At first when I wandered by the Square Enix booth, it looked to be yet another PS3/360 fest.  Then I remembered that there would be a Nintendo 3DS game for display.  I’m extremely glad I stopped in to check out Heroes of Ruin because it was addicting fun once I understood what was going on.

Heroes of Ruin (Nintendo 3DS)

When I picked up the system and slipped on the headset, I was presented with a character that looked to have guns on them.  This was proven to be true after I hit a few of the buttons and fired shots off into the distance.  Once I got the hang of firing, I wandered around a beach area I started in to see what was going on.  No enemies, no real information, nothing.  As I was about to leave out of frustration, on a whim I decided to just keep heading north.  I was glad that I did because I was greeted by enemies which gave me my first real taste of combat.  At first I was slow to destroy them, but after a bit of button mashing, I found myself becoming addicted to finding the next enemy.  Doing special attacks drained my mana, which made it difficult to keep performing them.  This coupled with my lowered health was solved by enemies dropping potions of both red and blue, health and mana respectively.  You don’t instantly use them by walking over each however, you must hit the R button to see the effects.

To help guide you slightly, you’re provided with a map that only reveals where you’ve been.  So if you’ve ever played Diablo 2, you’ll be familiar with this system.  Similar as well is the randomly generated areas I was told about, though I didn’t get to see this in action.  After exploring, I began to notice objects on the ground that would pop-up a notice on my screen.  I ignored this for awhile in favor of killing, but once there were few enemies to make into Swiss cheese I got curious.

Upon closer inspection of most of these items, I found that I could equip them.  Not only does the pop-up tell you what type of item it is, it tells you if it’s an upgrade or not.  Once you decide you want the item, you can auto-equip it right then and there.  This saves you time from having to look through your inventory and find the piece you want to wear.  You can also pick up items and stash them in your bag by pressing L.

After I was done playing, the person manning the area let me know that there is another class other than the ranged gunner.  A melee type that can shred through enemies was also available for the demo, but I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to try this out.  There will be other classes too I’m told, but that they’ll reveal that at a later date.

This game has the potential to be a great hit for Square Enix, simply for the fact it’s a fun Diablo 2 type game, without simply being a clone.  The game will offer 4 player offline and online play so that you can battle and trade with friends.  I’m excited for it and 2012 can’t come soon enough for me thanks to N Space.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Afwk-0OUvw[/youtube]

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