Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime Review
Played on:
DS
Dragon Quest is definitely a long running series. First appearing on the Nintendo back before some of you all may have been born, the series was nothing more than a top-down RPG. Somewhat similar to Final Fantasy, the series has been near and dear to the hearts of many fans.
Not too many years ago, though, the series took a small shift. While installments in the traditional RPG were still released, the game branched off into a monster collecting type series around the release of the original Pokemon games. While the Dragon Quest version never gained a huge amount of popularity, the branching off of the game gave us the chance to get what could be one of the simplest and most entertaining games to grace the Nintendo DS yet.
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is, on the surface, a horribly simple game. You’re not going to be collecting new swords and armor to take out your enemies with. None of those fancy potion things to grab, materia to collect or new spells to earn either. You have one attack – the elasto blast. That’s it. Really.
This whole elasto blast thing is simple. Hold the button down, push a direction on the controller and let go. Watch your little guy bounce around, into things and through enemies. Hit something with the elasto blast and it’ll fly up in the air, giving you a chance to catch it. You can carry up to three things on top of you. You’ll have to rescue your slime buddies in this fashion, too. To send them back to town, just toss them on one of the trains conveniently placed around the area you’re checking out at the time. You can also capture enemies for your town and ammo for your tank in this way.
Oh yes, the tanks. While the overworld type exploration in the game is a total blast and unique, the game really shines with the tank battles. See, as you play through the story, you’ll get a chance to use the Warrior Flute. When used the first time, you just hear a rumbling. Silly slime, you weren’t supposed to steal the flute! Your friends will literally force you to eat the flute and make your body stretch but, hey, you’re a slime. This leads to some comedy and then the adventure goes on. Play some more and you’ll actually blow the flute and summon the Schliemann tank.
This thing is pretty cool looking. It is a gigantic slime with two cannons on wheels. No, really, I’m not kidding. Fighting with it is pretty easy overall – there are chutes all over the tank that will dispense the weapons you’ve loaded the tank with before battle. Bullets, chests, rocks, apple-type things and many other fun items will be your ammunition. Hell, you can even shoot other slimes at the enemy tank to try to infiltrate it. Each of the cannons will make a difference too – one shoots in an arc while the other shoots on a straight line. If your projectile connects with an enemy’s projectile, they both go bye-bye. So using both cannons is essential to your strategy.
Does that sound like entirely too much for a single slime to handle? Well fear not, my young slime – you’ll have friends to help you! As you play through the adventure and save your slime buddies, you can choose to have them help you on your ship. If you’re tired of sliming around to take care of the cannons, you can use a helped to take care of that for you. There are 100 slimes in total – choosing the right ones to man the giant-slime-on-wheels can be tough at times. It all adds to a game that, while seemingly simple on the surface, is deceptively strategic. Those tanks and slimes can also be taken into multiplayer, though the only capability is multi-cart play. No online mode – maybe the next time around.
Outside of that, the graphics and sounds are great. Each slime animates differently – from your little guy to the giant fat blobs. They have some facial expressions, movements that are all their own and they’re, well, funny. The music and sound effects are also well done. While the music is normal RPG fare, it sounds nice and clear on the DS – something some developers have had major issues with. While the graphics and sound aren’t going to win any major awards, they do well for what they aim to be – a whimsical and upbeat adventure in a world used to sword wielding heroes taking out some great evil looking to doom the world or some such.
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a game that will make DS owners smile. The graphics, sound and story are all upbeat and funny and the gameplay is easy enough to pick up and learn but doesn’t get too strategic too fast. If you’re looking for a game to pick up come the holiday season, this one is definitely worth the money.
