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Heroes of Ruin - Preview

Many people are now aware of the 3DS and it has become something of a global sensation, but a console - or handheld in this case - is only as good as it's games and a lot of people complained due to the lack of 'good games' that were released alongside it back in March. Arguably people were just expecting First-Party games with the 3DS, wanting familiar franchises such as Mario and Donkey Kong. It would have seemed that people are afraid of trying new games because there was definitely a lot of good content out there. However, now the release of phenomenal games such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D and Dead or Alive Dimensions, the 3DS is certainly proving to be the handheld system of 2011. There are still a lot of games coming to the 3DS (and trust me, there's a lot) but the one that's shaping up to be a favourite of 2012 is Heroes of Ruin. Heroes of Ruin is a Role-Playing, Real-time Strategy, Action, Adventure game developed by N-Space who are long supporters of the Nintendo DS systems, creating games such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare DS, Star Wars: Force Unleashed DS, as well as Duke Nukem for the Playstation 2. It's also being published by Square Enix who have famously dealt with huge franchises such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.

Heroes of Ruin is being explained to us as a Dungeon Crawler game much like the Diablo series and will undoubtably has the same feel to it. Developers at N-Space have said that they have taken inspiration from a plethora of games from as many genres as you can shake a stick at, including Diablo as well as World of Warcraft. The game will feature randomised content with the dungeon designs as well as the items that appear inside them, meaning even if you play this game 100 times, each time it will be a new and inviggorating experience. Not only this by the game boasts unlimited customisability with your character from one of either the 4 robust classes: Gunslinger, Alchitect, Savage and Vindicator. There will also be thousands of unique weapons and armor peices that can be found in the game contributing to hours upon hours of replay value and collectibility.

As already mentioned there are four classes that are playable in this game. The Gunslinger is driven by a massive monetary debt he needs to pay off, he is an evasive fighter and uses pistols and various other heavy duty guns aswell as multiple explosives. The Alchitect is a student from a far off academy who aims to be one of the most powerful and feared spell casters in the world. The Savage relies on brute force to get it out of trouble. He was exiled from his tribe and takes on the mission to help the king of Nexus in order to gain power and glory, and finally the Vindicator. His main artiliary is his sword. He aims to seek justice and takes on the mission to save the King of Nexus in order to redeem himself after his fall from grace from his order.

The dungeons in this game and items that appear inside it are randomised, allowing each visit to be different and unique. This means that your friend's game will be significantly different from yours. So where you may have triumphed on your game, when visiting a friend's game, the experience will be completely new. Oh yeah I forgot to mention one of the most innovative things about this game - it features 4 player drop in, drop out functionality. Meaning that at any point during your game, permitting that you allow it, people over WiFi or Local Wireless can enter your game and play along with you, this means you can play with complete strangers around the world! And with the use of the 3DS you can talk to one another, give tips on upcoming boss battles or even just talk and make new friends.

This game will also make full use of both SpotPass and StreetPass on the Nintendo 3DS. Through StreetPass you will be able to trade items and armor with other players through a system called "Traders Network". This is just outside the hub city of Nexus and will allow you to trade the items and armor you don't want for coins, which you can use to purchase items and armor that you haven't / can't obtain or want from another player who you have passed in the street. SpotPass will be used to distribute new challenges, missions, contracts, etc each and every day for the first year after the game is released, meaning there will be tons of content and new areas to explore each and every day.

This game is definitely turning out to be a favourite of mine as well as many other people around the globe, the official forums are buzzing with activity and the development team are even distributing podcasts every few weeks. Although at the moment not much information is known about this game, from what we do already know this is going to be a strong game for other companies to compete with during 2012 and maybe even the 3DS' lifespan completely.

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