Game Review: Dragon Quest Heroes 2
The popular RPG Dragon Quest series blends with the popular hack-and-slash series Dynasty Warriors, giving us an interesting result: Dragon Quest Heroes 2. This is another Warriors-like game that, just like the other titles, manages to combine the best of the two series.
Plot
In the world of Dragon Quest Heroes 2 humans and monsters coexist harmoniously until, for unexplained reasons, the monsters become hostile and war breaks out and split between the territories. The protagonists, who are apprentice knights, travel, thrown into battle and make friends and alliances in an effort to end the war. The story is not very deep but has however several good moments between the characters and several twists that make it interesting. It also introduces both new and old characters from previous Dragon Quest games.
Gameplay
Battles are not interrupted, enemies are always on the map, and at any time you can fight hordes of opponents, battling hundreds of monsters without much effort. Control is simple and same for all characters, with the same attack system (with minor variations) that requires a fairly simple HP and MP management. But everyone has their own style of fighting, their own weapons and are unleashing their own special moves. However, this does not remove the strategic part, as in the four-member team you have to find a balance based on the skills and spells of everyone if you want an easy victory in the battles. At the beginning of the game, you pick one of two protagonists, whom you always control out of battle, but during the battle you can change characters on the spot and combine attacks at the touch of a button. With quite a large variety of heroes, it is quite important who and how many you carry with you on missions.
There are also many RPG elements in the game. By winning battles you get experience points and you level up, you can spend points on a fairly basic skill tree and increase character statistics, dress up everyone with upgraded accessories and sell or buy weapons. As far as the hack-and-slash part of the game is concerned, as long as you fight it fills up the tension meter, which you can turn on for a few seconds and make the character invincible, its attacks do not cost MP and also gain access to a new attack called "coup de grace," which is the most damaging and affects many enemies at the same time. By beating enemies, you can collect monster medals that allow you to call a monster to fight at the side of the team or give you a stat buff or transform the character into a monster for a few seconds. This system is quite entertaining and manages to break the battle monotony.
The story progresses by completing battle stages, specially designed battle scenarios on specific maps. On the surface, there is enough variety between them so that things do not look the same, but it all has to do with the victory against an army of monsters. Generally, everything in the game is solved by destroying enough monsters. The quests many times will ask you to find objects that monsters have left behind after their defeat or seek to kill certain number of monsters. You can travel the world going from region to region, but beyond the endless battle with enemies, maps have not much to offer. You also have the option to look for help online, inviting other players to help you in the main story battles. You can also enter with other players in special dungeons that usually give good rewards.
Pricing & Availability
Dragon Quest Heroes 2 is available for Switch, PS4 and PC. PC prices range depending where you will purchase the game from.
Graphics & Sounds
As for the technical and visual part, there are no flaws in either performance or appearance. Load times are fast and switch from cutscenes to gameplay instantly. Characters are designed by Akira Toriyama, and animation succeeds in bringing action to the screen with vivid and brilliant effects. Even the smallest moves are nice and it never gets boring to repeat them again and again. The environment is also well-done, though not as impressive as character models, enemies, and attack effects. The world of Dragon Quest comes to life through the graphics and is also highlighted by the music, which, though monotonous, does its job well.
Conclusion
By taking selective elements from Dragon Quest and Dynasty Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes 2 is a funny, fun, beautiful and enjoyable game. It offers many nice, exciting moments, but is easily forgotten over time. If you treat it not as a simple mix of two popular series, but as a separate project, then you will definitely find something to love in it.
Download Dragon Quest Heroes 2 for PC on Steam here.
Dragon Quest Heroes 2 screenshots (above) and trailer (below)
