‘Zheros’ Review (PS4)
If, like me, you loved beat’em ups and miss the days of games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage – where the focus was to just beat up the bad guys and have some fun – well Zheros is a fairly generic throwback to that same idea of hitting things till they blow up, and it makes for some repetitive fun.
In the main game you play as either Captain Dorian, or Mike, also known as the Zheros Squad. Your job as intergalactic agents is to protect the universe from crime, and generally beat up the bad guys. This pretty much means fighting off robots and trying to defeat Dr. Vendetta.
Starting with a cinematic cut scene which is fairly comical, you then get into the action. One thing that I did notice is the slow load times, which can be annoying. Getting past that you then get into the battles. The main weaponry at hand is of course your fists, a shield, and a trust gun. Later on you also get the chance to use bigger weaponry to take out some of the enemies.
What holds back Zheros is the fact that not only are the enemies fairly generic, but the level design is too, which is a shame. If you turn your brain off and just get into building up your character’s stats and improving the combos and overall strength of your weaponry then there is some fun to be had. Don’t look for any deep plot here though.
Along with the release there is also the DLC for the game, The Forgotten Land. This adds a new character and new levels to the game. Thankfully the DLC does add better levels and a more interesting character to the game, but it is just a shame that she wasn’t included in the main package.
When it comes to the graphics and sound for the game, there is a cartoonish style that works well within the overall theme of Zheros. Again, it isn’t that spectacular, but it doesn’t really need to be. This is a game that will be a distraction for a while, before it adds to your list of fairly cheap games that you’ll have in your huge list of games you once played.
While I may sound a little negative about Zheros, really, I’m not. It all depends what you want to get out of the game. With the main game available for under £10 and the DLC only £5 more, Zheros is a game that isn’t going to break the bank, and won’t feel like it is a waste of money. It is a fun little beat’em up that offers fun while it lasts. Just don’t expect there to be much to come back to.
When it comes to whether Zheros is worth buying, the cheap price makes it easy to recommend, if you want a fairly simple little beat’em up. In the age of over-complicated Triple A titles that want to give you an “experience”, sometimes it is good to just have an arcade style game where you get to bash the controller buttons and blow up some robots. If that is what you are looking for, then Zheros will work for you.
***½ 3.5/5
Zheros is available on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One now.