General Games Discussion

#65

Game: Herc's Adventure.
Year: 1997.
Genre: Action Adventure.
Publisher: LucasArts.
Developer: Big Ape Productions, LucasArts.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to a simpler 10 point system. Games that get above a 7 I fully recommend, and those that get below that are mostly a waste of time. That leaves the score of 7 to depend on your taste

In the 16bit era, LucasArts studios were known for their colorful and cartoonish graphics. Their games often looked to imitate the sort of cartoons you could find on Cartoon Network or other such channels.

With the increased capability of the Saturn, you can see why games like Herc's Adventure were made by the same studio. Expertly animated and drawn with the same style, the game was also more ambitious in its delivery compared to earlier LucasArt games, like the cult-classic" Zombies Ate my Neighbours.

While the game is not without its shortcomings, the effort mostly works.

"Seek out the help of my fellow Gods, and good luck, erm, I mean GOOD luck"

From the game's title, you could guess that it is featured in mythical Greece, with Hercules and some other companions fighting against Hades's evil plots. There is little difference in this retelling other than the Saturday-Night-Cartoon look and the fact that you can choose to play as one of two other characters: Atalanta and Jason.

With the style LucasArts is going for, the game aims to be mostly comical. From the design of Zeus, Hades, and the other gods, to the design of all other enemies and characters. Regularly, you see little funny details in the environment, like a sunbathing beach, or the anti-man city of the Amazons.

These little details work to give a more visual narrative to the story other than the occasional exposition by Zeus or Hades, and it mostly works.

"I'm sure Hera will give you some heroic tasks to prove your worth"

The story is mostly a framework to explore the world of the game, as you go from place to place to gain the favors of other Gods. It basically boils down to fetching things back, gaining some useful items, and defeating bosses.

Unique for the time, the overhead world is almost all open, with no loading screens at all. This entire map is open in theory, but you will need to get some abilities and items to go past certain areas or defeat certain bosses.

For instance, one dragon boss can be stumbled upon quite early. However, without an item that can help you withstand its fire, the fight is impossible to win.

Similar roadblocks are peppered over to gently guide you through the way, although the game never explicitly shows you the rails.

One thing that may both unique and distressing is the death mechanic. Instead of simply losing progress, you are transported to the underworld, where you get the chance to escape. This can happen for five times, with each being harder than the last, after which it is game over for good.

"So, you are the pathetic mortal who Zeus sent to defeat me. You have no chance against me. I am Hades, lord of the underworld"

As an action adventure game, the combat is an integral part of the experience and maybe its weakest point. Simply, it is more annoying than challenging and time-consuming than exciting.

You primarily attack with a melee strike (for Hercules), but this attack is of such short range that you almost always get hit by an enemy attack or two. Another option is to charge your attack to throw the club like a boomerang, but that leaves you open for other attacks.

The safer option is to use one of the game's many consumable projectile items, which are liberally handed to the player. Throwing spear, trident, laser guns, and other such things is more reliable against bosses and groups of enemies.

Regardless, the combat is mostly repetitive and dull, especially since every little enemy is a damage sponge, simply prolonging this battle of attrition.

"Bet you work for that no-good husband of mine. You will have to do some work to get it. No slacking off like that Zeus"

One of the most striking things about Herc's Adventure is its cartoony graphics and visual style. That is carried by some excellent 2D graphics and animation. Generally, the design of all characters and creatures is distinctive and fittings.

It establishes a consistent art style that tells its own story, and you can see that with the booming voice of Zeus and the nasal voice acting of Hades, which fits their graphical desing like a glove.

As for the sound design, it is mostly fine, but the soundtrack is not very memorable. It has some nice tracks, but nothing truely stand out.

In Conclusion:

Herc's Adventure is just one of those games that are not exactly great at the time, and are not at all memorable today. Apart from its lovely graphics, there is little else to attract the busy gamer.

Not exactly a Greece epic.

Final: 6/10

Pros:

• Great and unique graphics.
  
• One continious overworld.
  

Cons:

• Repetitive and boring combat.
  
• A lot of backtracking.
  

"Tips"
1-Revisit areas to stock-up on useful items.
2-Pick Atalanta as your character, her neutral attacks are the best.
3-Also, as Atalanta, you can get some bonus items.

"Next Game"

Initially, I thought I would like Herc's Adventure more than I ended up doing. At some point, the game just became a slog to play.

