You can also share your creations with friends or other people who have 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Game Play

As many of your would expect from a homage to the original Legend of Zelda and the few games that fell into the same style, [Star Tropics, Mystery of Murasame Castle], the game controls very similarly. Just like the original 2-button Zelda games you have a sword and a special item mapped to your character at all times.

However, unlike Zelda, you don’t have to go into the item menu to switch through the items. You can use the shoulder buttons to instantly scroll through your inventory quickly and efficiently. You even have the option to mark which items can show up in the scroll, that way only the necessary items show up when your in a bind.

The general layout of the maps and dungeons will feel very familiar to you if you ever played a Zelda game. Objects block your path, and you have to move vertically, and horizontally, across the over world map to get around. The same thing apples in dungeons, however, the one thing that 3D Dot Game Heroes does differently is the sword.

You sword can be upgraded to abnormally large proportions. In Zelda, you had a beam attack, in 3D Dot Game Heroes you have a sword that grows 5 times it’s normal size, and in some cases can go slash through impenetrable boundaries if you have it upgraded the right way. The most interesting thing about 3D Dot Game Heroes is that the sword can be changed to your liking, and there is more than one sword in the game.

An artist from New York. Will has been writing, designing, and loving video games since he was young. He has traveled across the United States, and parts of Canada in order to learn more about the world of gaming. After visiting E3 for the first time in 2009, he has vowed to return there and show off a game of his own. In his spare time he tinkers with electronics, programming, and of course collecting video games.