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The NES can claim hosting some of the very best games of all time, as well as some of the worst, and then many shades of
grey in-between. Of all the hundreds of games that were released for the
NES, there was none other quite like the oddity that is Heroes of the
Lance. It is largely regarded as one of the worst games of all time,
making both Seanbaby's and Nintendo Power magazine's Top 10. Based on a PC
game of the same name (which I've never played), you take on the role of
eight heroes from the DragonLance books (which I've never read), as they
attempt to recover the Disks of Mishakal from the ruined city of Xak
Tsaroth. I had owned this game for many years, and could never finish it.
Now that I have managed to finally complete it, it's time for a
review.
GRAPHICS:
3.5/10While
they aren't spectacular, I did not think that the graphics of Heroes of
the Lance were quite as bad as they're often said to be. The main problem
is that the whole entire game is done in one big ugly black and grey
motif, with some specks of chartreuse thrown in. However, even with this
limitation, there is a good level of detail. Each room of the dungeon
looks different and has different background objects, such as huge doors,
paintings, statues, shrine columns, bookcases, etc. Many of the buildings
and objects look destroyed or ruined. Since the city you are exploring is
supposed to be destroyed and abandoned, I thought that the look of the
graphics portrayed the dismal feeling of Xak Tsaroth very well...maybe a little too well. At the end
of the game, you end up in a series of sewer tunnels that really made me
feel claustrophobic.
The enemies look okay. It's easy to tell what
everything is. You fight things like trolls, gargoyles, dragons, and
ghosts. Your hero characters aren't drawn very well, but at least they all
look different from each other. It's not just a bunch of palette-swapped
characters. The character portraits that are shown before the game starts
are very nice, and this may have been one of the first games to use face
portraits, the way later RPGs, like Destiny of an Emperor and the Final
Fantasy series, would. There is a huge difference between saying a game's graphics are "good" and saying "they aren't as bad as I've heard". With it's limited use of color and small characters and objects, HotL's graphics are far from being good. But, sadly, I have seen worse.
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SOUND:
5/10I honestly think that the music of Heroes of
the Lance is a bit underrated. I liked the opening title theme, and
several of the themes from the later areas of the game were pretty good,
too. The songs are very dark and moody, which adds to the lonely
atmosphere of the game. However, the music can become really annoying after awhile. This is especially true in the first area, since you're going to be there for a long time, trying to learn the game.
There aren't that many sound effects in the game, either. When you
beat an enemy, it makes an explosion, and most enemies have footsteps.
Most spells make the same exact sound. That's about all you hear as far as
normal sound effects go. None of them are really bad or annoying. Heroes
of the Lance also uses voices, but they sound really goofy. The female
character has the same voice as all the males! The heroes make an "ooh"
noise when they get hit that sounds very similar to the characters in the
NES game, Gauntlet. When the enemies take a hit, they make a "wah" sound
that reminds me of Pantyhose in the Super NES Ranma 1/2 fighting game when
he gets knocked over. These voices are silly and add to the cheesiness of
the game, and it can be funny just listening to them.
CONTROL:
3/10One of HotL's biggest crimes is its bad play
control. The characters move very slowly, even when running. By pressing
left and right, your character walks left or right, and if the button is
held down long enough, he/she will begin running. Most of the characters
will need to be running in order to make a leap over an enemy or pit, but
they are sometimes unresponsive and don't jump exactly when you press the
A button. However, it is possible to learn to think ahead of time, and compensate for it.
The
combat system is the biggest flaw in the control problems. It is very,
very limited in what you can do in actual hand-to-hand combat. You
basically have to walk up to an enemy, then hold down the B button and the
control pad in the direction you're facing in order to attack. As you're
swinging your weapon, your enemy will attack you, too, but there's no real
way to dodge it or defend yourself. Sometimes, you'll also have to hold Up
to attacking floating enemies, or Down to attack short enemies. This is
very awkwardly done, and the characters are often unresponsive. The
slow movement combined with the delayed response time can make this game
very frustrating. But it's not entirely unplayable. If given a chance, it can be overcome, and there are ways to avoid combat, altogether. Manipulating the menu screen where all your items and
spells are located can be a bit tricky, too.
