Mystic Heroes

"Chinese folklore? AWESOME! Magic and fighting? Even better!"

The first thing that comes to mind when I mention "Chinese" and "games" is probably Dynasty Warriors right? Well Koei decided to try and emulate the success of the franchise onto the Gamecube with a similar yet different game entitled Mystic Heroes. While the mechanics remain relatively the same, there are some differences that might make you pick up this game. Is Mystic Heroes the best hack 'n slash the Cube has to offer? It could very well be...

Story: 6
Amazing! A hack 'n slash game with a story! Yes, although this game focuses much on the fighting and ripping enemies to shreds, there is a story alongside it to boot. While it's not as deep as all of the Dynasty Warriors individuals' tales, there is some effort put into this story. I have to admit though, the way this game was presented made me think it was the sequel to a previously made game already, as it takes place AFTER all the characters have met, and AFTER a whole bunch of significant crap has happened. There's no plot-twists here: just a direct and straightforward story being told through various battles.

Gameplay: 8
As mentioned earlier, Mystic Heroes follows the Dynasty Warrior's formula of smacking enemies around by majority of one button and unleashing a fiery wrath with another. While that may be the same as it's more-popular father, there is one thing that distinguishes this and makes the game fun and unique: the magic system.

-Magic System
Basically it takes four elements (Wind, Ice, Fire, Thunder) and lets you use them to your disposal, giving you magic techniques that have a variety of different uses. Of course, these take up your Magic Meter (picture the Musou Bar of Dynasty), but you can fill it up again by striking enemies with your weapon, or simply by charging it up.

While the basic concept of the magic system is very simple, there are four varieties of magic you can use: Direct, Target, Jump, and Sword. Direct spells are magic that hits enemies to the front of you, Target puts you into first person and highlights enemies to strike them with magic, Jump is a magic attack you perform in the air damaging those below you, while Sword enables you to wrap your weapon in magic and strike enemies. Four different magic attacks, and yet so simple to implement it makes the gameplay fun.

There are, of course, different types of spells for each type of magic attack, which adds to the fun of damaging your enemies. The catch is that in order to use specific spells, a Rune is needed to be equipped. These Runes can be found anywhere along the battlefield and can be earned in other ways as well. Another catch to this is that each Rune is majority one element, so it's almost impossible to mix and match elements. The final catch here is that you can only have one type of magic attack, meaning you can't equip two Target spells and be forced to choose one. Overall, this does add a tiny, TINY bit of strategy to the game, as different spells have different methods of attacking enemies or have different speeds.

But of course, how can these be implemented into the combat? Well actually, pretty creatively of course. Usually a Direct Spell would force the player to do the animation to gain energy and then unleash it, and same with a Sword spell where there is a single strike with it, but this is where combos come in. With pressing the Direct Spell and Sword Spell button in sequences along with the normal attack, you can unleash a devastating combination where a Direct Spell can just be unleashed very, very quickly, and a Sword Spell can let you hit multiple times with a powered-up weapon. There are of course, limited combos to this, but in certain situations some combos might be of better use than others. The magic system in this game is it's saving grace.

-Modes
There are simply three different modes to choose from in this game: Story, Survival, and Multiplayer. Each are actually quite interesting to choose from and can take up quite some time.

Story Mode:
In story mode you pick one of four characters and progress along the story, beating enemies along the way. You basically participate in battles, and then move on to the next one with each battle being separated by a Save and Prep Screen. There are three modes to choose from : Easy, Normal, and Hard. While the jump from Easy to Normal isn't so bad, from Normal to Hard is a BIG leap, forcing you to level up your character awhile, then starting a new file and playing the earlier levels again and again. Oh, which reminds me: the game saves your stats from earlier playthroughs and transfers them onto the next game you start of the same character and same mode. So say I chose the coverboy Shiga in Normal mode and finished it: as soon as I started another Normal Story with Shiga he would have the same stats as when I finished it earlier. NICE.

In Story mode you sometimes have computer allies with you (who do relatively no damage) and you sometimes go solo. When allies are damaged enough, you can help them go back to the beginning of the level in order for them to heal and return to battle. That's a nice little touch. But in the end, it'll be basically be you against 100, and that's not so bad...if the A.I. didn't suck. What Dynasty Warriors was victim to, so is Mystic Heroes. Enemies aren't smart and just have damage and health increases in later levels.

