Audio cues play a part, too, alerting you to incoming fire, or the clank of armour on a distant foe. The game engine is sufficient to chuck enough enemies about to make for a pretty big scrap, to the point where sometimes seeing yourself or the enemy (where fights occur against similar troop types) can be a little hard. But where would be the fun in that?Īssuming you do choose to take to the lush battlefield yourself to complete your tasks (which could be any combination of base/unit defence, escort, sieges or pure kill-everything missions) you’ll find that you’re able to slice and dice away using a variety of light/heavy strikes, combos and special moves, such as magic or sidekick abilities. The biggest differentiator, though, is that you probably could complete much of the game without ever directly taking command of your hero at all, and play it simply as an RTS/RPG hybrid. Instead, all movements over distance are controlled in RTS-fashion through the mini-map.
You don’t have complete freedom of movement, either, at least not in the normal sense. Also, your hero cannot die, merely be dazed once your health is depleted, leaving you powerless for the few seconds it takes until it is replenished. For starters, on the battlefield you will only directly control the eponymous hero of the campaign you are in, despite having a number of troops fighting by your side. But Heroes is different it’s not a game that can easily be categorised with a glib sound bite. Indeed, whether you even think what Heroes offers are true RPG stylings depends on what you believe role-playing in videogames to actually mean, but suffice to say it has levelling-up of your army, which for many is good enough to qualify. Heroes is not like ordinary hack-and-slash games, even without taking account of the RTS and RPG aspects.
It’s a game where you’ll listen to play, rather than play to listen it is very much about the playing. Some may think that there is a biting social commentary on how various races loathe each other for no good reason (much like the world today) instead of just getting along, but that is for someone with far more time to analyse than me. That hardly matters though, as – much like The Crusaders – Heroes is like a big-budget action movie, where brief exposition is only used to link each set-piece. The plot progresses in a similar fashion to its older brother, through the use of talking-head scenes and the occasional in-engine cutscene – an FMV-orgy this is not. You will experience the war through the lives of seven protagonists (each having a campaign of their own) with each offering a different perspective on the conflict. Never ones to miss out on a scrap, the Humans observed from afar, but it wasn’t long before they too entered the fray, and it’s just prior to their entrance that Heroes starts. Soon, as tribes began to either assimilate into Vellond or resist, sufficient numbers of anti-Vellond supporters formed and a bitter civil war commenced. He also attempted the annexation of Hexter (land of the Orcs and Orges), by supporting the most ambitious (but under strength) Hexter tribe. Still craving power, and aware of the need to concentrate the minds of his new subjects on something other than rebelling against him, Valdemar invaded Arein (home of the Elves).
In doing so it became the first Dark Elf nation (albeit one that wasn’t ruled by the Dark Elves themselves).
Heroes takes place in the troubled land of Bersia, where a group of Half Vampires led by the ruthless Valdemar have united the Dark Elves and established the kingdom of Vellond. In fact, you can’t accurately categorise what Heroes is, but I can tell you that it is a sublime blend of RTS and hack-and-slash action, with some RPG elements tossed in for good measure. Such a comparison is unfair on Heroes, which is so much more than Koei’s efforts that it doesn’t need mentioning again, ever. That would be wrong, as it is much deeper than that, so take heed: Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes (the follow-up to last year’s The Crusaders) is in no-way comparable to Dynasty Warriors. I want to get this out of the way immediately so that we can concentrate on the rest of this review, as many people may just look at the box and dismiss it as a clone of that game.