Next game in the list, at #62, iis a grid-based strategy game, Iron Storm. Which I am approaching with some caution. Usually, these types of games can be very complex, and at that time, it was often difficult to decipher the controls.

Stay Tuned

am i the only one getting a boner waiting for the remake of resi 2 coming out on friday. i have even rearranged my weekend of drinking motobike riding and sex sessions to accommodate this game. it better been good ffs.

Reviews are currently praising it very heavily, I'm not sure whether I'll get it day 1 as I'm playing way too much as it is but I'll probably buy it at some point.

I'm just waiting for something to play right now, so I'll probably get Resident Evil 2. Problem is, my girlfriend returns from her trip to Greece on sunday, I don't have much time left where I can walk around in my boxers all day, stack cans of beer and coca cola on the living room table, order indian take out and sustain an exotic atmosphere of Tikka Masala farts. Not if I want any sex sessions of my own, anyway.

Thimmy wrote:I'm just waiting for something to play right now, so I'll probably get Resident Evil 2. Problem is, my girlfriend returns from her trip to Greece on sunday, I don't have much time left where I can walk around in my boxers all day, stack cans of beer and coca cola on the living room table, order indian take out and sustain an exotic atmosphere of Tikka Masala farts. Not if I want any sex sessions of my own, anyway.

your plan looks better than mine tbh

Friend of mine got it day 1 Will play it when I'm done with Odyssey and RE1 remake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWl0hOeJvzA

Metroid Prime 4 development is being restarted and is now going to be developed by Retro Studios because Nintendo were not confident with the current status of the game.



Good news is Retro doesn't make bad games and made the original trilogy to begin with.

Bad news is we won't see it for a minimum 3 years IMO.

Early Metacritic reviews for Resident Evil 2 remake look really promising, with journalist reviews averaging at 9.1 and user reviews 9.4.

Not surprised at all tbh. If any of you played RE7 you'd know it is a superb but underrated game that for whatever reason didn't receive much hype but the engine they built for it was a very strong one, although geared towards console fans rather than PC. RE2 remake benefits from this engine combined with nostalgia from the older fans who would be bothered to write reviews so overall I'm not one bit surprised about this.

It didn’t receive much hype, because Resident Evil 5 and 6 were more action than horror- oriented, and left most long time fans disappointed. I didn’t expect much when RE7 was released, but I was positively surprised at their decision to return to the horror roots that once made the franchise famous - and the end result was a very good game.

Anyone on Smash Ultimate? Played years and years (and years) of the original one and then more than enough melee. Hadnt played the rest, but got hyped and bought the switch for it.

Very well made, awesome game so far.

I am.

Iove it, each character feels so good. The lengths they have gone and attention to detail is great.

Truly feel like it's the Ultimate Smash game and not just hype to sell the game.

Saw few of you do this when reading back the pages. Did Mine. Not even remotely surprised.

Dunno why i thought you played Bloodborne more.

Weird.

There was no multiplayer in Bloodborne (not good enough) so I mostly played the single player but still not as much as the others lol and it's also short-ish.

Tells you how incredible TW3 is that i played 451 hours of it with no MP element at all.

My Witcher 3 tally was above 900 hours

Might do another playthrough to hit 1k tbh.

It's a good point though, there's many single player games i loved but i didn't replay many and i'd have to for any of them to crack the top 3.

I thought I played my PS4 a lot, until I saw some of you guys' videos.

Then again, I think I've spent just as much time on the PS Vita and 3DS, so it might add up.

Out of curiosity Jay how many playthroughs to get that amount of hours on Persona 5?

Two iirc. The first was about 90 hours on its own and the second took longer because I was mopping up the rest of the trophies and there was some grinding involved.

Hmm not too bad. Was expecting it to take longer.

It took me 120

But i haven't played an JRPG in years before it so that inexperience might be why.

can't imagine how long it would take you with Prime FF7

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:It took me 120

But i haven't played an JRPG in years before it so that inexperience might be why.

In fairness, Persona 5 is long even by JRPG standards. It takes most people around 80 hours on average to finish it.

played about 2hrs of resi 2 and it is the nuts

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I am.

Iove it, each character feels so good. The lengths they have gone and attention to detail is great.

Truly feel like it's the Ultimate Smash game and not just hype to sell the game.

Yeah they went all out. I'm still trying to find some mains and basically learning how to move. It's really changed since the old games. Sheik and Cloud are my mains but Cloud is a bit too boring I think. I'm playing more with mega man and duck hunt duo.

Didn't realise there was another far cry coming out lol.