So admittedly, I was completely unawares that this game was even in existence until yesterday. But here it is, Glory of Heracles is an upcoming Nintendo DS title that just oozes with potential I haven’t seen in a NDS game for a good while. It has a style strongly reminiscent of an old GBA friend – Golden Sun, with its sharp pre-rendered looking set pieces and over the shoulder battle perspectives. Judging from the look of the game’s screens, I can just as well bid the developers at Camelot Software to take their sweet time with the actual Golden Sun sequel announced at last summer’s E3. It is set to release on the 19th of this month. It’s being pretty aggressively marketed on gaming websites (1up and Kotaku) and I just saw a full page spread in this month’s Game Informer which I was thumbing through yesterday. Since I was running into it everywhere I turned, I gave it a little peaky peak online. See for yourself in the photos past the break.
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What impresses me more than the great screenshots, are the concepts behind the game’s battle systems. From what I’ve gathered about the game so far (obviously I haven’t played it myself), there are some slight twists added to the traditional RPG battle conventions. Using a stylus, one can enhance the effectiveness of attacks by taping the multiple points on screen in precise succession or make movements on screen to score mega-awesome damage. This type of active battle participation was implemented in previous DS titles such as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood which was thoroughly enjoyable as an active combat RPG. But what Dark Brotherhood lacked was a coherent story and a vibrant, interactive overworld (walking around outside of battle was like walking your characters on a flat painting). GOH also introduces something similar to what is being done in the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. It encourages a sort of “overkill” tactic where damage dealt to enemies over their HP limit will return back to the respective character as Magic Points.
These types of active battle strategies are excellent for keeping the player engaged in the action while promoting mastery of attacks. For efficiency, each character has their own active timer and you are given the choice of arranging character’s actions ahead of time so that the onslaught of destruction can be coordinated in a swift succession of reigning doom (If prepared correctly of course!). So I hope this game brings a serious challenge, an area where the original Golden Sun fell flat. There is no greater shame than a deep, nuanced battle system wasted on a game that’s a total pushover in difficulty. Why employ complex tactics when you can just push “a” for the win?
Kotaku has some good footage of the game in action.
The recent DS game release schedule has been a bit dry as of late with Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story being my only DS purchase in the past 6 months. So this is an invigorating dose of RPG for Nintendo’s handheld. And as a person who has been toying with the idea of selling off his DSi, I can’t help but find myself in a pickle here. Perhaps I’ll hang on to it a bit longer. Consider my interest peaked!
______________________________the gun control
* GOH is not a stand alone game. It has been a hit series in Japan since the 8-bit era.
** The game’s official site: gloryofheracles.com
