Heroes of Ruin Review

Ah, dungeon crawling. The heady loot-laden pastime of many a gamer; the knowledge that an improved, shiny and new bit of awesome may just be round the next corner has kept many a gamer away from the outside world. However, now that Heroes of Ruin has romped onto the 3DS, those who have been brutally deprived of sunlight courtesy of their never-ending quest for loot can finally take the ultimate adventure – going outside – without getting in the way of dungeon crawling. So, and I say this in the full knowledge that I’m stretching an analogy to breaking point, is Heroes of Ruin a rare purple or a common-as-muck grey?

Developers: n-Space and Square Enix London Studios
Publisher: Nintendo / Square Enix
Reviewed on: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: Available now (EU) / July 17th (US)

Heroes of Ruin is a little break from the norm insofar as 3DS titles go; dungeon crawlers are not known for their accessibility and are increasingly reliant on online connectivity to flesh out the gameplay experience (or, in the case of Blizzard, granting you the privilege of playing the game you own). It’s no secret that Nintendo haven’t quite got their heads round online gaming – and you make think that a title such as Heroes of Ruin may fall short of the mark as a result. Thankfully, that isn’t the case – and there doesn’t appear to be a friend code in sight. So, for a refreshing change on a Nintendo platform, you’re not a number, you’re a free gamer. DERP.

The story of Heroes of Ruin is, as with many other dungeon crawlers, a fairly simple affair: the protector of the City of Nexus, a sphinx called Ataraxis, has been cursed by nefarious forces, is dying and can only be saved by you, the intrepid hero. To be honest, the plot doesn’t get much more complicated than that as you progress through the game; however, chances are that you’ll be playing Heroes of Ruin for the cornucopia of shiny loot – of which there is a staggering amount – to pimp your character out with.

Much like Heroes of Ruin’s bigger, non-handheld brethren in the dungeon crawling genre, customising your character to your play style is a core part of the game. There are four types of character to choose from in Heroes of Ruin, which neatly line up with the archetypal classes found in other dungeon crawlers: the Vindicator is your resilient tank, the Savage is a close-up brawler, the Gunslinger slings guns (duh!) and the Alchitect takes care of all your mage-type duties. The classes are sufficiently different from one another to warrant filling up your four save slots with different character types and, as your choice of class profoundly affects how you play the game, will definitely add to the enjoyment that you’ll get from Heroes of Ruin.

Being a dungeon-crawler, the mechanics of the game are pretty much as you’d expect. Whilst the gameplay is not quite as refined in its execution as Diablo or Torchlight, it’s still great fun to play – and, thanks to the randomisation of levels, enemies and item drops, every playthrough of the game (aside from key plot points) will be completely different. The various environments that you’ll adventure through in the game are varied nicely, ranging from lush green forests to snowy mountaintops; however, the same can’t really be said of the characters you’ll encounter along the way.

Whilst Heroes of Ruin almost certainly doesn’t need a deep story embellished with large gobs of character development, the resoundingly one-dimensional characters – who are furnished with equally one-dimensional voice acting – are a stark reminder that the real raison d’être of this game is ploughing through it in order to find bigger, better and purpler loot.

Enjoyable though the single-player game is, where Heroes of Ruin really shines is in its co-op mode. As I alluded to earlier in this review, games on Nintendo’s consoles are rarely known for having high-quality multiplayer modes – largely thanks to the shackles that Nintendo imposes on connectivity under the guise of shielding impressionable young minds from the horrors of the internet. Somehow, the developers of Heroes of Ruin convinced Nintendo to give them a bit more of a free reign; you can jump in and out of games (with friends or randoms) as you please and you can – shock horror – speak with the people you’re playing with. With your voice. Admittedly, for many console gamers, this isn’t exactly a new concept – but Nintendo are now officially ready to party like it’s 2002.

The fact that Nintendo relaxed what they let developers do with online functionality for this game is fantastic – without a doubt, the co-op mode is how Heroes of Ruin is meant to be played. The various character classes compliment each other perfectly, and, thanks to the fact that you can talk to all other players in the game by a simple press of the L shoulder button, co-ordination of attacks is a breeze. Heroes of Ruin also scales the difficulty of the game up and down according to the number of players present, meaning that you can’t rely on force of numbers alone in order to part a goblin from the company that shiny loot that you’re coveting.

Much like every other 3DS title out there, the connectivity of Heroes of Ruin extends past online co-op, utilising SpotPass for swapping of items between players via a special traveling merchant that you’ll find in the main town hub. Whilst this isn’t as lucrative a solution compared to Diablo III’s auction house, it’s a great deal of fun to see what new items have appeared for sale after a real-life crawl around the dank dungeons of the London Underground.

It’s impressive how many aspects of this genre n-Space have managed to cram into Heroes of Ruin’s diminutive cartridge. In gameplay terms, it’s a truly impressive title and is nicely fleshed out with awesome touches such as the inclusion of daily and weekly challenges. However, I must admit to being a little disappointed with the quality of the visuals in the game; although I accept that the 3DS isn’t exactly a graphical powerhouse, Heroes of Ruin’s graphics pale in comparison to a number of other 3DS titles. The frame-rate tends to err on the low side, can be quite inconsistent at the best of times and everything does appear a little drab – however, the stereoscopic 3D is used to particularly good effect and adds real depth to the dungeons that you’re hacking and slashing your way through.

Fantastic multiplayer
Excellent replayability
Real variation between character classes
Niggling frame-rate issues
Visuals are a little drab in parts

Heroes of Ruin is an excellent title for the 3DS; I, for one, was surprised at how well the dungeon-crawling genre translates to a handheld. Whilst not perfect, there’s a great deal of fun to be had with this game – and the randomisation of levels, varied classes and endless bundles of loot will keep you coming back for more.

Dan purchased the review copy of Heroes of Ruin.
Official Game Site

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Comments

  1. Cory

    Great review! I’m getting the game from Amazon today. Look forward to trying it out!

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