GENRE
	Adventure
	DEVELOPER
	Player 1
	PUBLISHER
	Titus
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONTROLLER PAK
	yes
	RUMBLE PAK
	yes
	RAM PAK
	no
	BUY NOW AT

After drinking a poisoned elixir poisoned from Hera, Zeus, the mighty king of the gods, fell ill. This gave Ares, son of Zeus and brother to Hercules, an opportunity to seize the throne. These events transpired unnoticed by the rest of the gods, who merely sensed an imbalance in the godly plane of existence.

Most of these gods fled the mortal plane to investigate the cause of said disturbance, causing turmoil amongst the mortals on Gaea. As most of the gods were either too busy or petty to care about the mortals, it was now up to Hercules to save them.

Visuals are probably the best part of this game, but unfortunately, there is no close second. If you like anything about this game, it will probably be the game’s appearance, and many would say that this is mainly because of the "similarity" it has to Zelda. There isn’t anything overly exciting to be found but at the same time you won’t find anything absolutely horrible looking either. Simply put, all the graphics look very good, in a suspicious sort of way...

The intro to the game is a written narration with artistic sketches relating to the written text. The text and the images are made to look like they were created in the specific time period, and they are all presented on an old scroll surface complete with tattered, torn, and burnt edges. Much like the intro, the look of the menu system is very similar in style-- it looks like it was created by people of this era, and with materials commonly used and found in this era.

The sound effects are below average at best. If you actually take the time to listen to the sound effects in this game, you will notice that most of them don’t even sound like what they are supposed to sound like. The most common complaint I’ve heard is that the sound effect in question sounds like a person snoring. Maybe that sound is actually a person watching you play the game; that could explain a few things...

Also, you tend to hear a lot of animal sounds in this game but no animals are in sight. A lot of these sound effects are good and actually sound accurate, however, there’s no reason why the animals that make these sound effects are nowhere in sight, unless Zeus made them all invisible prior to his illness.

For the most part however, the music is very good. Player 1 has done a good job fitting the music with the atmosphere and surroundings of the game, and the quality of the music isn’t too shabby either, with all things considered.

However, and this is a big HOWEVER, the audio is far from perfect in terms of the coding behind it. Not just occasionally, but very frequently you will find that the audio just cuts out on you and you will hear nothing at all. Not good. For once a company creates some decent music for its game, yet the coding inexplicably prevents it from actually being heard properly.

Now we have hit rock bottom. First of all, the camera system in Hercules is very poorly done and it is often the cause of much frustration. Controlling the camera isn’t very easy to do either. Basically, you either let the camera do its thing, or you hold down the Z button and have it follow you.

Controlling the character proves to be very difficult, too. The control scheme is very loose, and it is very difficult to control your character precisely when it is necessary to do so. Jumping, on the other hand, is probably worse than precise movement, if such a disaster is at all possible. To put it simply, "loose control" is a HUGE understatement. Even the simplest of jumps, like jumping up onto a crate, are more often than not a huge ordeal to endure.

Hercules features a context-sensitive control system, which is ‘similar’ to what is found in Zelda 64, but it is done FAR less effectively than Zelda. One of the biggest complaints I have about this feature in Hercules is the amount of time it can take for a particular action to take place after you press the button. For instance, when picking up and throwing small rocks, it takes several seconds for Hercules to even pick up the rock after you press the button. Another thing that is wrong with the system is the ‘range’ you must be in to activate the button-- it’s far too small and you'll find it remarkably easy to get out of range, unlike Zelda.

The main objective in Hercules is making your way through areas, be they towns, mountains, swamps; solving any puzzles; running errands (yes, errands); and destroying any obstacles in your way. All of the puzzles are pretty basic and don’t really even give you a challenge at all, but there are a couple that could give you a bit of trouble. The errands you must run for people seem like a total waste of time, and are often totally unrelated to anything that is going on in the game. Cookbook scavenger hunt, anyone?

During your journey as Hercules, you will eventually be able to wield four magic attacks-- rock, fire, lightning and ice. You will also be able obtain items to use in battle and items to use to regain your health by collecting enough Dinards (money) from the thugs you beat up.

Last but certainly not least, there are two additional characters you will be able to control, or try to control, and if you used to watch the TV show you will definitely remember them-- Iolaus and Serena.

Iolaus is Hercules’ best friend in the show, and this holds true in the game as well. As Iolaus, you will use a pike/staff as your weapon, unlike Herc with his almighty strength that he must show off at all times by not using a weapon. You will find that Iolaus is much more agile than Hercules, and this proves to be useful later on in the game and essentially necessary to advance any further.

Serena, believe it or not, is a golden hind-- a female centaur, if you will. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with Greek mythology this could be a little bit difficult to grasp, but this is a perfectly normal creature for the genre. Anyway, Serena is highly skilled with the bow and arrow, thus making her invaluable for long ranged attacks. One would think if the character you control had 2 extra legs, as Sarena does, she may be easier to control... Unfortunately, this is not true. More legs do NOT equal better gameplay.

N/A

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys had a lot of potential, and the game features a lot of great ideas and concepts, but falls short in a big way with its lacklustre controls and gameplay. If only the developers spent as much time working on the games’ engine as they did making the visuals of this game look so good, then maybe they could have pulled of a great game and a worthwhile purchase.

Rent this game if you would like to see some nice visuals, beat up a lot of hooligans, and destroy stuff, but don’t complain when you’re having difficulties controlling the big man.

5.6/10