Heroes of Ruin Demo (3DS)

PREVIEW
Release: 15th July 2012 (EU), 17th July 2012 (US)
Platform: Nintendo 3DS

With a time where we have so many Diablo-clones are on the horizon, Path of Exile, Torchlight and Diablo 3 itself being out, there doesn't seem to be a better time for a 3DS version! And with four player co-op, how can it go wrong?

4 times the fun!

The game conforms pretty well to the template:
You have HP and MP bars, the typical red and blue potions and the classes have three skill trees from which you can map 3 abilities to the Y, X, and A buttons. Oh, and it's all about the loot and quests!

Time to trim some weeds.

Classes available are: Vindicator, a warrior basically; Gunslinger, long ranged archer-type; then there's Alchitect (I don't know what that is either) and Savage (Barbarian) who were not available in the demo. Each character has customisability in terms of their basic look and equipment, nothing too deep but it will allow you to differentiate yourself better from your co-op buddies (fabulous pink capes, anyone?)

Purdy.

The graphics themselves are fairly detailed and the 3D adds depth to the foliage and gives the sense that you truly are in a thick jungle, but does little else other than kick up the eye-candy a notch. The magical effects from each character seem understated but perhaps that's just the initial abilities, the later set will be much more flashy. You don't realise how small the screens really are till you play this game, everything just feels very cluttered but they've done their best with the menu screens.


While the local co-op was unsurprisingly stable, the online was shaky and I was kicked to the 3DS menu screen twice wasting two of my demo turns, which was annoying but not irreplaceable. I'm sure it will be 100% working when the full retail release swings around. Interestingly there will also be downloadable daily challenges and an online shop system.



In a nutshell: Diablo-clone, co-op works well with no slowdown, traditional addictive loot system, portable.