Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes
| Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Atari Hunt Valley | ||
| Publisher | Atari | ||
| Senior Developer | Brenda Brathwaite (Lead Designer) | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 September 17, 2003 November 14, 2003 |
||
| platform | Xbox | ||
| genre | Action RPG | ||
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Game controller | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes is an action role-playing game from Atari . It takes place in the campaign world Greyhawk of the role-playing game rules Dungeons & Dragons and was released in 2003 exclusively for the Xbox game console .
action
The intro sequence tells in a flashback how the magician Kaedin once created five gemstones that supplied him with magical energies from four parallel levels. With this power he began a campaign of conquest through the kingdom of Baele. After a desperate defensive battle, four heroes finally managed, at the risk of their lives, to capture Kaedin in his fortress and kill him. But 150 years later, Kaedin is brought back to life and begins again to increase his power. Therefore, the four heroes are brought back to life to defeat Kaedin one more time. You go on a chase to prevent Kaedin from regaining control of the five gems.
Gameplay
The fixed group of heroes consists of four different characters: a human fighter, an elven magician, a dwarf cleric and a halfling villain. The game can be played either alone or cooperatively with three other players . The other players can join the game at any time and leave it again. In co-op mode, each player takes on one of the given characters, in solo mode the player can switch between characters. There are a total of four levels of difficulty, of which the highest (nightmare) is only unlocked after playing through on the second-highest level of difficulty.
The game relies on the common genre game mechanisms. The focus of the game is the combative confrontation with numerous hostile creatures. For killing the opponent, the characters receive experience points with which they receive a level up when certain point limits are reached, in which the characters can learn new skills and be improved. Another aspect is the collection of equipment and loot items ( loot ) that are left behind by fallen opponents or can be purchased from traders in order to improve the characters' combat skills. Each character also has a particularly old, powerful weapon that can be upgraded with the help of soul fragments distributed throughout the game.
The game is based on the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons set of rules , but with some adjustments. Instead of the usual Vancian magic system , according to which magic spells have to be learned by heart and used until the next rest, the system of magic points, which is common for action role-playing games, was used. The selection of skills is also greatly reduced compared to the template and tailored to the game.
development
Atari announced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes for the first time for the Xbox and GameCube game consoles in May 2002 , and also for PlayStation 2 in June . The game was developed in Atari's studio in Hunt Valley (formerly Microprose ) under the direction of designer Brenda Brathwaite ( Wizardry 8 ). Atari originally specified the fall of 2002 as the publication period. In May 2003, Atari finally announced that the game would be released exclusively for Xbox.
While it competed as an action role-playing game with the contemporary Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance by Interplay , the team drew its inspiration primarily from the arcade game Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom by Capcom from 1993, whose gameplay also had four Player and fast fights was designed. The game supports Dolby Surround 5.1.
D&D: Heroes finally appeared in the USA in September and in Europe in November 2003. In Germany, however, the title was only published in an English language version. Also at the beginning of November, Atari closed the development studio in Hunt Valley.
reception
| German-language ratings | |
|---|---|
| publication | Rating |
| 4players | 78% |
| GamePro | 85% |
| Games world | 79% |
| Gamezone | 8.5 / 10 |
| International ratings | |
| EGM | 6/19 |
| Eurogamer.net | |
| Game Informer | |
| GamePro (US) | 5/5 |
| Gamespot | 6.6 / 10 |
| Gamespy | 4/5 |
| IGN | 8.3 / 10 |
| Meta-ratings | |
| Game ratings | 74.31% |
| Metacritic | 72/100 |
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes received mixed reviews ( Metacritic : 72 out of 100 / Gamerankings : 74.31%). The title has been compared several times to Interplay's action role-playing game Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Atari Games ' arcade classic Gauntlet .
“Basically, Dungeons & Dragons Heroes is Dark Alliance's little brother. Heroes looks like its older sibling, acts like him, and obviously wants to be him. Yet despite copying his brother admirably in many ways, Heroes never really matches up to him. Which is only partially acceptable, because he's had two years to catch up. "
“Basically, Dungeons & Dragons Heroes is Dark Alliance's little brother. Heroes looks like its older sibling, acts like it, and obviously wants to be like it. But although he admirably copied his brother in many ways, Heroes never really got to him. Which is only partially acceptable because he had two years to catch up with him. "
In a retrospective for Gamespy , Allen Rausch said: “ Heroes wasn't a terribly deep or rich experience, but for mindless arcade hacking, this was a pretty good choice for Xbox owners ” (German: “Heroes wasn't a particularly deep or rich experience, but for a little mindless arcade slaughter it was a very good choice for Xbox owners. ")
Web links
- Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes at MobyGames (English)
- Dungeons & Dragons Heroes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iwasaki, Scott: D&D fans will be pleased . In: Deseret News , November 10, 2003. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ^ A b c Aaron Boulding: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes Review. In: IGN Entertainment . Ziff Davis , September 19, 2003, accessed August 6, 2015 .
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/infogrames-announces-dungeons-and-dragons-heroes/1100-2865812/
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dungeons-and-dragons-heroes-coming-to-the-ps2/1100-2869255/
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dandd-heroes-becomes-xbox-exclusive/1100-6028696/
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hands-ondungeons-and-dragons-heroes/1100-2910511/
- ↑ a b http://www.gameswelt.de/dungeons-dragons-heroes/review/seite-1,4374,1
- ↑ a b c http://www.4players.de//4players.php/dispbericht/Allgemein/Special/0/2505/0.html
- ↑ David Adams: Atari Closes Former MicroProse Studio. In: IGN Entertainment . Ziff Davis , November 5, 2003, accessed August 6, 2015 .
- ↑ http://www.gamezone.de/Dungeons-und-Dragons-Heroes-Xbox-81620/Tests/Dungeons-und-Dragons-Heroes-im-Gamezone-Test-989633/
- ↑ EGM, November 2013, p. 189.
- ↑ a b http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_dungeonsanddragonsheroes_x
- ↑ Game Informer, November 2003, p. 163.
- ↑ a b Dunjin Master: Dungeons & Dragons Heroes ( English ) on September 29, 2003. Archived from the original on January 7, 2006. Accessed October 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b http://www.gamespot.com/dungeons-and-dragons-heroes/
- ↑ http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/dungeons-dragons-heroes/6272p1.html
- ↑ a b Gamerankings : Average rating , based on 58 articles, last accessed on October 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b Metacritic : Average rating , based on 33 articles, last accessed on October 15, 2013.
- ↑ Allen Rausch: A History of D & D Video Games - Part V . In: Gamespy . August 19, 2004. Retrieved November 17, 2012.