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In Heroes you have the choice between the sword wielding human Fighter, the hammer thumping Dwarven Cleric, the bow armed halfling Rogue and the spell casting female Wizard. One feature we particularly liked was the ability to have multiple characters of the same type in the same game. If your mates are not up with Dungeon and Dragons and just want to have a bash at anything that moves then you can take an all fighter party.

Each character comes with their own set of unique combat moves. Multiple strikes will unlock these moves while others can be learned as you advance in levels. In the case of the Dwarven Cleric initial moves are your basic round house smack with hammer and an overhead pile driver strike. Gradually you can add walls of fire earthquakes and other finishing moves as you progress further.

In a feature reminiscent of arcade games if your character is killed a countdown clock appears in which you can resurrect your fallen hero. Failing this you can then start again with a new character of your choice. A bit of a compromise as far as realism is concerned and something that may stick in the throats of die hard D&D players however it must be remembered that this game is looking for a wide audience and easy accessibility by players.

There is a good array of feats that you can learn to enhance your character and some of these are required before your character can wear certain armour or use some of the differing weapons. This is done through a simple but easy to use interface.

There is a good selection of monsters to pit your characters against and thankfully these are graced with a modicum of intelligence. Creatures armed with bows will do their level best to avoid toe to toe combat but rather will shoot and scoot. This can be quite a challenge as they are often backed by grunts who try to pin you down while their bow boys turn you into a pin cushion.

End of level Boss creatures also represent a good challenge. The first one you meet for instance is a Bullett and it's impregnable armour seems impossible to defeat until you work out the trick involved in creating a chink in the armour.

There are various save points scattered throughout the dungeons and what we really liked was that the dungeon would re-populate when you return to a save point. Some purists may find this a bit unrealistic however this game is designed around fun and putting players straight into the action as quick as possible. This is born out in the very short game introduction that sets up the story (a classic story of Evil Dude returned from the dead and 4 heroes resurrected to once again send him back to where he came from) and quickly puts the player into combat. You can elect to do a short tutorial side dungeon (a must for those new to the genre) or opt for straight into the crypts.

The graphics are great in Heroes with some fantastic flame and water effects (very similar to Dark Alliance). As you pan over a torch for instance there are waves of heat rippling over the graphics. There is a great variety of character and monster animation as well while the targeting is reasonably forgiving on how well you are aligned to your opponent. You can pan and zoom very smoothly and this is something you will find yourself doing quite often as you guide your party through some wonderful dungeon settings.

The only draw back in the game like other console action RPGs is how party separation is handled in multi-player games. Traditionally if one character wants to go north and the other south for instance they are limited by the width of the screen. Some attempt has been made to resolve this by zooming out the further the characters separate however there is a maximum to this and what we would have liked to have seen was the game dropping to a split screen mode.

Overall Dungeons & Dragons Heroes is a blast to play. It is an easy entry for people new to the genre and full on action gives this game a wide appeal. More so given it's four player mode which is fantastic. A great game and a lot of fun to play.