Dungeons & Dragons Heroes

"Like Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance? Then this is a must have."

Dungeons & Dragons Heroes is a 4 player hack and slash for Xbox only. You are trying to defeat the evil wizard Kaiden that has been brought back from the dead by a group of clerics trying to use him for their own power. well their plan didn't work out and now you and maybe a couple of your friends have to deal with him. Now you must fight through tons of kick ass looking monsters to get to him. Plus many bosses.

Graphics-8
well the graphics are very beautiful. The spell effects are gorgeous, environments are smooth, and the monsters look amazing. Very comparable to Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance. Though the only thing that does not look quite as great is the character models. They are a little blocky looking, but still looks very good, just not perfect. Everything you do (spell casting, potion drinking, attacking, opening doors) has a very nice animation to it, which makes the game interact and look great. The monsters also have nice animations when they attack. The monsters attacks flow nicely and it looks like you are really fighting them, not just swinging at thin air.

Sound-7
The music is lacking for the most part. Usually it is quiet, all your really hearing is the clanking of metal and steel, the nice sounds of spells being cast and arrows and throwing items being tossed around. So the actual sound effects are very nice and you get a good feel your fighting the monsters. The music though is very quiet and not very intense, I think custom soundtracks would of been nice, but they are not available unfortunately.

Story-7
well you have been summoned back to defeat the evil wizard Kaiden. He was dead but a band of clerics decided it was a good idea to try and bring him back from the dead to control him and use him for their own powers. Well of course this did not go as planned. They couldn't control him and he killed them. Now you must find the 5 gems to open the worlds to find him and defeat him. The story is good, but nothing special.

Gameplay-10
This is where the game really shines. Lots of monsters to fight, weapon and armor to find, lots of character development. It is just FUN developing your character in any way you want. The ancestral weapon system is also very nice. It is 4 players which makes great for you and all of your friends. It is very fast paced and combos are unlimited so you go through slashing everything in sight continuously. You gain experience and level up molding your character to however you want. Make him/her an unstoppable killing machine. VERY VERY FUN

Replay value-10
The replay value is HUGE, there are 4 characters, 4 difficulty settings and almost infinite ways to create your character. You could play through the game with just 1 character type 4 times and still be making a different type of that character every time. There is just so many ways to develop your character, it kicks ass. The 4 difficulty setting open up new challenges for your killing machines, especially the hardest setting. So your characters will keep being put in tough situation they have to slash through or cast through. So it is possible to play through this game in an almost unlimited number of ways and it will keep you wanting more even then. Many different ways of disposing of your enemies and harder difficulty's makes it challenging.

Overall-9
So if your looking for a fun dungeon crawler/hack n' slash to fight through with a couple of friend, this is definitely it. I LOVE this game and think it is right on par with Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance. I would recommend a buy, it is worth the $50, though if your not a big fan of hack n' slash games, rent it first and decide for yourself if you want it in your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/03