Developer: Roll7
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: Xbox One
NOT A HERO: super snazzy edition – Review
The London-based developer studio Roll7, best known for their critically acclaimed OlliOlli franchise, teamed up with Team17 to publish the definite version of the fast-paced 2D cover shooter NOT A HERO on Xbox One. The SUPER SNAZZY EDITION of NOT A HERO has you running errands for the bunnylord in retro-styled visuals once again, but also includes three all-new exclusive levels. To top it off, you finally get to play as the bunnylord himself. It’s about time that mayhem is caused by the megalord.
Story
You have 21 days until election day and your best friend and mayoral candidate from the future bunnylord wants to do anything in his – or your – power to gain votes. In a past life, you were a professional assassin but due to bunnylord’s political career, you were forced to become an amateur campaign manager. Your skills as a professional killer are still being put to good use. Teaming up with several dubious heroes, or at least in the bunnylord’s point of view, you must eliminate the criminal underworld. Cleaning out the three major districts of the city might persuade undecided voters to your cause, allowing the bunnylord to move up in the ranks to priminister, King of England and eventually the Global Megalord.
Graphics
Although its pixilated art style can be seen as “simple”, the retro-inspired visuals are charming and vibrant enough to be pure nostalgia in one way while also being visually appealing to the modern crowd. The animations of the characters, both your notorious team and the criminals roaming the city, are nearly flawless and the sliding combo with a finishing shot is a blast to see. However, the animations do get repetitive after a while even if all nine characters bring different dynamics to the party.
Sound
Retro-inspired visuals tend to walk hand-in-hand with retro-inspired audio design and Not A Hero is not lacking in that department. Once again, the sound is somewhat polished to fit our modern needs. The sound effects such as voice-overs in various accents depending on the characters and their weaponry matches the overall theme of the game. While there are some voice-overs during the gameplay, the cutscenes in which the bunnylord praises you for your hard work has inaudible conversations which baffled us at the beginning but you’ll grown used to it.
Gameplay
As a 2D cover shooter, the best tactic to survive each day in the criminal underworld is to take cover whenever you can. This tactic can be somewhat tricky due to its fast pace and timed objectives but at later stages your enemies will become more ruthless so it may be best to keep a cool head.
There are 21 days before election but each day represents a mission where you must eliminate the criminals roaming one of the three districts. Before each mission, the bunnylord himself will brief you shortly with the much needed dark humor. As a professional assassin in your previous life, this is the perfect job for you but you might want to gather more assassin’s to join your cause. In total there are nine playable characters, eight of which will unlock at a pre-set percentage of approval rating. The more objectives you complete in each mission, the higher your approval rating will be.
Steve is the amateur campaign manager who also happens to be the first playable character. He’s a great character to begin with as he can slide tackle enemies and reloads rather quickly while having a good range with accurate pistol shots. Cletus is the second character you’ll be able to play but his range is much shorter albeit more powerful due to his shotgun. On the other hand, Cletus can shoot doors open and surprise enemies when they least expect it. The third character to unlock is Samantha and she likes to multitask which means she can shoot and reload while running – a feature I found lacking on all previous characters. We will leave the other six characters for you to experience on your own but we can tell you can none of the characters have a specific weakness but they do have varying strengths that can help you complete the various objectives.
In addition to the distinct persona, the game offers a plethora of weapons specified to the individuals. However it wouldn’t be quite satisfying if there weren’t any kind of boosts or secondary equipments to deliver more action. Boosts can range from explosive bullets to scatter bullets and much more while equipments can range from grenades to turrets to mail bombs to Molotov’s and plenty more explosive goodies.
What is new in the super snazzy edition is the fact that you are now able to play as the bunny overlord himself in the Me, Myself and Bunnylord missions, and he is quite powerful compared to his trusty followers. This additional content, as well as the variation of characters and objectives, increases the replay value of the game.
Conclusion
The Super Snazzy Edition of Not A Hero for Xbox One is certainly a great addition to the cover shooter genre and it’s one sassy retro-inspired video game. With a handful of persona to choose from and almost two-dozen missions to venture in, you’ll be making sure the bunnylord reaches his Megalord status in no time. Having a decent replay value does wonders but we didn’t expect any less from the OlliOlli creators.
NOT A HERO: super snazzy edition - Review,
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