Unruly and Irresistable
I didn’t know what I was about to enter when I booted up “Unruly Heroes”, As the menu appeared I was instantly in love with the art style. It is very reminiscent of the new Rayman series, Fluid and cartoon-ish. A strong art style cannot save bad gameplay and good thing for Unruly Heroes, the gameplay is fun and exciting.
You’ll realize when you enter the game that there are four characters to choose from, Sanzang (Reminds me of the thundercats protagonist), Wukong (The sorcerer), Kihong (A Giant Pig samurai, eat your heart out Kung-fu Panda), and Sandmonk (A Blue Incredible Hulk who glows).
The game lets you know right from the start that all these characters are accessible by the click of a button. At first I felt a bit overwhelmed by this decision, but as I progressed further in the game, I loved it. Whether I was in the middle of a tense battle, I could switch from the powerful blows of Sandmonk to the quick and fast paced moves of Wukong, all of these characters can be played in a wonderful couch co-op.
The characters are not just there to be merely button mashers. They also come equipped with special moves and traits that help you through puzzles or make certain enemies easier to handle. This kept the gameplay fresh and interesting, trying to determine which character would work best for a certain setting kept me on my toes the entire time.
As I said before, the art style is gorgeous and so fluid it’s hard to not to focus on the action happening around you as you admire the background and moving foreground. As I kept travesering the different worlds, I couldn’t help but take a moment to just watch the movement of the creatures of the world, or the subtly moving foreground effects.
It would be a shame if I didn’t bring up how damn fun and entertaining the soundtrack is in Unruly Heroes. It has a nice subtle westren charm to it, I always felt the soundtrack was keeping the game alive and warning
me of coming danger. Not to mention the cute little loading screen band (You’ll love it, trust me).
Now this whole review can’t be positive, now can it? I was a bit let down with the bosses and minibosses just came off too easy and too generic. This is such a tough thing for most games like this to work around, it just felt like such a shame since the rest of the game is so damn creative and full of innovation that the team would drop the ball on it. Especially given the fantastic characters and unique abilities they all have to make some very interesting boss battles. This is a common problem that I do hope future developers will take into a little bit more consideration for future titles.
Final Verdict: Unruly heroes is a refreshing take on the 2d-side scroller beat em ups. With breathtaking visuals to keep your eyes glued to the screen, addictive and innovative gameplay along with a cast of cooky warriors and fierce enemies. This is a game that not only had me smiling the entire time I was playing it, it also had me wanting more when the experience was over.
~Miguel
*DFAT received a review code for the PS4 for this game. Purchase HERE.
Graphics- 10/10 Gameplay- 9/10 Soundtrack- 9/10 Plot- 6/10
