Dragon Quest Heroes Launches On PS4

Square Enix has launched Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below. That name is a serious mouthful, but gamers are already enticed by the game's Dynasty Warriors-inspired gameplay and colorful visuals.

The official launch trailer for the game was put up over on the PlayStation blog in celebration of the game becoming available for Sony's home console. You can check it out below.

The game has quite a bit of depth to it. It's not just another Dynasty Warrior clone from Omega Force.

Dragon Quest Heroes allows players to engage with a two-tier combat system that either allows players to use a quick method of unleashing attacks with button mashing being the prime way to dispense enemies, and then there's a “Slick” method that allows detail-oriented gamers to strategically and tactically string together combos using advanced button combinations. Think of it as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi on one side and King of Fighters on the other.

The other neat thing is the coin call-ins. Players are able to summon monsters into the battle in two different and distinct ways. The first is described as a summon similar to Final Fantasy's famous monster summons that come in and either do massive damage or inflict an ailment on the enemy. It's a temporary summon used to help turn the tide in the favor of the good guys if the battle is going awry. The second summon is one that sees the monster staying on the battlefield in that particular area, helping players fight off the baddies for the duration of the battle. I suppose you could say one summon is a call-in while the other is like a tag-team partner.

And given that this is an Omega Force game, what would it be without a musuo rage attack? Only, in Dragon Quest Heroes it's called a tension gauge unlike Dynasty Warriors' musuo gauge. Players can build up the tension throughout a battle and then unleash a devastating attack on enemies to turn the tide of battle.

Each of the playable characters has their own finishing special and it can be unleashed after the tension gauge has been filled up.

Speaking of the playable characters, it's possible to take up to four characters into battle out of the 14 playable characters on the roster. It's a little like mixing in the old-school classic turn-based party system from the original Dragon Quest games with the new hotness of Dynasty Warriors games. Using the controller it's possible to swap between the four party members during battle, so you can maximize the efficiency of the team by playing the different characters during key times during a fight.

Dragon Quest Heroes is available right now for the PlayStation 4 and you can get your hands on the game either digitally or from your local retailer. Also, every weekend up until January 31st, 2016, Square will be hosting special experience bonus events so players can get 20% extra exp over the weekend.