In terms of leveling up you don't really level up by fighting enemies, but specifically defeating them and hoping they hold and item that levels you up. Basically, you level up by pick-up items and that's that.

Survival:
This is a test of...well...survival. It's not how long you can last against waves and waves of enemies, it's how far you can make it in a series of battles where it's only you and no one else. Your character starts at level one, but you can use all of the Runes you've collected in your journey. You can't just stay in one place in Survival Mode: you have to reach the end and in one piece. It sounds easy until you start seeing enemies warp in all around you...then you start to panic. Overall a good change of pace from the normal Story mode, but I admit that the difficulty here is insane.

Survival offers three modes: Easy, Normal and Hard. While Easy might seem like a walk in the park, Normal is where things start to get difficult. I can't really explain what exactly makes it difficult besides the fact that your character is unleveled and that there are just more and more enemies for you to take down with harder and harder level designs and larger and larger damage output and health.

But to add to all of this, once you beat all three, you can do them all over again with increased difficulty! Survival is CERTAINLY a way for you to get frustrated or angry, and if dedicated to it, will take up MUCH of your time.

Multiplayer:
Here is where the game shines in my eyes. While there is of course Deathmatch Modes, the mode that shines here is the Co-op mode.

Basically the human players you have with you will be going along five missions, fighting alongside each other against vast armies of Chinese-influenced enemies in split-screen. The best part? It supports four-players. While that doesn't sound too fun, it turns out to be a blast that you will come back to more and more. Although you play the same five levels over and over, you realize that there is a level of competition there also, as Kills and Remaining Health are added to a player's score. When the magic starts flying and the four of you are fighting for your lives in a bitter corner, things start to get pretty fun.

Graphics: 7
This was a very torn-up decision for me. On the bad side, the characters are incredibly jaggy and so are the landscapes. Everything looks pointy, including the rays of light when you're in a cave. The character models clip like no tomorrow, and everything just looks very sharp.

The good thing? Of course, the magic attacks. It just seems that magic is the only saving grace of this game. As you unleash a fury of lightning and ice spells, you'll come to realize that each spell looks gorgeous. Each individual magic attack looks powerful and strong, and will deal damage. The magic attacks are purely beautiful, and there's nothing much more I can say.

The game also gets points for creativity with clothing styles and colors. Remember, graphics aren't only about how smooth things look but also how creative something is. While Mystic Heroes' character models aren't the best (except for the few FMV sequences), you have to give it credit when there isn't any slowdown during multiplayer modes. That's always a plus.

Sound: 4
The voice acting in this game is HORRIBLE. Each characters has little simple phrases that they blurt out mid-battle and can be felt as more of an annoyance rather than just a little sound clip. The voice actors are also pretty below par, with voices that just don't fit, to uninspired actors that seem to just be reading off of their script and a feeble attempt to put emotion into them.

In terms of music there's a couple memorable ones there, but they get pretty annoying. The music isn't really Chinese influenced per say, but they are definitely more cultural than the heavy metal presented in the Dynasty games. These songs also sometimes seem like an annoyance, as they loop endlessly with no breaks, and when you're not leveled up you'll be spending a LONG time during some levels.

Judgement: 7
The reason the game gets a 7 is because there is an enormous tilt there from playing this game so many times. While on the outside it seems like a generic hack 'n slash, the Multiplayer and Story mode gives it a long-lasting appeal. The difficulty in this game is enough to make you want to throw your controller across the room, but for some reason come back to it in a month or so to see if you've grown in skill. Needless to say that this is one of the few hack 'n slashers you will see for the Cube. There are few that support up to four players and at the same time don't require any extra appliances (here's looking at your Crystal Chronicles).

But while the game does get points for lastability, the game on a whole is decent. The music isn't great, neither are the graphics except for the spells, and of course, it's a hack 'n slash, you'll be doing the same thing for awhile. But if you can see through these points and spend some time with it, you might find that this game can suit your rampaging desires for awhile.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/07