HeroQuest: The Computer Adventure I Retro Reviews
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- A retrospective review of 1991's HeroQuest, adapted from the boardgame by Gremlin Graphics Software. This video will cover the game's background, its relationship to the original tabletop game, and how it fares as a CRPG. Timestamps are below. The review was based on the Amiga and MS-DOS versions, though I played a few hours of the other ports for comparison. A couple of the dates might be slightly off by a year or so due to confusion over international releases, re-releases and so forth - sorry about that! My next video will be 1992's Dune by Cryo Interactive...with an additional section on David Balsamique's erotic remake, Behind the Dune :O)
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Overview and History
07:18 Gameplay Basics
12:25 Gameplay Analysis
21:13 Art and Sound
30:42 Playing it on modern systems
31:33 Story and Roleplaying (minor spoilers)
39:50 Outro - เกม
The Best thing about HeroQuest is the MUSCULARITY💪--BardicBroadcasts
The art of that Dune remake is something alright. That's all I'll say.
it's YUGE..
What was the that right at the end? It has peaked my interest shall we say 🤣
Me and my friends DEFINITELY crowded around a computer playing this game. And I even owned the board game as well!
That cover art brings right back to sitting in my friends front garden playing the boardgame all summer long.😊
I can't wait for the Dune review! 🤣
Your retrospectives are very information-rich and time efficient. I've seen 4 hour videos that say comparatively little.
Don't worry, I have a 4 hour video that says comparatively little too 😁
You are doing great work, youll see a breakthrough as soon as you find that sweetspot video between obscure and recognizable. Love the weird stuff you cover though.
Thanks, I try to focus on just doing it as a hobby rather than try to make a real thing out of it though. Less likely to burn out :)
I still have my original tabletop copy of the game and somehow never knew a computer version was made; appreciate the video!
Still don't know how to actually play it, but the figurines and board was great to play with as a kid lol
As I said with Legacy of Sorasil's video, this is also a great and accurate one!! Congrats and thanks.
I owned the boardgame and all is expansions, having bought them second hand at a boot sale in the mid 90s. Loved the boardgame and played the games on the commodore quite a bit
A great, well researched and excellently put together video, once more! Thanks a lot.. A joy to watch, as usual!
What you do probably not much people with appretiate fully. Your level of knowledge and interests bypasses absolute majority of general "deep" video game reviewers. Your knowledge and understanding of classic 80-90s CRPGs, 8 and 16 bit home micros, tabletop and RPG books, fantasy books, gaming culture of the era since 80s towards modern age of Windows 9x and WindowsNT. You know way beyond majority of typical video game reviewers who, while, do their reserach, have often limited experience in such areas.
I'm a much younger person, but all my life went in facination with DOS RPGs, Strategy games and tactics. I try to follow modern 8bit and 16bit computer communities, Amiga and C64 in paricular, and the more I moved into my closed interestes the more I was dissapointed with mainstream retro video gaming channels, shifting towards old electronics and programming yt content. However, you are revived my interest in the whole concept of long detailed retro video game reviews. You are the first yt of such type I has nothing really to add. More than that, you know more than I'm looks like on said topics, which is a rare thing as not much people care about things like early 90s Dungeon crawlers, or history of old forgotten niche DOS game studios.
Still, if you will need any assistance on research or any help with, say, old pre-zenimax bethesda, new world computing, classic assembly basics and electronics basics of these machines and computers, just ask me. However, looking at how you observant about things like DreamForge's SSI-published titles, glide wrappers, reviewers at CGW, it is I who need to seek your knowledge. Thank you for your work.
Thanks for the comments! I actually don't know all that much about many of the games I cover on the channel, even those I played back in the day - partly because there was less direct interaction with consumers. It's only after looking through previews, searching for keywords and such that I get a better idea of the backstory and context.
Archive is by far one of the best sources for this, but it sometimes gets hit by takedown requests for entire back catalogues, even those that aren't available online anywhere. Before I worked out how to use it, I was basically looking at the release date, then downloading dozens of issues of CGW from their museum and working backwards to try and find any mention of it. Sometimes you just find random interviews from browsing the front page of archived fansites. I have a notepad file somewhere with dozens of notes on interesting things I read in old magazines that I intended to come back to.
I was disappointed at how little I could find on HeroQuest, but later found out there were a few interesting titbits in the "Gremlin in the Works" book, which I checked for the HQ2 video. Unfortunately there's so much that's been lost over the years, from lost magazine issues to forums that weren't archived. I'm hoping my videos help keep some of it alive, but the best thing would be for services like Archive and Internet Wayback Machine to be expanded and made more user friendly for regular people.
