

Even if the dialog and load screen images don't make you smile, though, there's a lot to love because the game is put together so skillfully.Īs I played, the one thought I had most often was that 3D Dot Game heroes feels like Zelda with the bad parts removed. The references feel fantastic for someone like me who has played through and loved so many of those titles.
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Upon leaving the first temple, the game pauses for a Final Fantasy-esque tale of heroes, plus there are more Dragon Quest references (from most of the series, mind you, not just the first one) than one might care to shake a stick at. A brutish monster who looks a lot like a Moblin implores you not to pass around what he's just told you because "It's a secret to everybody." You'll hear a reference to Superb Joe, who surely is related to the adventures 8-bit gamers cherished in Bionic Commando, and another one to Mega Man 2. You'll have a great time the whole way through, which makes it easier to appreciate the nods to classic games. The game's entire design exhibits that curiously effective mix of restraint and creativity. It's possible to clear an area without snagging every last treasure, too, though it's not recommended. Only a Boss Key will grant you access to the guardian of a given temple. Sometimes you'll have to flip switches on one floor to clear the path to an opening in the room above you. You can reach lower floors by falling through weakened tiles or by descending staircases. There are multiple floors in many of the dungeons, for instance. It feels very 8-bit.įrom The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo, though, the developers took enough additional points of dungeon design that the simple approach I discussed above doesn't feel archaic. You push blocks to access stairs and treasure, use candles to see when the rooms are too dark and dodge projectile-firing statues at the center of some rooms or rush out of the way of sliding floor traps. The perspective shifts up, down, left or right and monsters pop into sight as you pass through each new doorway. The temples that you'll explore consist of many rooms linked together one screen at a time.
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From The Legend of Zelda for NES, the developers at From Software took the haunting dungeons. Mostly, the new effort works because it doesn't forget the best of the old ideas. What I adore about the game is that it actually makes that revised direction work! What I like about 3D Dot Game Heroes is that it fearlessly explores one of those other directions. That title did many things well and earned itself a gold star in the gaming annals, but it made some changes that moved its franchise away from some of its core values and started it down what I would call "the wrong road." The move into the third dimension definitely could have gone a lot of differently than it did. That was before I played 3D Dot Game Heroes.ĭeveloped by people who understand what made those classics tick, 3D Dot Games Heroes is both an homage to its predecessors and a journey down the road not taken when Miyamoto and crew explored three-dimensional territory with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had begun to believe that the early offerings were good enough to be considered untouchable. Even the newer Zelda titles-now considered classics themselves-don't always compare favorably to those early releases. They filled my childhood with magic and they provided a formative entertainment experience that still weighs on my mind when I approach video games some twenty years later. What I adore about the game is that it actually makes that revised direction work!"įor many reasons, I am thankful for the classics such as The Legend of Zelda and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. " The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time did many things well and earned itself a gold star in the gaming annals, but it made some changes that moved its franchise away from some of its core values and started it down what I would call "the wrong road." The move into the third dimension definitely could have gone a lot of differently than it did. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PlayStation 3) review
