Heroes of the Lance

The Good
Perhaps the only feature to appreciate about AD&D: Heroes of the Lance is that you have 8 characters that you can easily alternate between. This is essential because it is so hard to control characters in the first place and they have the worst time staying alive.

The Bad
There is very little to like about this game. This is the type of game that uses the same maddeningly repetitive graphics to illustrate each and every level so that it is absolutely impossible to differentiate one hallway from another. You are supposed to be working your way through a big maze. But I think it was one of those mazes where if you take door A -> door B, door B does not necessarily lead back to door A. Forget about trying to map this place.

The Bottom Line
There is not much to describe-- all I can advise is "Save Yourself!" because it is too late for me. This was the first of 4 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games for the NES and it made me want to stay away from anything with the AD&D label on it.

The Good
Another surprise approach, in bringing a side-scroll action game for the heroes of krynn. Unlike other similiar games, in this game you can change your characters anytime you want. It's basically a seven in one character game. For instance if there's a barrier between you and your enemy, where you can't reach him in melee combat. Switch to your other characters that have ranged attacks, like Riverwind the Ranger or his brother Raistlin the Magi, after wasting the poor chap, change again to other character, etc.

Well, it's a kinda well balanced game since different characters have different traits, so there is some level of strategy in defeating the enemy.

Oh, did I mention there are baby dragons? They fight like hell, imagine fighting their parents...

The Bad
What you can't save the game? What do you mean you can't save the game? This was probably the main reason I stopped playing this game (that and the building sized dragon you just can't seem to defeat...sigh). There is no save menu in this game, like most games in that period of time, so when you meet mister nice dragon and turn to ash, you have start all over again... And that was probably only level one....sigh.

The Bottom Line
Dragons...dragons...everywhere dragons...yikes.