Those tie-in novels by Dave Morris (The Fellowship of Four, The Screaming Spectre, The Tyrant's Tomb), in addition to the novella story, had a quest to play on the board game itself.
Big Ed is back with the goods..
Great videos. You’re my new binge channel.
I only played a demo of this from Commodore Format. It probably was only a few rooms but I played it over and over. I’ll have to download it and see if the rest of the game can capture my imagination now like it did when I was a child.
Really impressed by the depth of your reviews they have a tv quality for me. Got me interested in games I've known for years and those I've never played. Going back to the original sources makes this videos feel fresh and current with is great!
Thanks a lot! Archive.org is a huge asset there because you can search for specific text in a specific year. It saves me spending hours flipping through old game mags to try and find previews.
The name of the quests in the Witchlord expansion sounded like a playlist of a power metal band.
Haha, yeah very "fantasy quest"
I was 13-ish years old when me and a school friend "acquired" HeroQuest for the Amiga, and I have so many fond memories of the game. ESPECIALLY after we found HGMM, the HeroQuest Map Maker - which was not an editor for the video game but for the board game, but we still spent so much time making maps while playing the ones in the game. In hindsight, I agree with your criticism - it's a very simple game, but that made it approachable and just a great time waster for a bunch of kids. I HATED the sequel because it was just too long and complex, the simpler maps of the first game were just better for that. But yeah, it's pure nostalgia. Still, Thank You so much for making videos for both games, that was a delightful experience!
Yeah they got complaints that HeroQuest was too simplistic and too easy, so Legend of Sorasil had much larger maps and boss enemies (and no mid-quest saves). You could try the second game again on an emulator with savestates or whatever, but it's quite long and easy to screw yourself other. There are one or two Longplays of it on YT.
Your videos are so well produced, researched and entertaining that it's very surprising, for me, that your subscriber count is not in the millions. Love watching (more like hearing with the occasional alt tab) your videos at work. Cheers from northeastern Brazil, keep up the good work!
always a good day when I see you've posted a new video ;) your work is much appreciated, man. Cheers!
Thanks for all your comments :D
@@MrEdders123 no biggie!
Just found your channel and love these so far! I had an Atari ST with a demo of Hero Quest as a kid and LOVED it, though replaying it today I agree it’s somewhat dated nowadays. Though the soundtrack… still sticks in my head!
I remember seeing this game in a magazine when I was a kid and was so excited. I never saw it in the wild though, it must not have been distributed very wide in the US. I loved the board game though.
Love your vids!!
Thanks Ed, good stuff.
Good luck with the Dune translation stuff ;)
Thanks, working hard on it!
Awesome video.
This channel is great
I gotta agree, the Amiga art here seems the best, mostly to the better colour palette, which, while restrained compared to the DOS version, it seemed to be employed in the most stylistically encompassing manner.
Good video Ed
I'd say if one wanted to properly adapt _HeroQuest_ to the video game medium while still keeping the inherent accessibility, I'd model it on *Raven Software's* _Marvel Ultimate Alliance._
Granted the game is more of a brawler with RPG elements, but the linear, cathartic, adventure vibe is completely intact. You'd still explore, fight, solve problems, get loot and gear and sink points into abilities, but it feels like a logical translation of the board game. I feel what makes _HeroQuest_ so popular is that it's easy to get your head around, so a video game of it should follow suit. Granted, it could use some more layers, some extra quality of life features to keep people coming back to a video game version, but otherwise I think that'd be the best evolutionary path for it.
I didn't know it was a computer game. I ahve the Board Game :)
I would love to see you do a review of Abandoned Places.
What's that?
There was an unfinished NES port of this game that I played a couple years ago.
There was also a ZX-Spectrum bersion.
Played this on the Spectrum (proper old Skool). Always felt the followup Space Crusade lended itself to a Computer Game far better than Heroquest. Heroquest felt fairly limited. Walk into a room, hit enemy, repeat...
If all goes well I'll cover Space Crusade next year :)
Barry Leitch is an excellent composer! One of my favorites from the era, thanks to the Top Gear soundtrack on the SNES.
I believe he lives in America now (at least last I checked). There's an interview with some local tv station from the late 90s or early 00s somewhere...
@@MrEdders123 I'm not sure, but I do think he runs his own Twitter/TH-cam/Bandcamp these days!
Unrelated, but I just wanted to say to keep it up with the content! Great stuff, I'm really enjoying binging every video. I grew up in this era, but you regularly reference games I've never heard of- and I'd love to see you make videos on some of them. You once named Infogrames' Silver as having been quite story-heavy, but I'd never even seen the box art.
