Heroes of the Lance

"Sundays are worth 2 in my book."

''No matter how many times I blink, it just won't go away!'' That's the first thought that went through my head when I, Vegita (the guy who wrote the review you're reading), stumbled headlong through my pile of Sega Master System games and came up with Heroes of the Lance. I'm very familiar with the game - oft considered the epitome of ''Horrible Nintendo games'', I was thoroughly surprised to not only discover that this game existed for the Master System, but that I actually OWNED it. Lemme tell ya, folks, sometimes being a collector can bring forth a strange situation or two. After all, how often is it that you come across a game that you didn't - no, COULDN'T believe existed, and that it somehow wound up in your possession?

To make sure my sanity was still (marginally) intact, I immediately perused online to see if the game really did exist. ''Maybe I'm going crazy...maybe I need more sleep...maybe it's all this cheap wine I've been drinking...'' Not only did I discover that yes, this game DOES exist, but apparently others have heard of it as well. My delusions are either extremely vivid in detail or the game exists. Regardless, I'm writing about it now, in an attempt to sort my thoughts and hopefully express my opinions (in a somewhat-rational manner).

The game ''Heroes of the Lance'' is based off of the immensely successful series of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonlance'' books. More specifically, this game revolves around 8 main heroes from the AD&D world: Goldmoon, Sturm Brightblade, Caramon, Raistlin, Tanis, Tasslehoff, Riverwind, and Flint. Each have their own special traits and abilities, setting them apart from one another in personality and ability alike. These 8 characters have taken upon themselves the quest of finding the lost Disks of Mishakal. In order to find these disks, our group of 8 enters...well, a Dungeon, which might just contain a Dragon or two (get it? Dungeons and Dragons? Awww, nobody cares...).

Throughout the dungeon are various trials and tribulations that our Party has to overcome; monsters, pits, traps, and the like, all serving to deal our group with a quick and painful demise. This is where your individual characters' abilities come into play - in order to succeed in your mission, you'll require the usage of each player to counteract the situations as they arise. You'll need decent fighters, which most all can handle themselves as. There are points where magic comes into play; you have magicians with powerful spells. If you are hurt, you have a healer whom can revive you back to fighting levels. There are items plentiful throughout the dungeon, as well as monsters who wish to stop you.

Well, that's the run-down, so here's the low-down!

Gameplay:

...why was I talking as if this were some sort of entertaining game? The reason Heroes of the Lance is badmouthed so much lies in the games' absolutely STUPID gameplay. You move 8 people, yet only 1 person is in your control at any given time. This means that you only see 1 person on screen, and thus that person deals with everything you come across until you switch characters. This in itself would be tolerable enough, save the fact that everyone moves SO FREAKING SLOW. You are a group of world-renowned heroes, yet you all move as if you've been stabbed in the leg. This is frustrating enough, making the game seem to drag on and on. What's worse is that there are encounters around every turn, which is even MORE frustrating - it's VERY difficult to tell if you're even hitting your opponent, let alone if any significant damage is being done. If the character in the front falls, then the next person is automatically thrust into the lead - thus, if you're battling a particularly nasty enemy (or several at the same time), you could very well lose 3-4 people and not even realize it.

Now, let's add onto these wonderful points the sluggish controls. Your characters already walk as if they're struggling through molasses, but what about when you want to get into a battle? Well, this is where even MORE fun comes into play - you have to hold towards your opponent and jam on Button 1, desperately hoping that your character will attack. Here is where that oh-so-wonderful hit detection comes in handy...yet the game fails to deliver. You're left with slow characters whom you have trouble controlling versus hoards of villains whom have no problems moving, attacking, or beating the utter **** out of you.

So you move slow, you can't survive battles very easily, and the general feel and flow of the game is atrocious. What else could go wrong?

Graphics:

To be honest, this is where the game DIDN'T go wrong. While you could have expected a simple port of the NES version, the SMS actually improved upon the graphics, adding more detail and color to every character and animation in the game. This makes the visuals quite pleasing by comparison. Taken strictly as a Master System game, though, the graphics are even BETTER than above average. Honestly, the level of graphical accomplishment - when compared to more ''popular'' titles like Phantasy Star - is very impressive indeed. Although this WAS released at the tail end of the Master System's career, it is still an extremely nice job for an 8-bit console.

Sound:

Ah, we hit another low point. The music is fairly low-key, but seems bland at the same time. It's writing is rather sparse and doesn't seem to accentuate your location or the action therein at all; what's worse is that I don't believe there is ANY change in the music at all. Therefore, you're stuck with bland music that serves only to irritate after a while. Oh well, at least it's not Back to the Future (NES)...

The sound effects also seem dullish in nature. You hear muffled hit sounds for when an enemy (or yourself) is struck with a weapon, and...well, I think that's about it in terms of sounds. I realize that the Master System's games are usually woefully underdeveloped towards music and sound, but this seems to be even LESS than par. That's just plain sad, especially when you realize this is supposed to be an upgrade to a previous version!

Overall:

You have a game that, while visually decent, lacks any truly definitive detail, and has some of the most broken, despondent gameplay ever. The sound doesn't aid any, and there isn't any plot to keep you enthralled. Note to self - stop drinking cheap wine, and DEFINITELY stop playing this game. For all the alcohol I could imbibe, I'm afraid this game is infinitely more harmful to my health. I don't know if this is the WORST game ever, but I can definitely say it is ONE of the worst games ever, even after being upgraded.

---Final Score: 3/10---

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/02, Updated 06/02/02