Hercules: The Official Game Review

Later this month, Dwayne Johnson, once known as The Rock, will be doing his thing in the movie "Hercules." So it makes sense that there's an official game to tie-in to such events. Titled Hercules: The Official Game, unsurprisingly, it's a fairly formulaic hack-n-slash game powered by an energy system that means you'll never actually get to progress particularly quickly.

Laid out in a way that's kind of reminiscent of many drag racing games, Hercules: The Official Game involves fighting it out with various foes before progressing to the next stage of battle. Besides the story mode, there are Sword for Hire battles as well as a more challenging set of side quests, each offering an extra means in which to gain money used for new items.

Mostly though, it's the same old action at all times. Fighting involves swiping at the right time to either defend or attack. In early levels an indicator is produced to show you when to swipe to defend a blow but that goes away in later missions, proving to be trickier. Attacking is a matter of swiping repeatedly in any direction you want, but it's only truly effective after defending a blow or two.

There's a shield button as well as a rage attack button, adding to the variety of moves, but it's still roughly the same kind of experience.

Each completed mission leads to you acquiring money, which is used to buy new upgrades and pieces of equipment. That's vital in order to succeed in later missions and serves as your sole means in which to feel you're improving in some way. Some of the better items require earning a lot, suggesting that Hercules: The Official Game really wants you to spend some money on in-app purchases. Also, an energy meter restricts how many battles you can take part in during any one session and it does slow down what can be accomplished quite considerably.

Hercules: The Official Game is pretty harmless for the most part, being briefly fun but ultimately nothing special. Being a little too easy early on and a little too tricky later on is an issue, but really it's the fact it's all a bit forgettable that causes greater problems.