I'm subbed and I look forward to your channel continuing to grow. I think you're doing excellent work, and I hope the algorithm favors you soon. Keep it up, you've got what it takes to make it here.
@@theswordidtruth Silver is interesting for being a "western" JRPG (even more than Torment lol) and is definitely on the menu.
Okay now am curious about that "Heroquest 2" game.
I will review it sometime in 2023, hopefully :D It's a little bit obscure because it was only on the Amiga CD-32 console in Europe, and certain builds of Amiga PC (which was already dying out by that point).
Nice
Not familiar with HeroQuest adaptations, but the Space Crusade one (for PC) wasn't half bad. Not having played the board game versions, it came across as a 'demake' of sorts of Space Hulk. Which it kind of is, later getting to know its origins.
I think Space Crusade sometimes gets mixed up with Space Hulk, and Space Hulk stuck in people's memories more due to the first-person action. I don't know if I'll cover SC in the future - sometimes I think about doing all the pre-2000s Warhammer and 40k games.
New sleeping video 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I've been really enjoying your videos! Will you ever do Neverwinter Nights?
Unlikely :( I'm trying to avoid "big" projects after my Planescape video (too little time in my life for those, at least for the moment). There's also a 4+hr video on NWN's campaigns by Noah Caldwell-Gervais (I think).
@@MrEdders123 I understand! Thank you!
I know it was inherent to the board game and not just the computer game version, but I'm surprised that you didn't comment on the fact that about 75% of the equipment deck was completely useless. "roll two dice in combat, can't be used by the wizard who is the only person that doesn't get to roll two dice already"
haha to be honest I didn't delve into the nuts and bolts of the mechanics that deeply...I just did whatever worked :D
I remember this board game that the class "Nerd" in Middle school (who was a bit obnoxious and kind of spoiled as he has basically what all the kids in the 90's wish for, latest videogame, PC, nerdy board games, sci fi and Fantasy books in English, something that was rare in the 90's Sweden which was basically boring). Was curious of this and saw AVGN one time did a review of the board game during his board game review.
Did he actually do a proper review of the boardgame? I remember seeing an AVGN video on HQ but it was basically a joke vid briefly reading the rules before the other guy got bored lol
@@MrEdders123 yup it was that ep where James was talking about Hero quest and Mike at the end was bored waiting with the setting up... which I guess was true for most kids who had this game and their friend got bored listening to the rule
@@hanchiman Yeah I think I may have chewed on the plastic figures...
@@MrEdders123 haha. My earliest memory of these roleplaying board game was actually some kind of car game set in Mad Max. I had an older friend (think he was 12 or so while I was 7) was playing it while I was hanging around in his home
I had the board game!
Should be worth quite a bit in another 40yrs :D
Is that intro song some adaptation of 18 and Life?
I think Leach admitted copying several popular songs for some of his chiptunes ;D
Hello, do you happen to have the name of the song from the intro? Great vid btw!
It's one of the tracks from the MT-32 version of Heroquest. I think it's one of these: th-cam.com/video/cxb3P6hrfhM/w-d-xo.html
Uhhh so why are there Orks and Chaos Warriors hanging out together in the same dungeon? They're...not the same faction.
"Bad" factions frequently collaborated in old Warhammer lore (pre-3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy I believe they were literally just called "Evil Armies" or something) and there was a lot of crossover. There were chaos orcs, for example. It wasn't until the 90s and beyond that some armies were pushed as distinct factions who disliked each other in the lore (e.g. Chaos vs. Vampire Counts). Partly a symptom of the lore evolving to become more unique, partly just wanting to sell different miniature with vastly different aesthetics and capabilities.
Anyone know what version of the intro music that is? I've looked around youtube a bit and the closest i found was for Amiga but that's not quite the same. The one for DOS i found was to slow.
If you mean the opening music, it's part of the Roland MT-32 soundtrack, starting from 6:43-ish here: th-cam.com/video/cxb3P6hrfhM/w-d-xo.html
@@MrEdders123 thanks! I fell asleep with youtube on and your video autoplayed. I head the song i my dream and think i Kinda got a bit obsessed with it. I thought i made it up or something but damn was i glad it existed when i rewatched this vid.
@@jonatanlindqvist7482 You might be interested in the channel "Retro Recipes" and similar content for old chiptune stuff.
This is not baldur's gate for sure😰
You are a historian.
I had the Amstrad CPC version
I was too lazy to fiddle around with the emulator to get footage of that haha. I actually played the Acorn port growing up, which was sort of half DOS half Amiga version.
I loved Legacy of Sorasil- the sequel. Didn't have an opportunity to play thisone.
That's my next video after the one I'm uploading now :D
Fantastic!