Big Helmet Heroes is the latest game to cross my desk, and what a fun bit of game it was. It features a decent gameplay loop, solo or couch coop style multiplayer campaign, and an entertaining story, and I have enjoyed it immensely.
The game follows a linear story presented in a majestic form of hand-drawn comic styling, presenting the age-old trope of the hero coming to save the princess and taking a delightful path with many twists and turns. While the gameplay is a 3D-styled beat ’em-up adventure. Our hero battles through various stages, including but not limited to beaches, icy tundras, fantasy lands and many more. These levels add to the flair of the game and keep things fresh.
The gameplay loop is what hooked me, especially fun for playing on a handheld. Fast-paced levels with easy-to-use skills, weapons, and superpowers for decimating unsuspecting foes. Switching between your two selected heroes makes taking on bigger groups of enemies quite fun, too. With characters falling into the four architectural types of Monks, Brutes, Rogues, and Warriors, it was fun experimenting to find what worked best for me.
With twenty-nine heroes to unlock, there was often a new character to try. The class of the hero locked in your weapon and attack type, whereas the individual heroes all had unique and powerful super attacks that charged up during the level. Picking up weapons in the level also changed the character’s attack style, with the weapons consisting of hammers, dual welds, staffs, sword-and-shield, and even guns or crossbows. There were many ways to complete the level and have fun. Each type of weapon had different movement and attack stylings, making it easy to pick up a staff and flip around or a gun and blast away.
Big Helmet Heroes also featured some beautifully rendered 3D stylings and very picturesque scenes. Starting in a medieval style and moving through dreamy fields with sheep and even fantasy lands featuring unicorns. The world was never dull and was well crafted, keeping me interested throughout my journey.
Enemies also followed the stage design, adding different types of enemies and weapons as I progressed. Later stages added bosses, large mini-bosses, and horde modes where I had to survive waves of progressively stronger or numerous enemies. The game’s audio perfectly matched the surroundings, with weapon clashes, the sound of the super attacks and the general atmosphere being uniquely added to by the addition of the sound effects and music. The transition of the music from stage to stage was enthralling in its many forms.
With plenty of interesting heroes to unlock and the ability to replay levels in multiple difficulties. This one should keep the family or friend group entertained for ages and will be a good addition to family game night.
(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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