Glory of Heracles is the fifth part of a game series in Japan and the first of that series to be released in the United States. It features a curious cast of characters and a semi-familiar story with a twist: it’s set in Ancient Greece.

Players: 1
Genre: RPG
Rating: E 10+
Publisher: Nintendo

RENT

To be honest, there really isn’t anything spectacular or horrible about this game. It’s pretty average as far as combat and graphics go, and the story gets better as time goes on. I wish I could rave about something, but there isn’t much that stands out. The characters are pretty interesting, and I’ll be talking a little about them later on. I guess I should start with what most people care about: the story.

The story is pretty nice. It’s based on Ancient Greece and the gods and goddesses of that time. You play as the legendary Heracles… but get this: he doesn’t know that he’s Heracles. You only find this out about a half hour into the game when some nymphs, that admitted to messing with people for fun, sense the power in him. Of course, Leucos, your first party member, instantly jumps on board with this. As you go on, your party fills with people that are convinced of the same thing… until you run into a very strong looking man that also claims to be Heracles. What?! I’m not going to ruin any more of the story for you, but it was about this point that I was willing to go through just about any dungeon just so I could get to the next cutscene.

Let me talk about the characters for a minute. You play as “The Hero” who you will get to name later on. Your first party member is Leucos, a young woman who insists she’s a man – and Gods help you if you call her “Her”! She gets very animated about this, and sometimes she gets a little ridiculous. Most of the characters that you meet know she’s a woman, but humor her and address her as “young man” and other terms. Later, you get Axios who is loved by mortal women and hated by mortal men. He is surprised to learn that Leucos is a woman because she is not instantly attracted to him. Oh, yeah. Both of them are immortal and have no idea why. Yeah, pretty crazy. Overall, there’s a nice variety in characters beyond these three, and you have quite a few short-term companions, like the nymphs that lead you out of the forest you start the game in.

Since we’re talking about characters, let’s move on to combat. This is another menu-driven, turn-based combat system where you decide what to do by tapping what you want, picking your targets, and then sitting back and watching. There’s a nice variety in magic, and I really liked what you get to learn later. You will get the chance to pump your spells by a variety of really mini-game type things that usually involve tapping inside a circle or moving spheres into specific furnaces.

The graphics are pretty nice for the platform. Since this game is a translation from a Japanese game, the art reflects its origins. The characters are done in a very anime-like style. Fortunately, this happens to work in its favor. This game wouldn’t be as much fun, I think, if the characters looked more realistic.

The music is actually pretty nice. There really isn’t much more to say about it other than that. This game made me actually want to keep my volume up a little to hear the music instead of keeping it on silence. It doesn’t distract you from the story or gameplay, like some other games can, and it actually helps a bit.

Overall, I’m going to say that this game is worth renting and playing. It’s not horrible, and it won’t be a waste of your time, but it’s not so amazing that you should rush out and spend your money on it. If you like turn-based fantasy RPGs, you’ll probably really enjoy this. It’s rated E 10+, so it’s good for preteens and up. If you have a budding gamer in your life, then this is a good, fun way to get them into this genre. Now if you’re like a lot of other gamers that are tired of the standard menu-driven, turn-based combat, don’t bother. Otherwise, I hope some of you out there enjoy this game and I’m actually looking forward to a second playthrough.

The review product was provided by Nintendo and does not affect the outcome of this review.