88 Heroes is an arcade style game developed by Bitmap Bureau and published by Rising Star Games in 2017, released on the pc, Xbone, and PS4.

88 Heroes is the spiritual successor to that 8 game the narrator talks about in The Stanley Parable. At 8 AM on August 8th, 1988, Dr. H8 announces to the citizens of earth that if he doesn't receive 88 octillion US dollars withing 88 minutes, he will throw 88 nukes at the planet from atop his 88 story space tower!

To thwart his evil plan, Dr. Cupid (Dr. H8's sworn nemesis) sends out the call to assemble a crack team of super heroes to save the day! Unfortunately, the only person of note who shows up is Batman, so the two of them collect 86 of the ok-ist super heroes they can scrape up on short notice and set out for Dr. H8's space tower.

We know the story here's an instant classic, so how are things in the gameplay department? Well, in general, it's a fairly generic platformer; run, jump, and gun your way through a deadly obstetrical course of enemies, traps, and pitfalls. You get 88 coins for an extra guy, you run to the level exit without loosing it. Basic platformer.

What makes 88 Heroes stand out is of course, the titular 88 playable heroes in the game. They get pretty whacky, some of my favorites include Dr. Scitzo the bomb lobbing madman, Beelzebutler the Black Butler parody character, Power Hosé the spanish firefighter, and Major Overload the cosplay electrician.

They aren't all winners though, a lot of these guys straight up blow, ether for poor design or for bad movesets; like the various meme characters such as Rick Astely, El Delayo the input delay hero, and Glass Girl, the character who takes fall damage.

In the main game mode you control one of these freaks and/or geeks selected at random and must make use of their power (or lackthere of) to get to the elevator at the end of the stage without dying. The game ends when you loose all 88 heroes or fail to clear all 88 floors within 88 minutes of total playtime.

To win the game, all you have to do is get a hero into the final room and defeat the last boss in what I would describe as a simple reflex minigame. All the boss fights boil down to basic reflex minigames to ensure that each hero can beat them; and while it's very thoughtful of the dev, it's also super boring.

I suppose it's for the best though, I've got into plenty of situations where I'm forced to cram Captain Colossus through though a tiny hallway (oo-er) or Ladder Lola through a level where you have to go down.

Still, it's intensely satisfying to nail a level on the first try, and it only gets better when you do it as a hero with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ moves (like Toxic Snot, the bouncy ball) and Dr. H8 threatens to throw a temper tantrum.

Speaking of temper tantrums, this game gets hard. I'm talkin' balls to the wall, controller throwing, drunken cursing, hard. Not only do you have to restart an entire floor if you die, no mater where you die in the level; but at a certain point you're going to start loosing more heroes than you can revive with coins.

This cruel difficulty, coped with the relentless and harshly strict game timer make for some high stress, blood boiling situations. If you're a hothead like I am, you'll definitely need to take frequent breaks.

Still, the game is very completeable with practice, and even if you're bad at the game, Batman will come to the rescue with his overpowered time stop power. with basic pattern recognition you can complete the whole game with him.

88 Heroes is a simple game with a simple goal, and while not as stand-out as some other titles that came out in 2017, I feel like it definitely earned it's place in my collection, a solid title.

Originally posted at Minds.com !
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88 Heroes is an arcade style game developed by Bitmap Bureau and published by Rising Star Games in 2017, released on the pc, Xbone, and PS4. 88 Heroes is the spiritual successor to that 8 game the narrator talks about in The Stanley Parable. At 8 AM on August 8th, 1988, Dr. H8 announces to the citizens of earth that if he doesn't receive 88 octillion US dollars withing 88 minutes, he will throw 88 nukes at the planet from atop his 88 story space tower! To thwart his evil plan, Dr. Cupid (Dr. H8's sworn nemesis) sends out the call to assemble a crack team of super heroes to save the day! Unfortunately, the only person of note who shows up is Batman, so the two of them collect 86 of the ok-ist super heroes they can scrape up on short notice and set out for Dr. H8's space tower. We know the story here's an instant classic, so how are things in the gameplay department? Well, in general, it's a fairly generic platformer; run, jump, and gun your way through a deadly obstetrical course of enemies, traps, and pitfalls. You get 88 coins for an extra guy, you run to the level exit without loosing it. Basic platformer. What makes 88 Heroes stand out is of course, the titular 88 playable heroes in the game. They get pretty whacky, some of my favorites include Dr. Scitzo the bomb lobbing madman, Beelzebutler the Black Butler parody character, Power Hosé the spanish firefighter, and Major Overload the cosplay electrician. They aren't all winners though, a lot of these guys straight up blow, ether for poor design or for bad movesets; like the various meme characters such as Rick Astely, El Delayo the input delay hero, and Glass Girl, the character who takes fall damage. In the main game mode you control one of these freaks and/or geeks selected at random and must make use of their power (or lackthere of) to get to the elevator at the end of the stage without dying. The game ends when you loose all 88 heroes or fail to clear all 88 floors within 88 minutes of total playtime. To win the game, all you have to do is get a hero into the final room and defeat the last boss in what I would describe as a simple reflex minigame. All the boss fights boil down to basic reflex minigames to ensure that each hero can beat them; and while it's very thoughtful of the dev, it's also super boring. I suppose it's for the best though, I've got into plenty of situations where I'm forced to cram Captain Colossus through though a tiny hallway (oo-er) or Ladder Lola through a level where you have to go down. Still, it's intensely satisfying to nail a level on the first try, and it only gets better when you do it as a hero with shitty moves (like Toxic Snot, the bouncy ball) and Dr. H8 threatens to throw a temper tantrum. Speaking of temper tantrums, this game gets hard. I'm talkin' balls to the wall, controller throwing, drunken cursing, hard. Not only do you have to restart an entire floor if you die, no mater where you die in the level; but at a certain point you're going to start loosing more heroes than you can revive with coins. This cruel difficulty, coped with the relentless and harshly strict game timer make for some high stress, blood boiling situations. If you're a hothead like I am, you'll definitely need to take frequent breaks. Still, the game is very completeable with practice, and even if you're bad at the game, Batman will come to the rescue with his overpowered time stop power. with basic pattern recognition you can complete the whole game with him. 88 Heroes is a simple game with a simple goal, and while not as stand-out as some other titles that came out in 2017, I feel like it definitely earned it's place in my collection, a solid title. Originally posted at Minds.com ! Follow me there for more reviews! https://www.minds.com/blog/view/830761051451727872 https://gab.ai/Mitsota101 https://twitter.com/Mitsota101