3D Dot Game Heroes is a near-perfect mix of the best of the old and the new.
Developed by people who understand what made those classics tick, 3D Dot Games Heroes is both an homage to its predecessors and a journey down the road not taken when Miyamoto and crew explored three-dimensional territory with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That title did many things well and earned itself a gold star in the gaming annals, but it made some changes that moved its franchise away from some of its core values and started it down what I would call "the wrong road." The move into the third dimension definitely could have gone a lot of differently than it did. What I like about 3D Dot Game Heroes is that it fearlessly explores one of those other directions. What I adore about the game is that it actually makes that revised direction work!
Mostly, the new effort works because it doesn't forget the best of the old ideas. From The Legend of Zelda for NES, the developers at From Software took the haunting dungeons. The temples that you'll explore consist of many rooms linked together one screen at a time. The perspective shifts up, down, left or right and monsters pop into sight as you pass through each new doorway. You push blocks to access stairs and treasure, use candles to see when the rooms are too dark and dodge projectile-firing statues at the centre of some rooms or rush out of the way of sliding floor traps. It feels very 8-bit.
From The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo, though, the developers took enough additional points of dungeon design that the simple approach I discussed above doesn't feel archaic. There are multiple floors in many of the dungeons, for instance. You can reach lower floors by falling through weakened tiles or by descending staircases. Sometimes you'll have to flip switches on one floor to clear the path to an opening in the room above you. Only a Boss Key will grant you access to the guardian of a given temple. It's possible to clear an area without snagging every last treasure, too, though it's not recommended.
The game's entire design exhibits that curiously effective mix of restraint and creativity. You'll have a great time the whole way through, which makes it easier to appreciate the nods to classic games. A brutish monster who looks a lot like a Moblin implores you not to pass around what he's just told you because "It's a secret to everybody." You'll hear a reference to Superb Joe, who surely is related to the adventures 8-bit gamers cherished in Bionic Commando, and another one to Mega Man 2. Upon leaving the first temple, the game pauses for a Final Fantasy-esque tale of heroes, plus there are more Dragon Quest references (from most of the series, mind you, not just the first one) than one might care to shake a stick at. The references feel fantastic for someone like me who has played through and loved so many of those titles. Even if the dialogue and load screen images don't make you smile, though, there's a lot to love because the game is put together so skilfully.
As I played, the one thought I had most often was that 3D Dot Game heroes feels like Zelda with the bad parts removed. Gone are those unfortunate days where the over world was just a collection of dungeons bordering the central level hub that was Hyrule Field. In place of a featureless, grassy expanse or a practically lifeless ocean, you'll see a world with towering cliffs, boulders falling down mountain ledges, a graveyard possessed by ghouls, bridges leading over wide rivers and shifting desert sands. Without a map, you'd surely get lost in one of the most enchanting adventure game over worlds since the one featured in A Link to the Past, so the game provides a detailed map overlay on-screen and then challenges you to explore every nook and cranny in search of Life Shards, Small Blocks and hidden caves populated by memorable merchants or secret dungeons. The land of Dotnia is one that's worth savouring.
As you explore that world and seek out its furthest reaches, you'll surely be delighted by the weaponry that's available to make your trek go more smoothly. Of course there are a few swords that you can't help but use, but those are joined by secret ones that are only collected once you complete side quests. Each new blade can be upgraded to your liking. Want a powerful spear that stretches across the screen? You'll need to bring the Dog Food to a grumbling enemy near the top of a fiery volcano, then pay the blacksmith in Raejack Village to get to work with his hammer and anvil. Interested in a Bestiary that allows you to record precious data about the many monsters you encounter? You'll need to bring a ring to a girl in Ortego Village, one of several such outposts spread throughout an otherwise hostile world. If you're after every available Trophy, you'll be busy for a long, long while.
Dungeon crawling isn't the only way to pass the time in Dotnia, either. Some of the mini-games that you'll encounter are engaging pursuits all by themselves. The Block Defence game (think 'tower' instead of 'block') is fiendishly addictive, for instance. You can spend hours placing your defensive weaponry as you block enemy processions. There's also a Breakout clone, if you know where to look, or you can seek out some extremely challenging footraces. Even though the prizes for winning those mini-games aren't particularly significant, I spent hours going back to them.
Character customization also warrants a mention. You can choose from a slew of different characters at the start of the game--and then again each time you load a save file--or you can create one of your own using a robust editor that allows a person to build a hero one three-dimensional pixel at a time. I usually fail when it comes time to play around with such things, but I built a princess character and had her running around like a champion within a few short minutes. Others have recreated familiar characters from other epics and have brought them to life in Dotnia. The possibilities are nearly limitless.
No game is perfect, though. I racked my brain for a long while and I've finally settled on a few things that I figure may qualify as flaws. The first such flaw is the occasional linearity. You can't pull some of the crazy stuff that worked in the first Zelda game. There's no way to reach the end of the game with no sword, for instance, or to clear the seventh dungeon ahead of the first one. Another potential flaw is the lack of difficulty throughout most of the adventure. I addressed that quite successfully by refusing to utilize any potions until the very final battle. The game definitely gave me some trouble along the way when I adopted that policy. As for other potential flaws, I guess maybe some folks won't like the pixelated visuals. I can understand where they're coming from, but I adored the retro look. I expect that a lot of other people who were old enough to play the classics back in the day will feel the same rush of nostalgia that I did.
In the end, the complaints that I'd level against the game really only amount to so much nitpicking. For me, they're easily outweighed by a soundtrack so perfect that it ought to sport a halo. However you slice it, 3D Dot Game Heroes is an effective and frequently exemplary look at the golden age of gaming that has all of the polish it needs to stand proud among tomorrow's classics. I'll stop reviewing now, lest I get carried away.
I suppose it's already too late.