Nerdicus NES Review #9 : Advanced D&D : Heroes of the Lance

Title : Advanced D&D : Heroes of the Lance

Release Date : 1991

Publisher : FCI

 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-$5

LET'S SUCK VIDEO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CLHeU3k0u0

Did you ever have one of those D&D adventures, where the dungeon master has absolutely no idea what he's doing? The background story has little to no appeal, the monsters are worthless and uninspired, and the sense of adventure is non existent. Well, welcome to Heroes of the Lance.




It's funny how I enjoyed Dragonstrike so much, yet I despise Heroes of the Lance. The problem is, this game tries too hard to mix together the D&D RPG elements pulled straight from the D&D rule book, while still trying to be some sort of a side scrolling action adventure game. If you enjoy moving at a snails pace, with horrible controls and no direction, well then you might like this game.

So is that a statue? Or a Monster? Who knows....they all look just as crappy

You play as one of eight different characters fighting their way through the dungeon of...uh....hold on I have to look this up in my Dragonlance adventure guide. Uh, Xak Tasaroth? Yeah that's it. Anyway, you're goal is to kill the dragon, uh....hold on again. Khisnath??? So you kill the dragon and recover some magic artifact. Don't you love D&D stories? (hence why a good dungeon master is so important)

But WAIT - let's back track a second. Remember how I said you play as one of eight different characters? Well, you don't. You're not really given the ability to switch. It's basically like starting with eight lives. Once one guy dies, you start with the next one. And each one is JUST as bad as the last. I could barely even figure out how to use any of the abilities that each character supposedly had.

Are those boulders, eyeballs or evil bubbles. I'll go with evil bubbles.

I'll be honest. I couldn't get through more than an hour of playing this game. The sheer level of frustration that plagued me as I tried to trudge through the levels was enough to make me want to be bludgeoned to death by a level one kobold in the mines of madness.

Looks like this guy is about to lose - lucky devil! He doesn't have to play anymore.

So there's a whole lot of bad to say about this game. But what about the good? Erm, well there is none. Except for the incredible names of the main characters. Its a random fantasy name generators dream -

• Goldmoon
• Sturm Brightblade
• Caramon Majere
• Raistlin Majere
• Tanis Half-Elven
• Tasslehoff Burrfoot
• Riverwind
• Flint Fireforge

I wish i was joking, but those are all real. Classic. Unless you're a huge D&D fan - actually scratch that, even that won't save this game. This game is just good as a shelf filler. Use it to add to your collection, but don't expect anything out of it. However, now I am curious to check out the PC edition. So if you're looking for a decent Draognlance quest, get your old group of D&D buddies together instead. Avoid this garbage.

Until next time, keep on gaming.