Way back in the bygone year of 2011, I was invited to Square Enix offices in London to try out a game being developed on the 3DS by N-Space. As a developer, N-Space has a repertoire of big name games under their hat, such as Toy Story 3, Star Wars: Battlefront, and even COD: Modern Warfare. This sounds impressive, until you add DS to the end of those titles. Getting comfy in some ridiculously over-sized sofas, I dove into Heroes of Ruin accompanied by a Square rep. Having taught the rep, who had been playing it all day, how to beat the boss effectively, I left the meeting with positive views upon the game. Skip forward enormous periods of time to the modern day, and I have indeed got my hands on Heroes of Ruin.

Heroes of Ruin, for those who don’t know, is a top down hack ‘n’ slash. It’s like Diablo. Very much like Diablo. Except it’s on a handheld. In 3D. And has the option to be played offline.

However, going offline would be to miss the greatest asset of Heroes of Ruin. The game was designed to be played with friends from around the world. With 4 classes available, covering the standard smash, defend, ranged, and magic archetypes, players can team up for some button mashing madness. As you start each session you will be asked how you wish to play. You can limit the party size and even reserve slots for friends while leaving additional slots for strangers. It’s quick, simple, and surprisingly works with very few problems.

There is a short introduction before the game kicks off, giving player’s insight into the world of Veil, which I am sure is all very interesting, but I had my hankering for loot, which would soon be discarded for better loot. So, I snapped up the quests available at the starting area and blundered my way into the nearest cave. I’m sure someone mentions something about being stranded, but though experience in the genre, I have learned that smashing things both living and inanimate usually results in victory. I was right.

Don’t expect N-Space to have reinvented the wheel here. Quests usually involve smashing, collecting, or killing. More often than not you can rampage your way through the levels, making sure the map is complete and come through having completed everything. Monsters and quests produce gold, loot and experience points which can be used in their respective manners to make you better at killing monsters and completing quests.

Now, while N-Space hasn’t created a master piece of originality, they have streamlined the hack ‘n’ slash experience, and in effect, created possibly the smoothest experience possible for a handheld. Having obviously learned some lessons from their port of Ultimate Marvel Alliance 2 on DS and Wii, N-Space have made sure that every button is used to its maximum potential.

Extreme I know, but this is how they train their dogs to sit in veil

Take the D-pad, for example. Left and Right handle potion drinking with health and mana potions assigned respectively, whereas, Up and Down are reserved for inventory management. Up automatically equips any items that your character meets the requirements for, and Down allows you to instantly sell the item on the spot. No more time consuming inventory management for you! Any further inventory tweaking can be done simply though the touch screen, but ultimately the point of the game is to keep the action flowing. This is a good thing too. Playing online the game doesn’t pause, so equipping on the move is a godsend.

As you level up, your new skills are assigned to the face buttons, which will require you to be tactical with your options. Not every skill can be equipped at once, and with each move having a very specific use, this allows for variations in style when 2 characters play the same class. I chose to play an area of effect Gunslinger type, and when online have been very effective when combined with a status effect Gunslinger.

It’s a remarkably smooth experience. Leveling up could have been a bit more exciting, and the menus for doing so could have been a little less clunky, considering the ergonomic nature of the rest of the game. Taking a genre which has always fared better with the point and click setup, and moving it onto a handheld with silky smooth control mechanics, is an achievement the developers should be proud of.

Impressively for a handheld game, Heroes of Ruin generates random Dungeons that do surprise you. This isn’t an isometric put-together design. Each level flows with a surprising amount of detail, adding both replayablitity and eye candy. The 3D effects are really quite nice. The effect of dust particles shimmering through columns of light impresses me just as much now as it did back when I played the pre-Alpha build. However, once again I have to question is the game is any better in 3D than it would have been usually, and the answer is still no. Top down isn’t exactly built with depth in mind.

When questing with friends you can strike poses together all over town

Despite my previous derogatory musings about the plot, Heroes of Ruin doesn’t do a “bad” job of fleshing out its world. The average man on the street has something to say about the current state of the land. The problem is finding a point to care.

Unfortunately that’s the sticking point for Heroes of Ruin. You feel like there is some big story you are meant to be taking part in, but it is hard to get excited. The story just doesn’t jump out at you. Perhaps because it’s missing voice acting, perhaps because the big city feels quite sparely populated, perhaps it’s that syndrome that effects most MMORPG’s where constant walls of text mean that the gameplay instantly becomes more exciting than the story.

Due to this, on your own, Heroes of Ruin can become a lonely adventure of stat padding. Unlike the recently Diablo 3, there is no expansive budget and history to lure players in. Unlike Marvel Ultimate Alliance there aren’t known superheroes waiting for you. And, I hate to say it, but without 3G and a long lasting battery, the 3DS just isn’t the right platform for this title. When online, the game is absolutely a joy to play and with microphone chat available, communication is easy too, but it’s staying at home to get the Wi-Fi required that kills it. The second you walk out of your home the party ends and you’re long grinding sessions which are synonymous with the genre are cut short by the red flashing light after a few short hours.

Heroes of Ruin‘s only real flaw is that it simply cannot be enjoyed to its full potential on a portable device without portable online play. The gameplay is enjoyable, the controls are superb and the multiplayer is exactly what the game needs. It’s only the device that lets it down, and that is a shame. Now, a Wii U version? I’d buy that in an instant! Make it happen, N-Space.

A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. The title was played for roughly 20 hours  with a variety of character classes and is a 3DS exclusive.

Heroes of Ruin Review

By Yousif A.

Remember when Yousif A. went to Square-Enix head offices and played a pre-alpha of Heroes of Ruin? According to the hits on Youtube, no one else does either! However, now he is reviewing the game, so skip to the end and find out what he thinks right here.

Heroes of Ruin Review

By Robert H.

Heroes of Ruin tries to be many things, and succeeds ... with some.