With the evolution of technology and the media, gaming has undergone a massive change in both marketing and development. While the marketing side has been influenced because of the much bigger presence that games have in today’s world, the development of games has also changed since many studios now prefer to stick to one IP, and make the most out of said franchise by releasing a number of titles all based on the same series. Team17, renowned for creating the famed Worms series, is proving itself to not be a one trick pony, especially with their latest game, Not a Hero.
Technically speaking, Not a Hero is a normal 2D third person side scrolling platformer, as normal as they come. What distinguishes it from other games in the same genre is the setting of the game. Let us add a little context to the game so we can understand better what we are talking about. Basically, the main character of the game, even though you do not play him in the main campaign, is a purple bunny called BunnyLord, whose dream is to become mayor. In order to do so, he engages in a number of activities who he believes are helping in his goal to be elected. BunnyLord never actively participates in these activities, but instead sends his henchmen to do the dirty work for him.
This dirty work is mainly the missions which you will have to play in the game, and the henchmen are the characters which slowly begin to unlock as you make progress in the game. Frankly, the missions which BunnLord sends you to do are never something peaceful, but are rather aggressive. The irony about it though is that you are sent to kill other evildoers in the city, so as to diminish the crime rates which are quite high in BunnyLord’s district. Once you complete the mission, you are invited to have a milkshake, which seems to be the only thing BunnyLord likes to eat, or drink for that matter. Each character has his own set of skills, skills which become useful depending on the situation at hand, meaning one character may be useful for a handful of missions while another character may be handy for all. Apart from the skills themselves, the characters also have different guns, thus one must strategize a bit before selecting which one will represent BunnyLord on the field. For example, Cleatus, who has a shotgun, is extremely useful in levels full of small rooms and short corridors because of the limited range of the shotty, while any other handgun is much more useful in the long range since the shots do not spread like the shotgun’s.
The controls of the game are pretty straightforward; you move with the analog stick and the face buttons are each used to shoot, slide, reload and throw specials such as grenades and molotovs, which you pick up in the level. The different abilities of the characters come in play in commands as well, since a character can for example run and reload, while the others cannot. As an addition to the standard Not a Hero, the Super Snazzy Edition lets you take control of BunnyLord, in a series of missions already available from the main menu. As one can notice after playing a little campaign, BunnyLord is quite powerful and fast, and is probably the best character in the game to play with.
As what has become now standard for Devolver Digital games, the unique pixelated graphics featured in classics such as Hotline Miami are also featured in Not a Hero, and in my opinion these suit the game perfectly. The fast paced action just looks so good in 2D pixels, it would feel unnatural having it any other way. Even though as mentioned the graphics are pixelated, it does not mean that there is not enough detail, as it is quite the opposite. Characters are designed well, the guns and the shots feel authentic (or as best they can be in a 2D pixel art game) and enemies are varied and never feel overpowered. The audio direction is also very good, with the perfect music placed at each moment making the player immerse himself more into the game. It is definitely not a game based on suspense or similar factors, but the light hearted theme of the game blends really well with the silly music on the background. Dialogue in the game is fairly frequent since there is a cutscene before and after each mission. There are a lot of jokes within such dialogue, or monologue since it is only BunnyLord who is talking, and nearly all of them bring out a chuckle even the most immature ones, so for that aspect, the developers also got it right in the scripting department.
Not a Hero, re-released on the Xbox One as Super Snazzy Edition, is a definite must-have for fans of Devolver Digital games, since it embodies many of the things it made Hotline Miami and other DD games great. Excellent gameplay, fluid mechanics and aesthetically pleasing visuals are three ingredients which Devolver seem to have quite a habit of using, and we surely would not have it any other way.
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