Spank me father, for I have sinned Yes, yes, I confess it! I played a cell phone game for more than 3 minutes and I liked it. I was weak, father, for it seduced me with its mind blowing 3d graphics, immersive 6-channel audio and gripping force feedback controls... Or maybe it was just good gameplay.
Prelude to a kiss Being as how this is indeed the first cell phone game review to appear here at Gamelemon, I fully expect you to promptly engage in wild celebration and drink yourself into oblivion. Before that happy moment cometh, however, I'd like to say a few words about cell phone games in general, and what, in my humble opinion, might be reasonable to expect of them.
From a certain point of view, cell phone games are quite a lucky thing. Lucky precisely due to the dreaded limitations of the cell phone platform itself - small screens, crappy graphics, annoying sound, and limiting controls. If you think back the beginning of all time and space (which, for gamers, is around the time that Pong first came out), you'll discover that ye olde gaming platform back in those days shared many of the same shameful characteristics. Yet, some of our fondest gaming memories belong not to the fancy but forgettable multimedia extravaganzas of today, but precisely to those ugly duckling games of yesteryear. Why? Because those games had imagination. They had great gameplay. They had humor and heart. Because that's pretty much all they had to go on. This generation of cell phone games could be perceived as the unlikely renaissance of that era. A time when a little, pixelated blue-robed figure jerking across the squares of your low-res screen actually stirred up something in that overworked, stressed out, aggravated soul of yours...
Great Expectations
Enough tears then. Here is what I believe it is reasonable to expect from a cell phone game in this day and age, and therefore, the standard that I am rating Hero's Quest against:
- in recognition of our culture of cell phone usage, a game that could be enjoyable in as little as 2 or 3 minutes
- in recognition of the limitations of the platform, a game that is fairly simple to control, yet still engaging
- in recognition of things that must always be true of a good game no matter what terror of a hardware platform it has to run on, a game that is fun, imaginative, and user friendly
- in recognition of our utterly disgusting bathroom habits, a game that reminds you to whipe your ass before proceeding to the next stage.
I might be a little forgiving on that last one, though.
A Hero of Might or Magic Following the good traditions of old, Hero's Quest lets you play as a Mage or Fighter, though the two paths are more blended than usual - a Fighter can still cast spells and the Mage can lay down a good smacking with the rest of them. The main difference is in the tactics of combat - as a Mage, you will mostly wreak havoc from a distance, and, given a much wider selection of spells than a Fighter, have a lot of choices in how exactly you go about making sure your foe's path to his grave is a particularly thorny and crooked one. As a Fighter, your spells will be mostly limited to various kinds of buffs; in compensation, of course, you will get to run out into the field with your two-handed monstrousity of a sword and deal out body part severing blows. Both approaches are fun: just pick your poison and proceed.
The overall gaming experience of Hero's Quest is straight-forward enough - it's a story-based, explorative affair, with progress being driven by completion of smaller quests that add up to the larger story. You will hire armies (and, less frequently, individual heros), equip them, get them thoroughly enubriated, and set them upon anyone blocking your road to glory. You will do turn-based battle, usually win, occasionally re-load, and always come back for more.
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A well-chosen bag of tricks You know those mixed party snack bags at the supermarket? Don't you just hate it when it's like three of your favorite snacks and the fourth is a real piece of tasteless, third-rate crap that always gets left at the bottom of the bowl at parties? Well, Hero's Quest is not like that at all, I'll have you know. Hero's Quest is a collection of top-quality treats and nothing else, and thank you very much. The best RPG elements here only.
In all seriousness, one of the most redeeming features of this game is that the developers have taken many of the most successful concepts of the D&D, (Heros of) Might and Magic, etc. classic stock of games, and integrated them together in a way that is quite satisfying to the consummate RPG gamer. They also managed the very important task of not overcomplicating any of it. As a result, you have you many of your favorite features such as Heros, upgradeable weapons and armor (complete with special enchantments), a meaningful selection of upgreadable skills and abilities for you main character, flying, ranged, and melee unit types, character artifacts, and an inventive and well-balanced library of spells. The latter deserves particular attention and praise.
Means of Magical Demise (now THAT would have been a fun class at Hogwarts) The thoughtful selection of magical spells and the machanics of their use are probably responsible for a large part of the effective strategy element that is present in Hero's Quest. As with the other game elements, many of spells you will find here are your old time favorites such as "shield", "poison", "pacify", "weaken" (don't quote me on the names - I am doing this from memory and I am proud of it!) - but with a nice added twist of only being able to take a limited number of spells into any given battle. The number of spells you can have memorized at one time is dependant on your stats, which can be additionally modified by items and artifacts. Your stats grow as you level up; however, the more powerful spells that will really get your drool flowing will also take up more intelligence points to memorize. Given that there are a quite a few spells in the game, that means that the total number of possible strategies that one can choose via a combination of choices regarding which attributes to upgrade on level ups, which equipment and artifacts to wear, which units to hire, and which spells to memorize, is quite large. Thus you can choose to wear artifacts that benefit your offense more that your defense, but compensate with defensive spells. You can go with a wider selection of spells that are weaker, or pack only a few of the real nasty variety. You can concentrate on more long-range attacking spells and not worry about having to hire ranged units. You can pack powerful defensive group spells while investing in the most offense-focused equipment for your fighters. In short, there are many, many ways in which you can create your particular preferred gameplay balance, and the best part of it is that it's natural and easy. I found myself shifting tactics several times through the game as I encountered new unit types, new spells, items, and enemies. Overall, playing as a mage probably has a deeper strategic flavor to it, although quite a bit of it is still present with the fighter.
