From the ad:
"Zeus has answered your prayers. And now, it's time to take your place among the gods in this hot new PlayStation game console adventure. Explore three worlds of 3-D game play right out of Disney's Hercules movie - with the original character voices, sound effects and music. Mangle monsters like Hydra and the Cylcops. Terminate the Titans. Save Thebes from a hostile takover. Hey, this game can make you immortal!"
Hercules was published by Virgin Games in 1997 and is based on the Disney animated movie of the same name. This is sort of a hybrid 2D/3D platform game. Whereas the 16-bit generation included endless side-scrolling platform adventure games, 32-bit systems were transitioning to 3D. Games like Tomb Raider and Super Mario 64 popularized this genre but personally, I never really made the transition. Hercules fits in sort of a middle ground but for the most part feels more like a traditional 2-D side-scroller.
If you like 2D and/or 3D adventure games and are a Disney fan, this game isn't bad. While movie licenses often make terrible games, it isn't always the case and Disney really did an above average job most of the time. While not the masterpiece that games like Aladdin and Lion King were on 16-bit consoles, it is still reasonably solid.
Hercules does a good job of capturing the look and feel of the movie. Environments are colorful and varied (and of course match the movie), the animation is smooth, and the voice clips are even from the original cast. While the controls are nothing special, the mechanics are straightforward and there isn't much that should frustrate the average player in that regard. The soundtrack also includes music from the film and this is another thing that Disney has typically always done a good job with. This game is no exception.
While the game overall is pretty good, it isn't perfect and I would say it was made with the younger player in mind. This makes sense of course being a Disney game based on a Disney movie. The game is very short so experienced players will likely be able to complete it in a matter of hours. Even though the game is pretty good, I don't think there is a lot of replayability here. Also, while the controls might be easy and straightforward, this is a double-edged sword. There is nothing here to frustrate you but there is also a lot of repetition when it comes to combat.
This game isn't really my cup of tea but it isn't a bad game. If you like Hercules, usually like Disney games, or just like this style of game in general, then you should definitely give it a try. In addition to being released on the PlayStation, it was also released on the PC. I was a little surprised to see that this game was available on gog.com. Often, licensed games don't see these kinds of re-releases. While being more of a retrogamer I would probably prefer the original PlayStation version, but at only $5.99 it's hard not to recommend this as a cheap and easy way to play the game.
Screen shots above are from the PlayStation version of the game. The ad (top and bottom) is from the September 1997 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.
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Played the hell (maybe Hades) out of this as a kid and to this day it's basically my only exposure to Disney's Hercules. I have faint memories of basically speedrunning it when I was bored.
I loved this game! I remember beating it at first because it was one of the few games I had as soon as I got my PlayStation, and I learned to love it from playing it so much. Long gone are the days of the PlayStation 1, it's old hat to say that, I know, but it was the best video game.
Only seeing this in magazines back in the day made it almost magical looking. I never played it though, might have to find a copy one day.
This game looks really nice, I'm surprised that it has 2D graphics, because the majority of platform game based on Disney movies for PS1, or at least the ones I played, were in 3D.
The PlayStation had already been around a few years by this point as well otherwise I might have guessed that it was originally intended for the Super NES. I don't think I played many Disney games on the PlayStation so I didn't really recall if they were more frequently 2D or 3D. I've never been particularly fond of 3D platformers though.
Seeing this brings back memories from my childhood ❤️
@darth-azrael, I'm refunding 0.254 HIVE and 0.061 HBD, because there are no comments to reward.