Pixelated Violence Has Never Been so Stylish Thanks to Not a Hero - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 15 March 2015 / 5,191 Views
Whilst attending EGX Rezzed 2015, I happened across Roll7’s next objective in their ever-expanding quest to make a game for every genre in pixel graphics; Not a Hero. Not a Hero centres around Bunnylord, an anthropomorphic rabbit that is campaigning to become mayor of London. Bunnylord and his trusty team shoot their way through the criminal underworld in order to clean up the city and guarantee Bunnylord's campaign success.
When playing Not a Hero you’ll witness some of the most stylish pixel graphics ever to have graced the indie scene. Sliding across the stage, jumping from cover to cover, and executing thugs is rarely as gratifying as it is here, and it all makes for an incredibly fun gameplay experience.
The sliding and covering mechanics are the core of the game's action, with sliding being a simple matter of just pressing the X button. When properly timed, sliding will also position you behind nearby objects for cover. When you're hidden behind objects, enemy fire will not harm you, which incentivises the quick dashing in and out of cover so as to close the gap with enemies.
Getting up close to an enemy gives you the ability to execute them, reserving your ammo and taking them out in one stylish fell swoop rather than wasting ammo from a distance. The cover system feels robust and is well implemented, with different types of enemy encounters and level layouts mixing things up.
I also couldn’t help but laugh every single time I heard anyone in the game talk, from enemies shouting out in fantastic cockney accents as you approach them (“I’ll shoot you!”), to the comical swearing they perform as you execute them. It all feeds into what is sure to be a hilariously stylish complete game.
All of the game's central characters seem to be brimming with personality and offer unique gameplay styles. The main character in the demo - Steve (the campaign manager) - turned out to be a good all-rounder, but other characters will have unique styles of combat and weapons. Take, for example, Jesus, whose hips thrust whilst playing through levels.
Not a Hero employs an objective system, with each stage featuring random bonus assignments. In the demo I played, for example, I was tasked with sliding into five enemies, as well as executing five in total over the course of the mission. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the objective system within Roll7’s popular OlliOlli franchise, as each objective is usually centred around performing a certain move/action so many times within a single stage.
The only concern I have for Not a Hero is the potential repetitiveness of the core combat experience. Yes, changing players will spice things up a bit thanks to their different abilities and unique personalities, but even so, I can see the combat eventually becoming repetitive unless the final product has a few more surprises in store for players.
Not a Hero will release on PC this May 7th. PS4 and PS Vita versions are expected later this year.
