Gaming: ZHEROES, a first look

Today we're taking a look at an indie game – ZHEROES, (http://www.zherosgame.com) from Rimlight Studios.  The game is available for XBox One, PS4 and PC (Steam) for $14.99.  We have been playing the Steam version using an XBOX controller for a number of hours with both main characters on both the easy and medium difficulty settings.  At this point, we've played through the first several levels but have not completed the game on either setting.  So, this is basically an early look at the game using the game play through level 1-5

 

• Scenery, colors, character rendering – in short, I like the artwork – from the glow on the attacks and explosions to the coloring of the scenery, the game looks really nice
• 2 Player co-op mode – games like this can be more fun with a friend or loved on there to help you get through tough battles
• Player choices when leveling up – Players get to pick and choose how to upgrade the characters between levels, assuming you've collected enough materials to earn this reward
• Increasingly difficult (in terms of button sequence) and more powerful combos – it's a fun challenge to pull off a sweet combo move for lots of damage
• 3 Save slots – Wouldn't mind having more but certainly like having more than one.
• Difficulty settings – I liked being able to adjust the difficulty levels.  If you have small kids who are playing the game, having the easy mode is nice so they have a fighting chance.
• Cost – at $14.99, this is an inexpensive game and could be worth the price for several hours of entertainment
• Different fighting styles for the 2 main characters – the 2 heroes have different style attacks.  The man (Mike) is all upper body, throwing punches galore.  The woman (Dorian), is powerful in the lower body and throws her attacks via kicks.

• Controls – OK, so when I'm able to launch an attack based on a new combo (a simple Y+X+Y type combination), it's great and I do some damage.  The problem with my system is that even when I executed the move, the combo would not fire consistently.  I'd say this happened perhaps 60 – 70% of the time.  That's frustrating
• Controls – certain parts of the game require you to run or jump over objects.  Getting the timing right or predicting your take off and landing spots did not feel natural and this was on lower levels where the jumps were easy.  Eventually, I'll probably get used to how to time the jumps but my initial feel was that it felt a bit off.
• Fun/Uniqueness – I feel like I've played many similar games in the past so for this to stand out, I'd need to be blown away.  The game is visually appealing as I mentioned above but the gameplay itself does not feel all that new and fresh despite the good looks.

So, taking all these factors in to account, I'd recommend the game if you're looking to bash in hundreds or thousands of little robot dudes.  The cost of entry is low and there are plenty of videos out there that'll show you actual game play if you're interested (including ours below).  The game looks nice and while there are what I assume to be – timing issues – with combos and jumping, the game is easy to play and entertaining.

Go check it out and let us know if there are any other indie games that you'd recommend!

Links:

Home Page http://www.zherosgame.com/

Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/423270/

Gameplay Video: