Hands On: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Joefeesh has had the opportunity to have a sneaky little looky at an upcoming release on the Playstation 3, called 3D Dot Heroes. Are you excited by the very mention of this game? If not, then you probably haven’t seen the screenshots below yet.
The first thing you’ll notice when you look at the game is the awesome visual style. This is a game that knows what it is and isn’t ashamed of it. It’s a game based on the concepts and structures of other retro games with the added shininess of the powerful, new game generation. Game.
Borrowing heavily from (or ‘inspired by’) games such as Zelda, we are introduced to a world where pixels have become 3D blocks. The pixel block artwork is not only there for nostalgia, it helps define the game. As the industry and consumers push for more realistic graphics, it’s nice to see that pixels, a fundamental art style unique to game art, is being appreciated.
Along with the retro heaven graphics is gameplay mechanic that feels akin to playing Zelda with a 20ft long sword. Yes, you read me right. The upgradeable sword can be extended to massive proportions in a way that provokes a constant stream of penis jokes. You can thrust with a button press or swing your sword by spinning the analogue stick while the sword is extended, hitting a whole screen full of (mentally scarred) enemies. The extendable sword mechanic plays a heavy part in combat.
There are also other weapons to be collected on the adventure, but these weren’t available to see this time so I won’t talk about them here. There has been some artwork with characters carrying a bow and a lance as well as a video of a boomerang being used. Clearly it isn’t hard to see the Zelda influence.
One of the things that got me very excited, was the ability to create custom characters. By this, I don’t mean spending a pound to put a helmet on a generic looking avatar. You are given the ability to build a 3D character from scratch using pixel blocks. Not only that, but you can also animate this character by altering the design into different ‘poses’ such as; standing still, walking (2 stage), attacking (2 types), and a victory pose. I was shown a cool shark character, only the fin is visible when it’s moving, but when it attacks, the head appears out of the water to ravage its prey.
Could you make a better character. I can't wait to try!
The possibilities for character customization are massive. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be the kind of guy that loves creating Mii characters on the Wii, spending ages getting it to look just right. This customization is very much in the same vein, so expect to spend as much time making characters on 3D Dot Heroes as you will playing through the actual adventure.
An added feature is that these character designs can be shared by copying them onto a solid state memory stick and uploading them to your Personal Computer or Apple Macintosh.
You’d be forgiven for taking one look at the style and assuming it was a downloadable title. But I’ve been told that there’s around 20hrs of gameplay, justifying the disc release. Also, although the look is very retro, there is actually a lot going on. Pixel physics make particles fly around the screen with a realistic bounce and there’s some great lighting effects including blooming lamps and glistening rivers. Personally, I think it looks beautiful.
I’ve got myself all excited about playing 3D Dot Heroes now. I just hope it sells!
Cannot wait to play this game..it looks utterly unique and cool.