The fact that 88 Heroes comes to the Vita at the end of its life as a physical-only release, 5 years after its original launch is a cute little treat and a welcome surprise. But is it a gem among PlayAsia's latter day output?
Bitmap Bureau's first game, long before the pixel-perfect destruction of Xeno Crisis, shows the attention to detail and desire of a developer looking to do something different. 88 Heroes makes most of the other insta-death platformers that flocked to the Vita look like po-faced one-trick ponies in comparison.
In short, the 88 Heroes are the worst collection of third-rate comic book buffoons ever assembled. Their disposable nature is half the fun. The other is getting enough of the ramshackle heroes to complete the 88 levels and defeat the alien overlord, Dr H8, a sarcastic maniac set on global destruction, before we run out of cannon fodder.
Levels are packed with bombs, lasers, tricks and other usual traps, but our anti-heroes' skills create some great and innovative ways to tackle each level, assuming you get the right hero at the right time. From sword-wielding warriors to giants and aliens, tiny pixels to stubborn unicorns, there's a stellar variety of ways to play and die.
Compare that to some of the stock platformers where there's only one way to go and players die dozens of times to get all the steps just right. This can be just as maddening, but each attempt can be totally or bizarrely different. Especially when you can blow holes in the level, or defy gravity to get around a tricky section.
Such a smorgasbord of characters aren't without their problems. Having to test their jump or weapon while learning each character's ropes can lead to so many more inadvertent deaths. At least by collecting coins, there's the chance to resurrect a favourite, but all the time the clock is ticking and annihilation looms.
Some don't have any weapons, making route to an exit even more fraught. There's 88 seconds to complete each level, 88 rooms to conquer across four areas, starting off in an office block, into the sewers, through the inevitable volcano to the climactic battle on a space station, with boss levels book-ending each zone. Some levels will chew up and spit out heroes like an enraged llama, others - when you know the trick - fly by, but the difficulty only gets harder as the clock ticks down.
The presentation is great, with a MST3K look to it, some fun tunes by Michael Clark and a general sense of humour that most games struggle to get right. Yes, it can get repetitive and making it before the time expires is an extreme gaming challenge. Also, the sewers is the worst idea for and otherwise "bright and cheery" game like this.
Maybe the pixel detection could be one-smidge on the player's side, but trying and failing is a lot more fun than in most games. As of writing, you can still snap up the last few copies at PlayAsia and it would be a shame to miss out.
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Developer Bitmap Bureau
Price: £26 (plus tax and shipping, physical-only)
Score: 8/10
Progress: I'm sewer trash