All your base are belong to us Come on, you knew there was one, didn't you? I mean all that goodness, and on a cell phone, and just plain NOTHING wrong with it?! Yes, there is a touch of bad news to be shared.
It's not so bad, really. It's just that... well... the game is not quite finished. The episode that the game initially comes with, Kromwell's sword, has two parts. Part One, which is where you will spend 95% of your playtime with Hero's Quest, is excellent, fun, varied, well-narrated, and generally everything that I've described thus far. Part Two, which downloads separately once you complete Part One, was reportedly excreted by one armed monkies that have been force fed rotten mangos for a really, really long time. It's just... well, it sucks. It clearly wasn't created by the same team, and the quality control was nowhere to be found at the time that this marvel went into so-called "production". Similarly, the only downloadable add-on episode as of the time of this writing, is of the same poor quality, though this one at least has the benefit of featuring some really funny bad English. If you think that the classic "all your base are belong to us" was comical, you'll just loooove this stuff! Of course, the fact that I was able to clear this "add-on" with a Fighter within a half-hour without ever hiring a single unit wasn't so funny.
The Good News The good news, of course, is that this not so fatal flaw can be easily fixed by removing and ritually decompiling the shameful episodes and replacing them with proper scenarios developed by the original team. Despite the (hopefully temporary) lack of a satisfying ending, Hero's Quest remains an excellent, excellent game, arguably one of the best RPG offerings on the cell phone platform to date, and a darn good reason not to switch to the express train/bus/horse during your morning commute.
...
Vaga
Summary: A fun, engaging, yet not overcomplicated game that manages to take the best elements of the RPG genre and successfully adapt them to the mobile platform. Hero's Quest is nicely balanced in all aspects, never forgetting exactly what it means to be played on a cell phone. Good writing and nice touches of subtle humor finish the job.
Already played it? Trade it for another game at
Systems: Cell phone; played on an LG VX6000
Genre: Turn-based RPG (apparently known as "Strategy" at Verizon's Get It Now :))
Setting: Fantasy world with swords, bows, dwarves, elves and mages. Aptly amended, of course, by wherever you happen to take your cell phone.
Mood: Explorative, story-driven.
Story: Surprisingly well flushed out for a platform where one's patience for reading text is usually rather limited.
Graphics: Professional, pleasant, not overly busy. Nothing stunning here, but clean.
Music/Sound: I still don't dare turn it on in my cell phone. I am sure it was stunning, though.
Voice Acting: The voice actors took a well deserved vacation on this one.
Script/Dialog: Well-done - concise, yet respectful to good storytelling; subtly humorous.
Similar Games: It will remind you of the original Zelda, Heros of Might and Magic, and your favorite old RPG.
Gameplay: Turn-based combat and exploration, your faithful army breathing heavy at your side.
Strengths: Fun core gameplay; a carefully chosen selection of great RPG elements; good writing.
Weaknesses: Whoever wrote part 2 of the Kromwell's Sword scenario should be lynched.
Depth: Don't worry, it won't drown you in storytelling; bring your bathing suit all the same, though.
Length: Pretty long for a cell phone game; 10-12 hours should get you through your first pass.
Pace: Medium to fast. You'll mince them baddies into chopped meat in no time.
Difficulty: Easy
Control: Good
Learning Curve: Short
Replayability: High. You can play as a Fighter or a Mage, which result in considerably different gameplay tactics. The capability for downloadable new scenarios is great, though the current selection leaves, ahem, something to be desired.
Will keep you up until (a.k.a Fun
Factor): Until it's time to get out of the train and get into work.
Notable Features: The fact that it's a cell phone game that doesn't suck sort of comes to mind.
Fav. Character: The Salamander ranged unit. You gotta love them firebreathers!
Instant Classic: Hard to say given the relatively short and dubious history of the platform (I don't think we have yet understood what it means for a cell phone game to be a classic); still, it's a very good game.
Publisher: Reaxion
Developer: G5 Software
Release Date: 2004-10-26
Players: 1
Multiplayer: No
ESRB: Gee, can you hear the regulators calling already?
Target Audience: RPG gamers who grew up to enjoy lives so busy that commute time is their best chance to get some gaming done.
Recommended For: If you like to role-play on the can or off, this game is for you :)
Not Recommended for: If you still refuse to call anything on a cell phone a proper game, give it some more time before you try Hero's Quest because it's actually worth draining your battery for.
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