Hands On: Bunch of Heroes
By Kyle Mann | September 12, 2011 | Previews | No comments | Share
I spent part of this past weekend blasting my way through Bunch of Heroes, a cartoony top-down shooter that’s as enjoyable as it is charming. Featuring over-the-top, zany foes like undead aliens, undead soldiers, and undead–well, just about everything, the game lets you fight waves of enemies with up to three of your friends, either online or off. All the outlandish action invades Steam next week, but we’ve got our hands on an advance build, and we’re here to let you know how it’s shaping up.
When you boot up Bunch of Heroes, the creation of Argentinean game developer NGD Studios, you’ll be greeted by its upbeat tunes and cartoon aesthetic. Then you’ll pick a character, a campaign, and away you’ll go to Mars, a graveyard, or the zombie-infested farmlands. The game is not dissimilar to action fare like Frozenbyte’s Shadowgrounds or Valve’s Alien Swarm, controlling easily enough with the WASD keys and your trusty mouse. In that regard, it’s fairly standard for the genre.
Where Bunch of Heroes really shines is the addicting, frenetic battles that will see you desperately running from foes, making last-ditch rescue attempts on helpless civilians, and defending essential resources even as you’re hopelessly outnumbered. The mission objectives are ridiculous and simple: GET THE GIRL TO THE CAR! DEFEND THE ZOMBIFIER! In the end, though, the level of challenge is just right, tending to the more difficult side of the scale.
Offering players the choice of four wildly different characters ranging from a Mr. T lookalike to a spunky cheerleader, the game doesn’t fail to impress with the bright, bubbly graphics. Explosions from the (many) big guns the game is bristling with are big and appropriately loud. Zombie and alien blood, coming in flavors of red, blue, and green, is both satisfying to watch as you pump your victims full of lead and helpful in determining what kind of damage you’re dealing.
The experience doesn’t have to end with the singleplayer, however; full co-op support is included for both online and LAN play. I haven’t gotten a chance to spend any time with the multiplayer, but as the action and missions appear to be the same, I expect it’s a case of the more the merrier. Sadly, the game appears to support only 360 gamepads at this point, as my Rumblepad was summarily ignored by the game. With some tweaking with the 360 Controller Emulator, I’m sure the more patient among us could get other pads to work. Still, the keyboard and mouse work nicely for precision aiming and quick movement.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but there’s enough here for a weekend’s worth of undead-slaying fun. Assuming a reasonable price point, and I would be hard-pressed not to recommend Argentina’s brand of frantic zombie fun. The game will drop on Steam on September 21.
