The void left by Diablo III leaves the door open for a slew of clones to hopefully capitalize. Heroes of Ruin is one such clone, a surprisingly fully featured online game released on the Nintendo 3DS by Square Enix. It plays great and provides for a great dungeon crawling experience on a handheld, one that is unmatched on any other handheld on the market so far, but it strays a little too close to its inspiration and fails to actually be compelling in its own right. When a game’s biggest bullet point is that it’s a Diablo clone, you know it lacks an identity of its own.

That’s not to say Heroes of Ruin isn’t a good game- it is. There’s a lot it does right, and a lot of firsts that it accomplishes, including being the first great dungeon crawler on a handheld. Most importantly, Heroes of Ruin’s online functionality is impressive. We’ve heard that theoretically, the 3DS provides for a great, unified and seamless online experience, but this is the first that we get to see it in action. With drop in/drop out online multiplayer, with strangers or with friends, with voice chat and negligible lag, Heroes of Ruin is the 3DS’s killer app as far as online enabled titles go.

It’s a bit tragic, then, that as bold and daring as the game gets in its approach to online, its actual game design is conservative almost to a fault. Heroes of Ruin is a Diablo clone through and through, and it will never be mistaken for anything else. It’s got the same cooperative driven, loot centered, hack and slashing dungeon crawling role playing design as Diablo. Also, unfortunately, like most Diablo clones, it lacks that game’s atmosphere or charm, being stuck with a relatively generic visual and audio design.

The visual presentation further takes a hit because graphically speaking, the game is just not that impressive, belying the impressive technical accomplishments of this game otherwise. The character models are all simple and stiffly animated, the environments are low textured and low poly, and the frame rate tends to dip dangerously a bit too often for my liking. The game looks on par with a launch era PSP game at times, but more often than not, it comes off as a mid cycle PSOne game. For 3DS games, it is often said that the screenshots don’t do its games any justice, and that they have to be observed in motion on screen. Heroes of Ruin looks as unremarkable on screen as it does off it.

For all of its graphical failings, though, Heroes of Ruin remains an addictive game to play. It might be an uninspired Diablo clone, but if so, at least it is an excellent one. There are multiple classes, each with its own hook, each uniquely balanced, such that each player will probably have his own differentiated favorite, and online matches will probably never end up with parties that have two or more of the same character type.

While the single player portion of the game leaves much to be desired- the short, six hour long campaign is devoid of any challenge, the story and the characters are absolutely forgettable, and even the game design stray a bit into being banal. Heroes of Ruin is a game with some unremarkable design at best, and it feels that way when played alone.

Happily, then, it’s a game that offers the option to be played multiplayer, both local and online, with or without friends, and it does so with style. Although the suite of options that it provides is pretty much standard for the genre, it is unprecedented for a handheld game, and for a handheld dungeon crawler. In that sense, being just as good as the standard actually works in Heroes of Ruin’s favor, because it is literally setting the standard on handhelds.

A lot of Heroes of Ruin’s fun comes not from the game design, which, as stated, is lacking- the enemies are embarrassingly easy, and the less said about the game’s attempts at puzzles, the better- but from just the sheer fun of playing with someone else. Taking enemies down won’t take too long, and exploring the world isn’t much of an incentive, since it really is quite generic. However, the sheer fun of just working with someone, and collecting loot, upgrading armor and weapons, is enough to keep you returning to the game again and again, looking past its no small list of flaws every single time.

It’s a game that takes on itself to do a lot, and it doesn’t always succeed. It’s really fault it for having ambition, though it is easier to fault it for not having the execution to match its ambition. Its generic visuals and gameplay setup might not really be indicative of this, but Heroes of Ruin is a game with a lot of heart.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo 3DS.

In Heroes of Ruin, your adventure begins in the grand city of Nexus where a fragile peace has been shattered when a curse is placed upon the city’s ruler. Unable to find a cure, a call is sent out across the lands, promising rewards beyond measure to anyone who can find a cure. Choose from one of four unlikely heroes to answer the call and find the cure to save the city.

Heroes of Ruin is due for the 3DS. The game is published by Nintendo.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt.com for more news and updates.

Nintendo will be distributing Heroes of Ruin in UK. Under the terms of the agreement, Nintendo will be responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of the game throughout EEA, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey and South Africa territories, with Square Enix Europe remaining as publisher. Heroes of Ruin will be released across Europe on 15th June this year.

Heroes of Ruin pushes social and online interaction to the forefront of gameplay through innovative use of the Nintendo 3DS hardware. Players can trade rare and powerful items through an in-game shop which has an inventory updated through creative use of StreetPass. Connect your 3DS console online to download fresh daily challenges which allow you to earn rewards as you play. Heroes can choose to take the battle to the next level by connecting locally or over the internet to fight alongside their friends in cooperative multiplayer.

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The latest Heroes of Ruin walkthrough trailer is available now. Join Tim Schwalk, producer on Heroes of Ruin at developer n-Space, as he takes you on a journey through the Soul Void with his personal favourite charcater class, the Alchitect.

One of the more challenging character classes in the game, with her incredible range of spells and enchantments, the Alchitect is the perfect partner for players that wish to deal damage from afar. 

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You can check out more information on the game at their official website over here. The game will be released on the 3DS sometime this year, and as a RPG fan, this game looks pretty awesome.

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War raged for over a hundred years until strong, powerful Lords emerged from the fighting to bring a fragile peace to the land.

This peace is threatened when one of the Lords, Ataraxis, ruler of the city of Nexus, is taken ill by a deadly curse. A call is sent out, promising rewards beyond measure for anyone who finds a cure.

Tell us what you think in the comments below.

HEROES OF RUIN challenges players to carve their own adventure, joining forces with other heroes through seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer or venturing forth alone. Players will enter an ever-changing world where danger waits around every corner. Heroes can explore and fight through wild, varied and dynamic environments, discovering new layouts and routes each time they play. Custom-built for Nintendo 3DS™, with support for online play and a wealth of social gaming features, players will find a new experience awaits them every day.

Check out this brand new walk through video for Heroes of Ruin, due for the Nintendo 3DS.

Heroes of Ruin challenges players to carve their own adventure, joining forces with other heroes through seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer or venturing forth alone. Players will enter an ever-changing world where danger waits around every corner.

Make your self heard in the comments below.

Heroes of Ruin releases next year for the 3DS. Stay tuned for more info.

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