The use of the voxel seems to be becoming a more popular art style for some retro-styled games these days, and I quite enjoy it. For those of you who aren’t familiar with voxels, think of them as the 3D equivalent of a pixel; if you absolutely need a game with a pixelated art style but in a 3D environment then voxels are where it’s at.
3D Dot Game Heroes is probably one of the most well known uses of voxels in recent years, and its one that seems to have become fairly popular with a certain type of gamer. The blending of utter ridiculousness with gameplay elements that borrow heavily from games like The Legend of Zelda has attracted the game some fans, and rightly so.
Of course you don’t have to take my word for it, conveniently we wrote a review of the title. It’s just something we like to do from time to time, when we’re not too busy eating biscuits. We enjoyed the game, awarding it a solid 8/10, and had this to say about it:
Fans of The Legend of Zelda that wish the series to go back to its roots will find plenty to fall in love with here – 3D Dot Game Heroes is an unashamed cribbing of classic 8-bit action role playing games, with stacks of adventure, some decent level design and a surprisingly solid sense of humour and irony. It might not be original, but it’s certainly good fun, and all credit to Southpeak for picking up the slightly esoteric title for a European release – spread the word, 3D Dot Game Heroes deserves a place in your PS3 this Spring.
Hopefully it didn’t just earn a place in your PS3 in the spring of 2010, but has continued to do so. Whether you’ve played it recently or just at its release we’d still like to hear your thoughts on the game. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the way things work, all you need to do is drop a short review of the game into the comments below. You can say whatever you like about the game, whether you loved it or hated it everything will get equal weight with us.
Once you’ve written your review all you need to add is a rating on the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It, Avoid It scale. On Sunday afternoon I’ll go through everyone’s opinions of the game, pick out a few quotes, tally up the ratings and put it all into a verdict article for you; I’m just good like that. Just remember to get your thoughts in by Sunday afternoon, otherwise you’ll be left out.
nofi
Buy It, for sure. Brilliant game.
YOURMUMANDME
Buy It!
It’s god awful hard to find on the high street but it shouldn’t be too hard to find online (In fact I’ve just eBay’d it and there are pages of results).
I must admit that like most I haven’t completed it yet but that doesn’t mean I got bored of it. To add to every positive comment that the above posters have made I loved the retro SFX, the tilt-shift ‘draw’ effect is a superb and yet so simple way of making the environment seem plain and let’s not forget this game has, without a shadow of a doubt the best character creation tool EVER!
Seriously check this out! http://designer.3ddotgameheroes.eu/
Buy this game! :D
YOURMUMANDME
Oops
“….environment seem *less plain”
KeRaSh
I really loved the art style and the idea of the game and got it on day 1. It was actually quite fun to play but after a few dungeons I had to backtrack to all the completed dungeons to progress with the story and just stopped playing.
It kind of annoyed me. This game tries to be a hommage to classics like Zelda but in the end it fails to live up to the high standards of those games. I’m actually comparing it to A Link to the Past, even though I think it’s much closer to the original Zelda game, which I also didn’t like as much as ALttP so my view of the game might be slightly tainted by that. I guess it’s the pacing of the game. It’s very open and not always clear as to what you have to do next and that’s wat put me off in the end.
My verdict: Bargain Bin *has tears running down his cheeks*
Tuffcub
Hated it. Deserves to be thrown in to the pits of hell with Zelda and Final Fantasies 1-6.
McProley
That just makes me sadface!!
Jumping Monks
This is the PS3’s answer to the Legend of Zelda, in a retro outfit. I absolutely adore this game, the soundtrack is spot on, graphically I thought it was stunning .(Incidentally, I though it would have benefited from being in 3D. Not that I have a 3D TV) The bosses, and dungeon layout just seemed right… I felt at home playing this game, like shaking hands with an old friend if you will. It isn’t just a straight copy and paste of an old Zelda game mind you, it does bring some fresh elements to the table, with the gigantic swords, and the book in which you store entries on monsters, which provide a fresh feeling to this.
If you enjoyed the Zelda games of old, you should definitely pick this up. If you’ve never played any of the old games from which this is inspired, it’s well worth a look, just to see. If you didn’t enjoy this style of game then, then this doesn’t offer enough changes to alter your perception.
My verdict: Buy it.
jbni
I loved the game but never finished it. It’s the only game that I’ve sold because I hated how South Peak handled it in Europe – atrocious. I wrote to them and posted on their forum but a virtual tumbleweed went by. I’ve still to buy the Atlus version though but will some time.
It’s retro bliss, so buy it (the US version though).
Kennykazey
This is one of the games I’m planning on buying this year, just need to find it at the right price.
elpablo79
Charm is the key word here. This game has bags of it. I was not a player of the old Zelda games but I knew a lot about them. Even though this game goes far to ape those games, it brings it’s own style and humour. The graphics are great and well suited to the game, and the game is a joy to play. Even the music has a good quality to it which matches the game perfectly. If I had a complaint, it would be that blasted Fire Temple which can be quite taxing. Buy it