Italian based indie studio Fantastico does things right! Black Paradox which I reviewed here, had me hooked for days and it seems like Hero Express will have the same effect on me. Fantastico studio apparently knows how to make simple yet very addicting games.
Hero Express
The titular hero in Hero Express might be the clumsiest savior of the world ever. While the world is run over by bad guys, he seems to excel in forgetting the right tools for the job. This is where you come in. You need to use your best driving skills to bring the hero his tools and save the day. The unsung hero of the day doesn’t take much credit as it is his job to do so as a driver for the hero express. The hero express company is well equipped to traverse the most difficult terrains with different fitting vessels.
What follows is something close to the trials fusion/rising gameplay. Reaching the end of the stage will have you travel along many difficult passages. Hazardous jumps, many obstacles, and even some zombies will all try to slow you down. All these will surely slow you down and eventually even make you fail. It’s trough perseverance and many (recon) tries you’ll eventually succeed in reaching your destination. Knowing which jump you need to take full throttle and which ones need some more nuance will become key to success in Hero Express.
Roguelike Light
Getting through the eleven stages first try will be impossible. In fact, you won’t be able to finish any from the first attempt. This is where a bit of roguelike element comes into the game. While you’re giving it your best attempt, you also collect “money” along the way. Each time you fail you have to start over from the beginning but the money collected will be banked. This money can be used to upgrade your vehicles engine, tires, traction and stability. This will give you more chance to reach the finish with each attempt. Although you’ll feel gutted when you fail right before the end, you’ll know you’ve grown to potentially get it the next try. This makes Hero Express extremely addictive.
Gas, Bounce, and Windex
Each themed track is mostly littered with money but occasionally a power-up comes by. Gas is the only power-up that is obligatory. As you go through the stages, a gas meter will steadily go down. If it reaches zero, your vehicle goes boom. Picking up gas canisters along the way act as a sort of waypoint. Picking up “Windex” along the way might also come in handy when hitting the likes of garbage cans, pumpkins and so forth. These fill your screen and limit your visibility. It also lowers the traction making it harder (or impossible) to get to the top of a slope. The “bounce” power-ups are less frequent and can be used to jump over hard passages.
Great soundtrack
While the gameplay is highly addictive, the soundtrack is just perfect. Since you’ll be replaying the same levels over and over again, the developers have made sure the soundtrack sound as epic as possible. Just as the 11 themed stages, the tracks accompanying them all sound distinguished. Each of them seems to fit the theme just perfectly. It reminded me of the themes for the classic NES game: Ducktales. As a result of the many times, I replayed a certain stage, I was humming along with the soundtrack.
Easy fix
Besides the addictive nature of the game, this type of gameplay is perfect for an easy fix of gaming. I’m not always in the mood to play some epic 100+ hours game, sometimes a quick gaming fix is all I need. Hero express is perfect to get 15 minutes of gaming pleasure in. Contrary, you might find yourself playing way beyond your initial intentions if you came in reaching distance of the finish… Another try might just cut it…
Conclusion
Hero Express is a great example of an indie game doing everything right. A simple concept, presented in bite-size chunks which will challenge your gaming skills. All while blasting out an epic soundtrack.
