Remember my Neverwinter Nights on Facebook review? Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter is a huge step up. It has music! And awesome graphics!

Okay, here’s a run through:

I create a new character. Choices are arranged by height: Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue and Custom. Curious, I click on “Custom.” Although I can create my own character and stats, I opt to go with an Eladrin Wizard.

STR 10
INT 20 (+5)
WIS 10
CON 11
DEX 16 (+3)
CHA 8 (-1)

Character name: Sha’Relea. Approved! I have some customization, which I take advantage of. When I’m done, a companion pops up with the words: “Whew! You blacked out on me back there. I thought you were a goner.” Come to find out the person speaking to you is Edrick, a scout who was guiding you through the goblin woods. You wind up on a strategy grid where you can move about. Edrick leads you to the next board and the first round of combat.

Combat is really easy. You need to pick the option you want and then once you’re done you end your turn. After combat, I got to pick a treasure! Then, I go on to the next board. There’s a mini-map at the bottom of the screen and the ability to play this full screen. I proceed through level after level until I get to the Goblin Camp. After slaying a few goblins with Edrick, I grab some treasure and wind up in Neverwinter where I can continue finding quests, buy equipment, meet other adventurers and more!

I go to my house. There I find gifts from friends and unlock achievements. To upgrade my equipment, the game uses a drag-and-drop method which I didn’t grasp right away. I buy a new staff and upgrade my armor. Now, I’m ready to fight again! Whoo-hoo! Only, it’s not a good idea to go off by myself. So I head to the Tavern where I learn I can go on quests with up to three other adventurers. I click on some familiar faces and head back out to see what quests there are. I’m headed beneath Neverwinter to sift through the catacombs. I opted for two Dragonborn and two wizards and have been making a lot of use out of the Magic Missiles.

Combat and movement are both color-coded. Corpses you can loot are denoted by sparkles (which helps me!) and the mini-map shows you how long it takes for you to finish the adventure. This time around, I didn’t need a rogue but that doesn’t mean I won’t pick one next time. I manage to head through the catacombs and fight several corpses, face a necromancer, and live to tell another tale.

As far as Facebook games go, this is exemplary. I’m so glad I played the other Neverwinter Nights game because there truly is no comparison between Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter and the other one. This is a professional presentation with decent graphics and soundtrack, good social mechanics, and engaging stories. I’ve played a lot of Facebook games over the years, including some other turn-by-turn based games, and this still has the illusion of being social without any of the usual hang ups. You don’t need to wait on other players to stick around and shoot, but you can still offer gifts and other goodies to your friends.

I had a lot of fun playing this game and think it’s easier to play than other, similar strategy games designed like this (on sites like BubbleBox.com) because there are messages and signals to help any transition. When someone’s health is in trouble it flashes red. Practically everything is clickable and pop-ups are on hand to tell you what to do, so if you’re new to gaming there’s plenty to help ease you through the adventure.

So go have fun!

Review by Monica Valentinelli

Tags | dungeons and dragons