Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Developer: Player 1 Publisher: Titus Interactive

Released: October 13, 2000 (or August 18? Reference needed) Rated: T 4/10

You may have heard Hercules: The Legendary Journeys referred to, in passing, as an attempt at a Zelda clone. Starting the game, this makes some sense – many controls are executed with a context sensitive A-button, while B is reserved for combat. Hercules travels across the lands of ancient Greece, visiting its many different towns and villages, solving problems for the townsfolk and occasionally fighting large boss characters. Upon playing the game, however, it won’t take long to realize that the comparison, though apt, is much more specific than vague similarities that apply to many adventure games. The team at Player 1 were handed this license, which I always assume Titus snagged in a package deal with its sister show, Xena: Warrior Princess, and decided to base nearly the entire experience on one particular section of the almighty Ocarina of Time: the Biggoron’s Sword trading quest.

In perhaps one of the most dreadfully lazy executions of an idea, it’ll take about an hour and a half or so to realize that their Kevin Sorbo-modeled hunk of a player character is little more than a glorified messenger boy for the entirety of the Grecian countryside. Sure, he can punch the heads off of unending hordes of generic bandits between destinations and the occasional monster of myth, and sometimes switches places with his friends who control exactly the same as he does, but can do fewer things in combat, but the prevailing feeling is that there’s little adventure to be had in finding lost teddy bears or delivering flour so that a lady can make a pie that you then deliver to her neighbor. Even by the end of the game, when many of these mundane items are replaced by gems and runes and medallions, the precedent has been set and there’s no escaping that by swapping assets from a lost cat to a gemstone.

I intended to bring up how bad the dialogue is and pin it on Player 1, but I made sure to watch some clips of the original show and, yeah, not only is there a lack of period dialect in a lot of places, but Herc really is just that lame of a goody two shoes white meat babyface.

Much like Link stopping to fight more nocturnal skeletons as he heads back across Hyrule Field, there’s hardly any substance, any progression, any real enjoyment to be had, even for fans of the TV show. This is, of course, because the Biggoron’s Sword, and many side quests in Zelda games, is optional, and offers a tangible reward at the end to contribute to a much more enjoyable experience. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a three hour walking tour that offers fewer notable scenes than you can count on one hand, even after four-house villages give way to shrines and labyrinths by the end of your adventure. It doesn’t make any real difference in the end because it’s far too little, too late. Fighting a Cyclops as your first major boss fightIf you’re still awake by the time Hercules is solving tame switch puzzles or fighting a lava titan as a golden hind, you’ll still feel short changed by not having spent that last 90 minutes already sleeping.

Like many licensed games, I imagine there would have been some saving grace afforded if the presentation did the TV show some justice. Even though I’m only familiar with the show through some clips I watched to research this game, however, I still can’t imagine there’s much value here in spite of the program’s cult audience. It wouldn’t actually be too difficult, with a series I imagine got most of its value through camp, but between story and dialogue that’s bad in the wrong way, and simply atrocious graphics and sound, there’s probably little to nothing here, even for the most loyal viewers.

Maybe passing for 1997 PS1 presentation, but well below par even for the N64’s cartridges by the end of 2000. Models are bland, enemy variety is almost nonexistent, and even character portraits in dialogue boxes are downright hideous to look at. The music, somehow, is even worse – quite frankly, I think it’s some of the worst I’ve heard on the whole system. Even with the limitations of the N64’s capacity and sound options, the theoretically epic tale – the Legendary Journeys, if you will – deserve a lot more than four tracks of meandering horns and harp programmed with the worst timbre possible. Whether it’s a peaceful village track or an intense boss battle, the music is distractingly bad and quite possibly the worst part of a game that’s otherwise only bad for its refusal to try anything interesting.

Continuing Legacy

Player 1’s twin failures via questionable licenses would see only one further release on consoles: the PAL exclusive Dreamcast racing title EOS: Exhibition of Speed, which also ended their relationship with Titus Interactive. I’m fairly certain that this also ended their run as a company altogether, unless they were revived four years later making and self-publishing mobile games in 2005. My best guess is that this is simply a different company with a similar, not very original gaming-related name. We may thank them for doing a decent job with Robotron X/64 and move on with our lives.

My Streams

Additional Information

Saves: Controller Pak

Compatible With: Rumble Pak

Players: 1

Print Guides: None

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 61.71% based on 12 reviews

Other Releases: UK, October 6, 2000