Okay Geek Farm
PS3 Review - 3D Dot Game Heroes
Ricardo Trejo
If you ask me, most of this generation’s gamers are all about graphics. They believe the notion that the more polygons on screen the better. But I remember a time when games were all about, y’know, the games! When games were made up of 2 dimensional figures and it took real brains to progress to the final stages. But for the most part that simplicity is gone, however though, at times that same simplicity reappears and flares up in current generation games - 3D Dot Game Heroes is that present game. It does the oldies of gaming justice, plays around with the idea, and gave this nostalgic player a truly memorable playthrough.
Story
Long ago in the 2D Kingdom of Dotnia, there once was a brave hero who saved the world from an evil presence. Using six magical orbs he sealed away the darkness and the Dark King Onyx, quelling the violence wrought upon the land and restoring the world to peace. Years later, legends of the hero’s fame brought people from all parts of the world to Dotnia, but eventually that popularity died off, along with any favor for the 2D world.
Centuries later, the current king of Dotnia realized how the kingdom had fallen from its once impressive status. And so, in an effort to bring it back to its former glory, the king transformed the 2 dimensional country into one of 3D. And just like that, the kingdom once again became a bustling center of activity, but little did anyone realize that during this restoration the king’s own advisor was about to unleash the evils first sealed off ages ago from the orb of darkness.
A hero was once again needed - a pixelated hero.
Gameplay
If you know how the first Legend of Zelda, Link’s Awakening, or A Link to the Past play, then you already know how to work this game. The same mechanics are here, and so are the same weapons, moves, enemies, and world style. Everything from collecting health pieces down to fairy fountains can be found in the sprawling world map of Dotnia. Even the familiar way in which your health, magic, and commands are displayed are featured in a way that is a true nod to the legend that is of Zelda.
Though everything is reminiscent of the Zelda of old, there is one big distinction that sets it apart, and that’s the sword. In Zelda if you have the Master Sword with full health you can shoot out lasers, but in this game if you have any sword and have full health you can unleash a blade that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Rather than just shoot out “pew pew” beams, your sword will be about 3 times its width and length, making unreachable enemies a thing of the past. And that’s not all, because there’s also an upgrading system that you can implement at the Blacksmith’s shop to further extend that breathing room - lengthening your sword, as well as powering it up, and even giving it that “pew pew” power I mentioned earlier.
The basic formula and layout of your adventure will primarily be the same as Zelda’s; get info from a town, find the next exotic location and temple, traverse that temple and secure yourself a new item or weapon, then fight the temple boss (who also strike a resemblance to bosses of games’ past), rinse, lather, repeat. You’ll find bombable walls in the temples, multiple floors with hidden passages, as well as secret rooms that can only be unlocked with different colored keys. It’s all a familiar experience but it never gets old, though what does get on your nerves is the difficulty. I’d say for the most part the game never gets too challenging, unless of course you’re fighting that damn dragon from temple number five! ARGHH!!
There’s also an option that allows you to customize your hero to look anyway you like. You can either choose from a preset amount of templates, or just goof around in the editor to see what you can come up with. And if you’re skilled enough perhaps you can recreate that Hero of Time we all hear so much about.
Oh, and did I mention that games like Breakout and Tower Defense styled mini-games make their way into this 2D/3D game? They may be sidequests to collect a piece of health but if you invest enough time into them you can truly feel as if they were their own full games.
Visuals/ Audio
2D but living and breathing in 3 Dimensions - 3D Dot Game Heroes stars a familiar world but presents it in a way that is both new and fun. It’s not jaw droppingly spectacular but it is unique and also reminds you a bit of those stop action cartoons from back in the day, not to mention it looks like a game done completely with Legos. The visual style is something innovative, feeling as if you are a part of the world, rather than over it as the original Zelda first handled it. Though the water effects may have gone a bit overboard since you may go blind for a few moments.
There is no voice acting in the game at all - it’s all text. I mean, c’mon what’d you expect from a copy of 8-bit Zelda? The music on the other is quite special, because it replicates the exact same feel of the original Zelda but does it in its own special, non-copyrighted way. You may not get an exact note for note rendition of the Overworld Theme but you get something pretty darn close to it, so much so you’ll be humming the original song along with this one in unison.
Final Thoughts
I have touched on it yet in this review but would you be surprised if I told you that was made by From Software, the same people who did Demon’s Souls. Yeah, that was a bit of shocker as well to me too when I first found out about this game. 3D Dot is quite the contrast to what players experienced in last year’s game of the year choice, but it still reaches that same level of awesomeness and difficulty you’ve come to expect from their development studio.
Overall, 3D Dot Game Heroes is a special game and a title you don’t usually come across every other day. As a parody to Zelda it’s perfect, and as its own game it’s a solid nod to the gaming legends of the past all while staying original enough to be its own adventure. Jokes that come across only as text, full game mini-games, a unique visual style and gameplay that just can’t ever get old, 3D Dot is at least a definite rent or borrow.
