Square Enix and Koei Tecmo Games have come together to construct the best of both their worlds. The always intense, yet enormously fun Dragon Quest world has merged with Koei Tecmo Games’ Dynasty Warriors action to create a ‘more fun than it should be’ title with Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below (why yes, that is a huge title). Let me just say, folks, when you bring story, characters and presentation to the forefront of a straight-up action title, you’re going to get some positive nods.
So, that’s where we’re beginning with this review — everything is carefully put together to hide the fact that the Dragon Quest you’re playing is built on the idea of button mashing madness. While there is a huge amount of Dynasty Warriors fans out there (and there would have to be considering how many they have made over the years), this game beckons everyone into the arena. The first thing you’ll notice when you boot up the game is that it looks gorgeous.
Koei Tecmo Games have struggled in recent releases with whether it wants to be in the current generation or still build upon the last generation. The last Dynasty Warriors release on the PlayStation 4 was evidence of this, as it looked pretty on occasion, but for the most part its textures and environments still lived on a last generation plain. Thankfully, that is not the case with DQH. In fact, the mixture of simplistic character design, with a lot of a Dragon Ball Z flavor added, and a creatively built world made the transition easier. Instead of depending on accurate depictions of actual period piece environments, something that the Dynasty Warriors prides itself in, the developers seemed to be in their element and created a very detailed, creative world that would belong in Dragon Quest. You can see buildings in the far off distance of levels, you get details in builds, weapons and even in enemies. Smooth textures on giant monsters mixed with defined character movements and expressions make for a visually fun world to watch in action. The presentation value of DQH is through the roof when compared to the past DW games from Omega Force, even Hyrule Warriors.
On top of the actual graphics, the story and characters also produce some much needed added value to the entire package. With full voice-overs during cut scenes and characters who make sense, and are fun, if not over-dramatic sometimes, you can see that the outer layer of the game, the presentation, really comes together. When all of the above can hook you in, you’re in for a great ride with an action/hack/slash/button masher.
In addition to presentation depth, Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below also contains a very well thoughtout, easy to understand leveling system. As you fight through the game, you earn ability skill points along the way. You can use these points to upgrade things like action moves, defense, and even HP/MP (and a slew of other things). It’s a nice attributes tree that will give gamers some motivation to keep going on missions and killing things. You have to give the gamers a reason to keep hacking and slashing because the act alone will get drab quick.
Outside of the skills points, you can also acquire items in designated market places, have a glossary of minions to choose from and Dragon Quest information out the wazoo.
As you would expect, in the middle of this game lies a Dynasty Warriors title that is alive and kicking. The dramatic moments they mix into the battles help to keep the usual repetitiveness of an Omega Force game to a minimum. Yes, you still have the button mashing fest, but the role-playing game personality that the game garnishes from the Dragon Quest IP is a big help. The game allows your characters to upgrade, progress and accomplish battles in small stints. All of this helps to alleviate a lot of DW elements that make non-DW fans cringe a bit.
In short, this is the type of gameplay structure that Omega Force created with DQH that should be repeated in future DW titles. Because they have already perfected the gameplay itself, by creating an interesting wrapper, like they did with DQH, a DW experience would be much better and more entertaining. Dragon Quest Heroes is absolute fun.
Onto the summary!
