A Disappointing Diablo Clone

User Rating: 6 | Dungeons & Dragons Heroes XBOX
I need to preface this with saying that I love D&D, and I love fighting through dungeons. Any game that lets you set the character's armor and weapons makes me happy.

I really liked D&DH when I started playing it, but it became repetitive after the first few hours. I finished it, but quickly traded it in. Read on for the reasons why...

You are one of a band of heroes raised from the dead to fight an evil warrior you defeated years before. His power is legendary, and it is believed that only you (and your friends, if you are playing multiplayer) can defeat this undead hellion. He has, of course, unleashed a pride of monsters upon the various worlds you must travel to find his lair.

Characters
The characters in this game are good, keeping in tune with traditional D&D classes. I played through as the human Warrior (I mean ''Fighter''), my hack-'n'-slash favorite. You can also choose from Rogue, Wizard, or Cleric. Other than the players, the NPCs are well animated, but their character development is pretty two-dimensional.

Bad Guys, Monsters, and [SPOILER]s, Oh My!
Ok, I won't spoil my favorite part of the game for you. Let me just say that some of the monsters that appeared brought back some great PC/earlier console memories. There's nothing better than beating a monster easily that has kicked your backside before, and there is plenty of this in this game. The monsters are well animated, and have decent sound effects. It would be nice if there was additional variation within levels (rather than just among levels), but overall there are is a wide variety to kill.

In other graphic/sound areas: The NPC voices are good, and well cast. The animations for fighting and spell casting are nice, but are not unique to D&DH.

Will This Gather Dust?
I traded it in after finishing it in one week, so it might be gathering dust at the store -- I don't know! I have absolutely no desire to play it again, because the repetitive hacking and slashing became tiresome the FIRST time through. Only about 20 hours worth of playing time, but I only played through as the Fighter (thank goodness)! There is nothing new in this game, but that may not be a bad thing, depending on your taste...

Overall Recommendation:
If you like Diablo, you'll like this.
If you liked playing earlier D&D games, you'll like this.
If you like pushing one button to attack and another, occasionally, to use a health potion, you'll like this.