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STORY/ATMOSPHERE:
3/10I have to give Heroes of the Lance credit for
having one of the most well-written manuals I've ever seen. It's apparent
from reading the manual that the creators of this game probably thought
they were making a good game. It actually seems like more effort went into
the manual than the actual game. The manual details the game's plot,
explaining why the 8 heroes have come to the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth to
find the Disks of Mishakal. It also gives very long and detailed
descriptions of each character. But the game, itself, is lacking in any
kind of plot. There is a short intro that says, "Prepare to enter Xak
Tsaroth", and then there's no more dialogue until you end the game. There
are two endings, one for when you die or end the game without getting the
Disks of Mishakal, and the other is for completing the game with the
Disks.
It's not unusual for NES games to leave all the story in the
manual, so I can't knock it too much for that, but the main problem is
that the story is incomplete. You have the disks...so what is going to
happen now? FCI had planned to continue the story in a sequel called
"Dragons of Flame", which was never actually made. But if you're really
looking for story, you're better off reading a DragonLance book then
playing this game.
CHALLENGE:
2.5/10There are two very different extremes that
I've seen regarding this game's challenge. Many gamers who have played
HotL seem to find it too difficult and frustrating to complete. But on the
other hand, Nintendo Power magazine claimed it could be beaten in less
than five minutes. Well, having beaten HotL, I can safely say that I think
both sides are a bit of an exaggeration.
Since the combat system is so
poor, if you tried fighting every enemy that you see, you would most
likely never get to the end. Even if you did, most of your characters
would probably be dead. That's where your magic spells come into play.
There are certain spells that will allow you to get past most enemies with
ease, and since you do not increase levels in this game, there is no real
need to fight anything. However, this is like a double-edged sword.
Although it makes completing the game less than impossible, it also
removes almost all of the challenge. Once you know what to do, it's all
just a matter of finding your way through the maze, (and figuring out how
to jump the pits in a certain room.) The game can be beaten in about 10-15
minutes if you know it really well, but I don't know if it's possible to
do it in under 5 because of how slow the characters move. If you know what
to do against the final boss, it is certainly one of the easiest final
bosses in history. However, figuring out how to do it without the manual
may be very tough.
FUN:
3/10Heroes of the Lance is, by all means, bad. It
gives all new meaning to being "too short". The control is poor. The
combat system is horrible. Most spells are useless, and the ones that
aren't take away any challenge the game may have had. The final boss is
lame. The story is incomplete. The game, itself, feels unfinished. For
example, there are many doors that have both a North and South exit, or an
East and West exit, but both exits will take you to the exact same room.
Was it possible that the programmers planned for this game to have more
rooms than it actually does? You have eight characters with varying stats,
and different, though limited, abilites, but the game is not really
designed to take advantage of most of their special traits. Most of the
items you can find in the maze are useless. There are very few unique
puzzles. Most of the game is just walking and running through the
different rooms of the maze.
However, despite all of this, I didn't hate
this game as much as most people do. It is so odd, so unusual, and has
such a unique atmosphere, that it's almost worth playing just to see how
weird it is. There's nothing else quite like it, and probably for good
reason, since it isn't all that good, in the least. But somehow, I was
glad I finished it. There was, somehow, more significance to beating
Heroes of the Lance then there was to beating, oh, say, the latest Disney
title (TaleSpin). And even though it made Nintendo Power magazine's Top 10
Worst Games of All Time list, I can easily think of 10 games I've played
that are much worse. Of course, just because there are games that are
worse, that doesn't really excuse all the bad things about it. HotL also
has very little replay value. When I first beat it, I had two dead
characters in my party. I wanted to beat it again with all characters
intact, and I managed to do that easily with no problems at
all.
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Heroes of the Lance
is certainly one of those oddities of the video gaming world. It is by no
means a "classic". On sites that cover many RPG/Adventure games, it is often left unmentioned. I really cannot recommend
this game to most gamers. If you're into collecting NES games, I might
suggest picking it up, if you find it very cheap. It may be worth playing
just to experience it for how bizarre it is, but just don't spend too much
on it.
OVERALL
SCORE (not an average): 3/10
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