Can These Random Heroes Save Earth From A Monster Invasion?
Random Heroes ($0.99) by Ravenous Games is a new action platformer from Ravenous Games, the fine folks that brought us amazing hits like League of Evil and its sequel.
The game starts off with a small sequence that explains what is going on. Basically, everything is normal, with two hooligans tipping over tombstones in a cemetery. Of course, these two pick the wrong tombstone to tip over, as they eventually open up a portal to another world, and monsters start invading Earth through it! Now the world needs a hero to stop this invasion before it’s too late. But superheroes are just fiction, right? So your average Joe (and other unlikely heroes) will set out to defend the planet.
Since this is your typical platformer game, the controls will be pretty standard fare. On the left will be your movement buttons (left and right), and the right hand side will contain your attack (A) and jump (B) buttons. You are able to attack while moving, so that’s definitely nice. However, I didn’t particularly like the way you go down on platforms — you will have to tap and hold on the jump button, causing your character to jump once before he can start going through platforms. I think it would have been more streamlined if Ravenous could add a down arrow, but I digress.
There are three different environments for you to battle it out on, with each having about 10 levels to go through and a boss fight at the end. Levels will consist of obstacles and enemies that get in the way of you reaching your goal, which is a blue door at the end to move forward.
As you defeat monsters, they will drop coins, which you will have to use in the shop (accessed from the game’s pause menu) to unlock new costumes and get better weaponry. If you’re running low on health (dictated by the battery bar), there are med-kits that will refill it, but they are found sparingly throughout each level.
I love the retro 16-bit graphics of Random Heroes, which I thought was a nice throwback to the original League of Evil, since they got rid of the pixelated look in League of Evil 2. The game also features a fantastic chiptune soundtrack that should appeal to most fans of the genre. And with the Game Center integration for rather challenging achievements, there’s enough reason to keep playing the game.
If you want to play the game with both your iPhone and iPad (or multiple iPhones or iPads), then you will be glad to know that Random Heroes uses iCloud syncing for game data.
The only thing about the game is that it seems rather difficult to get a lot of coins, and the costumes and weapons cost quite a lot. This is where Ravenous wants to make some extra cash it seems, as they are selling coins through in-app purchases. A bit disappointing, considering there were none in League of Evil and the sequel.
While I still like the game, it’s not perfect. The controls need a bit more work, especially having an option to directly go down platforms rather than jumping first. Oh, and strafing would be nice — currently, you can only move forward while shooting, but not shoot while moving backwards. I also would like to see a multiplayer co-op mode, as I think this is a great type of game for it. One can dream, right?
Regardless, it’s still a fun game if you’re a fan of the action platformer genre. I hope that it continues to get updated with new content like the original League of Evil, but only time will tell.
