Shoulda, woulda, coulda...
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a perfect example of a game that would have benefited immensely from a couple more months in development. The game certainly has its strong points, such as its "legendary" sense of humor, impressive graphics, and a couple of well-designed boss fights. However, there are two sides to every coin, and this one is no exception: the humor is chopped off at the knees by the lack of character interaction and the poorly-told story; the graphics cause the frame rate to zigzag all over the place, usually settling somewhere around 15-20 frames per second; and to get to the good boss fights, the player is forced to slog through several extremely frustrating and utterly broken ones.
And that is a shame, because Hercules certainly has the makings of a "godly" game. In fact, in this reviewer's opinion, a few refinements would have gone quite a long way, possibly even making the game a contender for a perfect 10.0...if only the story were a little more fleshed out through meaningful character interaction and extended plot development. If only the combat system involved more than mindlessly running circles around enemies and mashing the B button to attack. If only the decent sound effects and music did not cut out at random intervals. If only the camera controls were not designed by a drunken monkey. It is these flaws that hold this game back from its true potential, turning what should have been a masterpiece into little more than a second-rate diversion.
Make no mistake, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a game this reviewer desperately wants to like. Its charm and cheeky humor are extremely appealing, and the game's original premise was very promising. Unfortunately, the mechanics of the game fail to live up to that promise, resulting in a game that shoulda, woulda, coulda been so much better. Here's hoping that someday in the not-so-distant future, someone picks up this old title, dusts it off a bit, and resurrects it as the game it was meant to be. Until that day, however, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is best relegated to the bottom of the N64 collector's priority list.