As one might expect from myself, I’ve been immersing myself into the realm of flash games, keeping an eye out for anything that is exceptionally well done.  And, well… when a game pretty much invites me to bust out JoyToKey just so I can play it with a controller, I know I’m hooked.

Enter in Hero’s Arms.  The storyline seems pretty ridiculous, as if it’s really just a parody of all those old, insepcific storylines you might find in a game that has a total of about 8 kilobytes of RAM to work with… but considering it’s true, I kinda just went with it.  Here’s what got me though- after just a little bit of wandering around I could tell this was going to be interesting.

Already one can see the resemblance to the overhead aproach to Zeldas 1 and 3, with a clear nod at Zelda 2’s EXP gain system.  But don’t get me wrong, this game is more than the sum of those parts.

Much of the game is spent running around the main map, finding various caves to locate items in, or find a better sword and shield.  Well, anything’s better than that crappy stick you get at the start of the game, for srs reals… So I sould suggest finding each of the three or four caves you can reach before entering the palaces.  The upgrades and EXP you’ll come across for killing everything in your path makes it well worth it.

Okay, so you got the sword and can’t think of where to go next?  Well, that sword IS pretty sharp, I bet it can cut bushes that blocked your way before.  Oh wait, it’s the first palace you’ve beaten and can’t figure out where to go next?  Well, that Boomeraxe has a bit of a reach to it- try hitting a switch you couldn’t reach before with it.  Okay, these might not have seemed obvious to someone who hasn’t been playing Legend of Zelda games all their lives, but it occurred to me that some people didn’t quite get it at first.  One area where this game lacks is townspeople hints.  They really should drop more hints about where you can find upgrades and what to do with the Boomeraxe.

Anyway, once you make it to the castle, you’ll find yourself transported back outside where things have changed slightly.  A slightly cheap way to coax the player to play the game twice, but it worked for Zelda, didn’t it?  And after all, this game pretty much IS a tribute to Zelda games in every way.  And in that vein it succeeds in being a worthy play through.  I’ve already sunk over 7 hours into the game and I’m still not finished completely.

So, what are my gripes?  Really, the biggest complaint is that upgrading health doesn’t seem to do enough reduction in damage.  Monsters still seem to do about as much damage either way until I get a new armor.  That, and I started playing at Newgrounds instead of Kongregate, which cost me the ability to grab some sweet looking armor and weapon.  Okay, the ads popping up when you get a new item were kinda annoying too… But all said and done, it’ll still kill an afternoon or a few.

Play the game here on Kongregate!

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