Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Overview

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color game from Titus (based on the hit television show). It centers around one of the most popular Grecian myths, that of Heracles, or, as he is better known, Hercules. The game involves a combination of skirmishes with random enemies and bosses, elementary puzzles, and numerous trading sequences and side quests similar to the ones found in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The player can also play as two of Herc's friends, Lolaus and Serena (or the Golden Hind, as the half woman, half horse character is referred to in the game): they each have their own unique attacks and weapons. Legendary Journeys is known to have many bugs and technical issues (alongside its clunky controls) that make the game frustrating and unnecessarily difficult in numerous places. This game proved to be another high profile failure for the once beloved Titus as it continued to plunge deeper into the territory of poorly developed action/adventure games; directly following the release of the critically-despised Superman 64.

Playable Characters

Though Hercules is the primary player character, the player does take control of Lolaus and the Golden Hind during certain moments of the game. Each of these characters have a unique control scheme; unfortunately, perhaps due to a lack of care in the game's development, the other two characters are both exceedingly difficult to control and considerably weaker than Hercules. Nonetheless, the character's attributes are listed below:

• Hercules - The strongest and most primarily used of the characters, Hercules' primary attack is the punch by way of pressing the B button. Upon holding the B button, Hercules can also use a "super punch" that does greater damage and can be used to break through weakened walls. Furthermore, although all characters will stun enemies after a certain number of hits (bosses excluded), Hercules is the only character capable of picking up and throwing enemies; instantly killing both the enemy and any other enemies with which the thrown one makes contact. Furthermore, Herc is the only character that can purchase potions from the tavern owner (who exists in all of the game's towns) that unleash lavish special attacks centered around four elements: earth, fire, lightning, and ice. The earth potion drops rocks from the sky upon his unexpecting enemies; the fire potion unleashes burning balls of molten lava upon Herc's adversaries; the lightning potion performs a similar attack by way of giant, thundering lightning bolts; and the ice potion temporarily freezes one's foe(s). These potions are accessed via the C buttons. Although Hercules is the most overpowered of the game's characters, his portions can be nonetheless difficult to play due to a weak camera and the lack of a lock-on system.

• Iolaus - The sidekick of Hercules, Iolaus is useful as the only character in the game capable of climbing vines (which have an odd graphical similarity to those in Ocarina of Time). However, once he has climbed said vines and reached whatever dangers await him at the top, he is faced with the difficulty of fighting with his exceedingly underpowered staff (perhaps he is Herc's sidekick for a reason, eh?). Iolaus is also useful in one instance in which the snowy alps can only be crossed by a body small enough to fit into the only available winter coat. Iolaus cannot leave any of his designated playable areas however, if the player tries, they are met with the message: "Perhaps I should let Herc take care of this."

• The Golden Hind - Though christened Serena in the television series, the game (for some unbeknownst reason) refers to her as The Golden Hind. This lady Centaur is, in fact, the weakest of the three characters. The Hind's only method of attack is the shooting of her arrows, done in a first person mode. Although the arrows can be shot in the standard third-person perspective, they are guaranteed to strike nothing unless the enemy lies directly in front of the Hind. The first-person mode is troubling however, as the controls are so unbearably clunky and difficult to use that the player will have almost certainly lost a considerable amount of health by the time he/she was even capable of training his/her sights upon his/her adversaries. Fortunately, The Golden Hind also has the smallest amount of game time between the three characters; and, like Lolaus, is restrained to her respective areas with a message identical to his.