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A Hero’s Call by Out of Sight Games
A Hero’s Call the only game that any one has played in the last 2 weeks. This is a fact. This is an unproven almost certainly not true but it is true fact.
What is A Hero’s Call?
A quick over view then before we jump in.
You play as a character tasked with helping the town of Far Haven. To do so you must complete quests in a variety of different ways for various people through at the town.
With out going in to spoilers that is pretty much the basic concept of the game.
Getting Started
I wasn’t originally going to include this section but I thought I should.
The buying process for this game was super easy. Just chuck in an email address and finish it up on Paypal.
Downloading worked well even if I live in Australia with shitty internet so it took me a while.
Once Unzipped the game is ready to play. a user.HTML file is included and this was remarkably helpful with out being to long. Key strokes and some important information and that is it.
Most of this game you can learn on the go. So once you know roughly what the keys are you are ready to play.
Starting out
I have played so many games that have a really boring start. That or you start out so weak and with nothing that you can’t achieve anything. This game is neither. The intro sequence is exciting and puts you right in both to the story and the game play.
The style of this game is fantastic and here from the outset you get a feel for how this game works. You have a clear objective. But you don’t have to go do it right away if you don’t want. Their are places to explore and if you want to do that first you can.
I followed my first few instructions but after that found my self wondering through the first few areas getting a feel for the radars the interactions and the tracking system. Exploring as I went.
Not really knowing what to expect going in to this I found my self surprised to find I was really getting in to this game. Weather it was completing quests or just general exploring their always seemed to be something to do. If I got stuck I would just go do something else for a while and come back to that point I got stuck.
The interactions with NPCs was another thing I was not expecting but really enjoyed through out the game. With out going to much in to spoilers here, the little conversations can both help advance the story and be interesting and even funny at times.
The controls
So from a basic stand point they have done a fantastic job with the controls. You have quite a lot of things to manage and they have made it as simple as they could. The menus are nice and the navigation through out the game works really well.
The big thing for me with this game was the ability to use either a keyboard or a controller. I bought an XBox 360 controller for my PC a few years back and it hasn’t seen a lot of use. So I was excited to try this game with it.
I think for me the controller has actually helped me get in to this game. The ability to play this game almost completely with a controller is so nice it helps me really immerse myself in the game play. I will admit I was afraid I would still need the key board at times. When I looked at the user guide their just seemed to be to much for a simple controller to handle. But happily I must say I was wrong. The controller worked perfectly and that with the relatively simple design for menus and other functions has made this a really easy game to pick up.
I did for the sake of this review try the keyboard. As you would imagine it worked just as well and if you don’t have a controller you can clearly still play the game with out losing anything really.
Progressing through the game
So now we have set up, started playing and talked about controls. But how does the game play hold up after a few hours of play.
With so much to do in this game in my first day of play I started feeling like I wasn’t getting very far. But really once you get a hang of how it all works you will find yourself breezing through various tasks and quests.
I will admit their were spots I got stuck for a while. But the beauty of this game is if you get stuck you can go do something else. Go do a different quest and come back to this one.
Now I am very much the type of OCD that means I will have to finish the game. But as of right now I am taking things slow. I never intended to smash this game in a week. While some might argue I should have for the sake of this review. I argue that I can talk about much of the game and keep it spoiler free just as well before finishing as after.
Saving is also done in a fantastic way. While I wish it auto saved at times perhaps after finishing quest or what not. the ability to save it then just walk away and pick back up from literally any point is really nice.
This game is actually a lot larger then I originally thought. At first I thought their was only a few areas but there is plenty to do and much to explore in this game. After more then 15 hours of play during the past week I feel I have made a lot of head way but still feel like there is plenty to do.
Combat
The combat in this game. Well I will be the first to admit I have never been a big fan of Turn based combat.
But I guess I have to admit as well that this game does it well. At least as well as you could hope for. The combat seems to work quite well and the cinematics make it much more fun.
This game is so story orientated that I think turn based combat actually suits it really well. It allows for that conflict with out detracting from the adventure of the hole game.
When I started writing this review now over a week ago I probably would have taken points away from the game for the combat. Or at least said it wasn’t a plus in the games favour. How ever after playing now for some time I have to admit the game has really turned me around on the hole turn based thing.
Working out what attacks or skills to use, the levelling and experience to enhance these and the cinematics as mentioned before really make it all worth it.
Sounds
Yes the sounds. From voice acting to the sound track for the game. This game had a lot of people talking about the sounds before it was ever released.
So with a kick starter to raise money and so much hype how do the sounds stack up.
Well lets start with the general actions. I think these have been done really well. The balance of sounds make this a really nice game to listen to. I would suggest that the sounds in 1 area. [the mine] Get a bit distorted by the echoing. This is meant to be the case it is meant to sound like a mine. But to me it is a little over board. But apart from that the sounds are really quite excellent.
The sound track is also good I guess. Now I say that because I am very much the type of person who just turns background music off or way down. But the sound track for this game is at least good enough that I often leave it on just turned way down. I think for the games I have played it probably has the best sound track.
The voice acting. This is one of the things that for me really sets this game apart from many other games I have played. The voice acting is much higher quality. fuck you’d want it to be with the hole kick starter thing. In this case I will hundred percent say it was worth it. In a game that has such a big focus on interactions between players they needed it to sound good and they have certainly pulled off that.
As I have said above the story is the big element of this game. The interactions with the people you meat through out is important. So I think for the game play to be what it is and be something that you could really get in to. The voice acting needed to be high quality. I would argue that the story and the voice acting are 2 things that help set this game apart in the audio games community.
Issues with the game
Yes even in a game which I clearly like a lot I have found a few issues.
The Saving: I spoke about how nice it is that you can save at any point. But it honestly might be nice if the game auto saved perhaps after levelling up or completing a quest. Just encase something happens you don’t always want to be thinking about saving every 5 minutes.
The sounds in the mine. I spoke of this above to. Yes these are not entirely to my liking. How ever I will say that is more personal preference then any real issue with the game. How ever this is my review so here it is on my list of issues.
The only other thing I will mention is the fact that early on this game did have some issues with crashing. I will admit this can be a bit annoying. But Out of Sight games seem to be working hard to address these issues and have released an up date to fix some of them. So I won’t fault them to hard. No game gets released with out issue and this games game play more then makes up for a few little bugs.
Final Thoughts
Honestly I could keep writing. I could lay down paragraph after paragraph talking about everything from the lay out of different areas to player interactions. But I think I will leave it to the topics I have covered above.
This was a game I really didn’t know much about going in to it. I had basically ignored the hype around it for the last few months. So really didn’t know what to expect going in. I found a little to my surprise that I really liked it and while I have been able to take it slow. I am very much looking forward to continuing to play and explore and finish the game.
I can’t wait to see what comes from this game and out of sight games in the future.
Also final note. If you think this review seems a bit strange at times. It is because I wrote it over the week I have been playing. This has meant at times I have added lines to parts. Several days after I originally wrote them. I left this the way it is so you can perhaps get an idea of how this game has changed my mind a little from first play to a day before posting this article.
rating
9 out of 10.
ending
If you would like to buy and play A Hero’s Call you can get it at the following.