3D, Dungeon Crawling, Online Coop…Yes Please!

Those fine folkss over at Square Enix just sent us a free copy of the 3DS title, Heroes of Ruin to review for all those wondering how an online dungeon crawler would work on the 3D portable.  Heroes of Ruin is an action RPG title that allows for both single player and up to four player coop, topped with the utilization of the microphone so you can chat and coordinate OR listen to little Timmy asking daddy if he can have his game back. The four staple classes are available and expanding skill trees to unlock and master after each level. I was ecstatic when Square Enix first announced the release of this title, so lets see how it holds up.

There were a lot of things in which I like while reviewing Heroes of Ruin, particularly the large dungeons. I do not know exactly what I was expecting but it was definitely less in terms of the size of some of the levels. The online also worked surprisingly well most of the time with others players seamlessly joining and leaving my hosted game. The online is where I really enjoyed my time spent as you are able to trade items and depending on the combination of classes, you can really do some damage if working together. The bosses are big and not so easy to take down quickly all while enemies continue to respawn at a good rate. The graphics looks decent, but I liked how the cut scenes looked in 3D and that there was no slowdown in gameplay when I was playing with three others.

There were some things that rubbed me the wrong way during my play through. The first would be load times, they are long and a plenty, luckily there are no load times once you are in a dungeon, only when going to different locations or finding/creating an online game. There is no new game +, once you beat the game, you are unable to go back and play again on a harder difficulty with higher-level equipment once completed. This was a big one for me as that is the main reason for trying to get rare loot, so that you can use them to take down waves of enemies on an additional playthrough on a harder difficulty.

All in all, I enjoyed my time spent with Heroes of Ruin, as it was fun and entertaining. While there was no new game +, there is a lot of replay value in going back and playing through while leveling the different classes. There is also a good amount of people playing online so I would highly suggest not playing alone, that is unless you are somewhere without an internet connection. Though it is not without flaws, however, most of the issues I would think could be resolved with a patch as Square Enix has already stated that they plan on supporting the game with daily challenges and new game content.